Battle of the Teutoburg Forest facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Battle of the Teutoburg Forest |
|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Roman-Germanic wars | |||||||
 Cenotaph of Marcus Caelius, a Roman army leader, who "fell in the war of Varus" |
|||||||
|
|||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| Germanic tribes (Cherusci, Marsi, Chatti, Bructeri, Chauci and Sicambri). |  Roman Empire |
||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Arminius | Publius Quinctilius Varus | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 12,000 – 32,000 | 20,000 – max. 36,000: 3 Roman legions (XVII, XVIII/XIIX, and XIX/XVIIII), 3 alae and 6 auxiliary cohorts |
||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| unknown | 16,000 dead some enslaved |
||||||
The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest was a huge battle that happened in the year 9 AD. In this battle, a group of Germanic tribes worked together and won a major victory. They defeated three powerful Roman legions. The Germanic tribes were led by Arminius, while the Roman legions were led by Publius Quinctilius Varus.
This was more than just a victory; it was a complete defeat for the Romans. Three Roman legions and all their commanders were destroyed. The few Roman soldiers who survived were captured and made slaves. This battle was one of the two biggest disasters in Roman military history. After this, the Romans rarely tried to control the Germanic lands across the Rhine river again.
The battle started a seven-year war. This war ended with the Rhine river becoming the border of the Roman Empire for the next four hundred years. This lasted until the Western Roman Empire became weaker.
Contents
Key Leaders in the Battle
Varus: The Roman Commander
The Roman commander, Varus, was a very important man in Rome. He was known for being strict and sometimes cruel. He would punish his defeated enemies harshly. The Germanic tribes knew about this, and it might have helped them unite against him.
Arminius: The Germanic Commander
The German commander was Arminius. He had received a Roman military education. He spent his youth living in Rome as a young person. Because of this, he knew a lot about Roman military methods. This knowledge was very important for his victory.
Later, Arminius returned to Germania with Varus. He became Varus's trusted advisor. But in secret, Arminius brought together different Germanic tribes. These tribes had usually been enemies. He was able to do this because the tribes were angry about Varus's unfair and harsh treatment of the people he defeated.
Arminius needed a clever plan to defeat Varus. He had to keep Varus from knowing their plans until the right moment to attack.
While Varus was moving his army from his summer camp to his winter headquarters, he heard about a local rebellion. Arminius had faked this rebellion. He made Varus believe it was a small problem that needed his quick attention. Varus did not know it was part of a bigger plan by the Germanic tribes. He still thought Arminius was loyal to him.
Recent archaeological discoveries show the battle likely happened at Kalkriese Hill in Osnabrück County, Lower Saxony. The Romans were probably marching northwest from the area that is now the city of Detmold. They would have passed east of Osnabrück and then camped in this area before the attack.
The Battle Unfolds
Varus's army included three legions, six groups of helper troops (non-citizens or allied soldiers), and three groups of cavalry (soldiers on horseback). Many of them did not have much experience fighting Germanic warriors in the local forests.
The Roman forces were not marching in a battle formation. They also had many people traveling with them who were not soldiers. As they entered the forest, the path became narrow and muddy. According to Cassius Dio, a strong storm also started. He also wrote that Varus did not send out scouts to check the path ahead.
The line of Roman soldiers stretched out dangerously long, possibly more than 15 kilometers (9 miles). This meant one part of the army could not easily help another. Suddenly, Germanic warriors attacked. They carried light swords, large lances, and spears with sharp blades. The Germanic warriors surrounded the entire Roman army and threw javelins at them.
The Romans managed to set up a fortified camp for the night. The next morning, they tried to break out into open country near the modern town of Ostercappeln. This escape cost them many soldiers. They tried to escape again by marching through another forest area, but heavy rains continued. The rain made it hard for them to use their bows because the strings became loose. Their shields also became heavy with water, leaving them almost defenseless.
The Romans then started a night march to escape. But they marched into another trap that Arminius had set. This trap was at the foot of a hill near Osnabrück. The sandy, open path where the Romans could march easily became very narrow at the bottom of the hill. There was only about 100 meters (330 feet) between the woods and the swampland. The road was blocked by a trench, and an earthen wall had been built along the roadside towards the forest. This allowed the tribesmen to attack the Romans from cover.
