Battle of the Teutoburg Forest

Battle of the Teutoburg Forest
Part of the Early campaigns in Germania
and Roman–Germanic Wars
A stone carving, the border resembling a Greco-Roman building, displaying three busts, slightly damaged, the centremost being that of Marcus Caelius, wearing armour, a cape and holding a staff of office in his right hand. Below the carving is a Latin inscription.
Cenotaph of Marcus Caelius, 1st centurion of XVIII, who "fell in the war of Varus" ('bello Variano').
DateSeptember 8–11, 9 AD
Location
Probably present-day Kalkriese, Lower Saxony[1]
52°24′29″N 8°07′44″E / 52.408°N 8.129°E / 52.408; 8.129
Result Germanic victory
Belligerents

Allied Germanic peoples, possibly including the:

Roman Empire
Commanders and leaders
Arminius
Segimer		 Publius Varus †
Units involved
Unknown
Strength

18,000–30,000[2]

  • Angrivarii:
    5,000[3]
  • Bructeri: 8,000[3]
  • Cherusci: 8,000[3]
Other troops were likely mustered from the remaining tribes[3]

Estimates vary by historian

  • Powell:
    14,000–22,752[4]
    Unknown non-combatants[4]
  • McNally:
    21,000 total combatants and noncombatants[5]
Casualties and losses
5,000 16,000–20,000 killed[6][7][a]

The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, also called the Varus Disaster or Varian Disaster (Latin: Clades Variana) by Roman historians, was a major battle between Germanic tribes and the Roman Empire that took place somewhere near modern Kalkriese from September 8–11, 9 AD, when an alliance of Germanic peoples ambushed three Roman legions led by Publius Quinctilius Varus and their auxiliaries. The alliance was led by Arminius, a Germanic chieftain and officer of Varus's auxilia. Arminius had received Roman citizenship and a Roman military education; thus allowing him to deceive the Romans methodically and anticipate their tactical responses.

Teutoburg Forest is considered one of the most important defeats in Roman history, bringing the triumphant period of expansion under Augustus to an abrupt end. It dissuaded the Romans from pursuing the conquest of Germania, and so can be considered one of the most important events in European history.[9]

The provinces of Germania Superior and Germania Inferior, sometimes collectively referred to as Roman Germania, were established in northeast Roman Gaul, while territories beyond the Rhine remained independent. Retaliatory campaigns were commanded by Tiberius and Germanicus and enjoyed success, but the Rhine became the border between the Roman Empire and the rest of Germania. Rome then made no major incursion into Germania until Marcus Aurelius (r. 161–180) during the Marcomannic Wars.[10]

Some of the descendants of the vassal kingdoms, like the Suebi (by suzerainty), that Augustus tried to create in Germania to expand the romanitas and the Empire were the ones that invaded Rome in the fourth and fifth centuries.[11][12]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Smithsonian was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ McNally 2011, p. 23.
  3. ^ a b c d McNally 2011, p. 26.
  4. ^ a b Powell 2014, p. 28.
  5. ^ McNally 2011, p. 21.
  6. ^ Wells, Peter S. The Battle that stopped Rome. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. 2003, p. 187 ISBN 0-393-32643-8
  7. ^ Kevin Sweeney, Scholars look at factors surrounding Hermann’s victory Archived July 14, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ Jo Ball (6 January 2021). "We're There Any Roman Survivors at the Battle of Teutoburg Forest?". BadAncient. Archived from the original on 9 October 2021. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
  9. ^ Murdoch 2004, p. 57.
  10. ^ Phang et al. 2016, p. 940
  11. ^ Tacitus, Book 12, 27–31: Text in Latin and English at Sacred Texts
  12. ^ Germania, UNRV History


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