The Romans made a desperate attempt to climb over the wall, but they failed. The Germanic warriors then rushed into the Roman camp and killed many soldiers. Varus, the Roman commander, took his own life.
Around 15,000 to 20,000 Roman soldiers died. Not only Varus, but many of his officers also took their own lives. The historian Tacitus wrote that some officers were killed by the Germans as part of their local religious ceremonies.
After this victory, the Germanic tribes cleared out all Roman forts, military camps, and cities east of the Rhine. The two remaining Roman legions in Germany were at a fort in Mainz. They were commanded by Varus's nephew. These legions focused on holding the Rhine river as the new border.
Varus's Mistakes
Varus made several key mistakes that led to the Roman defeat:
- Ignoring Warnings: Segestes, the father of Arminius's wife, warned Varus about Arminius. The night before the Roman forces left, he suggested Varus arrest Arminius and other Germanic leaders. Segestes knew they were planning an uprising. Varus thought this warning was just because of a personal disagreement. Arminius then left, saying he would gather Germanic forces to help the Romans. Instead, he led his own troops to attack Roman camps.
- Too Much Trust: Even without Segestes's warning, Varus should have been less trusting of Arminius. Arminius was secretly working against the Romans.
- Bad March Route: Varus chose to march through a thick forest. This was against normal Roman military methods because it limited their view and defense. The army did not march in a battle formation. This route was chosen as a "short cut," but Varus had no real reason to rush. The forest also made the army line stretch out so far that one part could not help another.
- Lack of Scouts: Not sending out scouts to check the path ahead was a very serious mistake. If Varus had not taken his own life, he likely would have been punished severely for this.
- Ignoring Bad Weather: The bad weather was another good reason to be careful when entering the forest. The forest was unknown territory to Varus. New routes should always be checked by scouts first.
We can never know exactly why Varus made these mistakes. But his reputation for being too proud and overconfident suggests he did not take the Germans seriously enough. However, all of Rome's past experiences, from Julius Caesar onwards, had shown that the Germanic tribes were strong in war.
After the Battle
When Emperor Augustus heard about the defeat, he was very upset. According to the Roman historian Suetonius, Augustus was so shaken that he hit his head against the wall of his palace. He kept shouting:
„Quintili Vare, legiones redde!“ ('Quintilius Varus, give me back my legions!')
The numbers of the three lost legions were never used again by the Romans. This was different from other legions that were rebuilt after defeats. It was a unique case in Roman history.
The battle ended a period of great Roman expansion that had followed the end of their Civil Wars. Augustus's stepson Tiberius took charge and prepared to continue the war. Three new legions were sent to the Rhine to replace the ones that were lost.
Roman Revenge
Even though the Romans were shocked by the defeat, they slowly and carefully prepared to take back the land. In 14 AD, after Augustus died and his heir Tiberius became emperor, a large attack was led by Tiberius's nephew, Germanicus.
One night, Germanicus attacked the Marsi tribe. He killed many of them and burned their villages. The Marsi had been celebrating that night and were surprised in their sleep. Their temple was also destroyed.
Several other tribes were angered by this attack. They tried to ambush Germanicus on his way to his winter camps, but they were defeated and suffered many losses.
The next year, 15 AD, saw two major campaigns and several smaller battles. A large Roman army of about 55,000 to 70,000 men, supported by naval forces, was involved. In spring 15 AD, a Roman general named Caecina Severus attacked the Marsi a second time with 25,000 to 30,000 men, causing great damage.
Meanwhile, Germanicus's troops built a fort on Mount Taunus. From there, he marched with 30,000 to 35,000 men against the Chatti tribe. He killed children, women, and the elderly. The strong men fled across a river and hid in the forests. After this attack, Germanicus marched to Mattium and burned the city.
In summer 15 AD, the Roman army visited the site of the first battle. According to Tacitus, they found piles of bones and skulls nailed to trees. They buried them, feeling like they were burying their own family. Burial pits with remains matching this description have been found at Kalkriese Hill.
Under Germanicus, the Romans marched another army, including allied Germanic soldiers, into Germania in 16 AD. He managed to cross the Weser river near modern Minden, even with some losses. He forced Arminius's army to fight in an open battle at the Weser River. Germanicus's legions caused huge losses to the Germanic armies while losing only a few of their own soldiers.
One final battle was fought at the Angivarian Wall, west of modern Hanover. Again, many Germanic soldiers were killed, forcing them to run away. In summer 16 AD, Caius Silius marched against the Chatti with 33,000 men. Germanicus attacked the Marsi for a third time and destroyed their land.
With his main goals achieved and winter approaching, Germanicus ordered his army back to their winter camps. His fleet was damaged in a storm in the North Sea. After a few more attacks across the Rhine, and after recovering two of the three Roman legions' eagle standards lost in 9 AD, Tiberius ordered the Roman forces to stop and pull back across the Rhine. Germanicus was called back to Rome and told by Tiberius that he would be given a great celebration and a new command.
Germanicus's campaigns were meant to get revenge for the defeat at Teutoburg. They also helped calm down some of his own troops who were showing signs of mutiny.
Arminius, who Rome saw as a real threat, was now defeated. Once his group of allied Germanic tribes was broken and Rome had gotten its revenge, the huge cost and risk of keeping the Roman army beyond the Rhine was not worth it.
The last part of this story is told by the historian Tacitus. Around 50 AD, groups of Chatti invaded Roman land and started to take valuable things. The Roman commander, with a legionary force supported by Roman cavalry and helper troops, attacked the Chatti from both sides and defeated them. The Romans were very happy when they found Roman prisoners, including some from Varus's legions who had been held by the Chatti for 40 years.
The Battle's Impact on German Identity
The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, and the histories written by Tacitus, had a big effect on German nationalism in the 1800s. In the 19th century, the Germans were still divided into many separate states. But they saw themselves as sharing ancestors with the ancient Germanic tribes, forming one "German people."
In 1808, the German writer Heinrich von Kleist wrote a play called Die Hermannsschlacht. This play stirred up feelings against Napoleon, even though it could not be performed while the French occupied Germany.
Later, the figure of Arminius was used to represent ideas of freedom and unity. German liberals supported these ideas, while strict rulers opposed them. A large monument, the Hermannsdenkmal, was started during this time. Arminius became a symbol of Pan-Germanism, which was the idea of uniting all German-speaking people. The monument was not finished for many decades. It was finally completed after the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, which unified the country. The finished monument then became a symbol of a more traditional German nationalism.
Images for kids
-
Invasions of Drusus I in 12–8 BC
-
Invasions of Tiberius and Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus around 3 BC–AD 6
-
Autumn in Teutoburg Forest
-
A reconstruction of the temporary defenses built by the Germanic coalition for the final part of the Varus battle near Kalkriese
-
Germanic warriors attacking, Varusschlacht, 1909
-
The political situation in Germania after the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. The pink area shows the anti-Roman Germanic coalition led by Arminius. Dark green shows territories still held by the Romans, and yellow shows Roman client states.
-
A coin showing Germanicus holding an Aquila (Roman eagle standard)
-
A Roman coin showing the Aquilae (eagle standards) on display in the Temple of Mars the Avenger in Rome
-
The Roman Limes (border defenses) and modern country borders.
-
Lower Saxony Bergland (hilly region)
-
The archaeological site at Kalkriese hill
-
Schleuderblei (Sling projectiles) found by Major Tony Clunn in Summer 1988, which led to new excavations
-
A Roman ceremonial face mask found at Kalkriese
-
The Hermannsdenkmal around 1900
-
Military action in 14 AD
-
Campaigns in 15 AD
-
Operations in 16 AD
-
Grab des Arminius (Grave of Arminius), by Caspar David Friedrich, 1812
-
Hermannsschlacht, a drawing by Crown prince Frederick William IV of Prussia, 1813
-
Der siegreich vordringende Hermann (The victorious advance of Hermann), by Peter Janssen, 1873
-
Battle of the Teutoburg Forest - Furor Teutonicus, by Paja Jovanović, 1889
-
Unfortunate campaign of Germanicus, unknown artist, around 1900
.jpg)
See also
In Spanish: Batalla del bosque de Teutoburgo para niños
