What did the Teutoburg Forest hide? Smile at life and life will smile at you Battle in the Teutoburg Forest

Commanders Strengths of the parties Losses

unknown

18-27 thousand

Map of Var's defeat in the Teutoburg Forest

Battle of the Teutoburg Forest- battle in September 9 between the Germans and the Roman army.

As a result of an unexpected attack by the rebel Germanic tribes under the leadership of the Cherusci leader Arminius on the Roman army in Germany during its march through the Teutoburg Forest, 3 legions were destroyed, the Roman commander Quintilius Varus was killed. The battle led to the liberation of Germany from the rule of the Roman Empire and became the beginning of a long war between the empire and the Germans. As a result, the German states retained their independence, and the Rhine became the northern border of the Roman Empire in the west.

Background

During the reign of the first Roman emperor Augustus, his commander, the future emperor Tiberius, by 7 BC. e. conquered Germany from the Rhine to the Elbe:

« Having penetrated with victory into all regions of Germany, without any loss of troops entrusted to him - which had always been his main concern - he finally pacified Germany, almost reducing it to the state of a province subject to taxes.»

When Tiberius's troops marched against Marobodus and were already close to his possessions, an anti-Roman uprising suddenly broke out in Pannonia and Dalmatia. Its scale is attested by Suetonius. He called this war the most difficult that Rome had waged since the Punic, reporting that 15 legions were involved (more than half of all legions of the empire). Emperor Augustus appointed Tiberius commander of the troops to suppress the uprising, and an honorable peace was concluded with Marobod.

Publius Quintilius Varus, who was the proconsul of Syria, was appointed governor of Germany in the absence of Tiberius. Velleius Paterculus gave him the following description:

« Quintilius Varus, who came from a family more famous than noble, was by nature a gentle man, of a calm disposition, clumsy in body and spirit, more suitable for camp leisure than for military activity. That he did not neglect money was proven by Syria, at the head of which he stood: he entered a rich country poor, and returned rich from a poor one.»

Details of the 3-day battle in the Teutoburg Forest are contained only in the History of Dio Cassius. The Germans chose a good moment to attack when the Romans were not expecting it, and heavy rain increased the confusion in the column:

« The Romans led behind them, just as in times of peace, many carts and beasts of burden; They were also followed by a large number of children, women and other servants, so that the army was forced to stretch over a long distance. Separate parts of the army were even more separated from one another due to the fact that heavy rain poured down and a hurricane broke out.»

The Germans began by shelling the Romans from the forest, then attacked closely. Having barely fought back, the legions stopped and set up camp for the night according to the established procedure in the Roman army. Most of the carts and part of the property were burned. The next day the column set out in a more organized manner. The Germans did not stop attacks, but the terrain was open, which was not conducive to ambush attacks.

On the 3rd day, the column found itself among the forests, where it was impossible to maintain a close combat formation, and the torrential rain resumed again. The wet shields and bows of the Romans lost their combat effectiveness, the mud did not allow the convoy and soldiers in heavy armor to advance, while the Germans with light weapons moved quickly. The Romans tried to build a defensive rampart and ditch. The number of attackers increased as more warriors joined the Cherusci, having learned of the plight of the Roman army and in the hope of loot. The wounded Quintilius Varus and his officers decided to stab themselves to death so as not to suffer the shame of captivity. After this, the resistance ceased, the demoralized soldiers threw down their weapons and died, almost without defending themselves. The prefect of the camp, Ceionius, surrendered, the legate Numonius Valus fled with his cavalry to the Rhine, leaving the infantry to their fate.

The triumphant Germans sacrificed captured tribunes and centurions to their gods. Tacitus writes about gallows and pits; at the site of the last battle, Roman skulls remained nailed to trees. Florus reports that the Germans were especially savage against captured Roman judges:

« They gouged out the eyes of some, cut off the hands of others, and sewed up the mouth of one, after cutting out the tongue. Holding it in his hands, one of the barbarians exclaimed: “Finally, you stopped hissing, snake!”»

Estimates of Roman casualties are based on the number of Quintilius Varus' units ambushed and vary widely. The most conservative estimate is given by G. Delbrück (18 thousand soldiers), the upper estimate reaches 27 thousand. The Germans did not kill all the Roman prisoners. About 40 years after the battle, a detachment of Hutts was defeated in the upper Rhine region. To their joyful amazement, the Romans found in this detachment captured soldiers from the dead legions of Varus.

Consequences and results

Liberation of Germany. 1st century

Since the legions of the empire, weakened by the 3-year Pannonian and Dalmatian War, were in Dalmatia, far from Germany, there was a serious threat of a German invasion of Gaul. There were fears of the movement of the Germans into Italy like the invasion of the Cimbri and Teutons. In Rome, Emperor Octavian Augustus hastily assembled a fresh army, ensuring conscription with executions of evading citizens. Suetonius, in his biography of Augustus, vividly conveyed the emperor’s despair: “ He was so crushed that for several months in a row he did not cut his hair and beard and more than once banged his head on the doorframe, exclaiming: “Quintilius Varus, bring back the legions!”»

Only 2 legions of legate Lucius Asprenatus remained on the Middle Rhine, who through active actions tried to prevent the Germans from crossing into Gaul and the spread of the uprising. Asprenatus transferred troops to the lower Rhine and occupied fortresses along the river. The Germans, according to Dion Cassius, were delayed by the siege of the Alizon fortress in deep Germany. The Roman garrison under the command of the prefect Lucius Caecidius repulsed the assault, and after unsuccessful attempts to take Alizon, most of the barbarians dispersed. Without waiting for the blockade to be lifted, the garrison broke through the German posts on a stormy night and successfully reached the location of its troops on the Rhine.

Nevertheless, Germany was forever lost to the Roman Empire. The Roman provinces of Lower and Upper Germany were adjacent to the left bank of the Rhine and were located in Gaul, the population there quickly became Romanized. The Roman Empire made no further attempts to capture and hold territories beyond the Rhine.

New time. 19th century

Roman horseman's mask found near Kalkriz

Several thousand items of Roman military equipment, fragments of swords, armor, and tools, including signed ones, were found. Key finds: a silver mask of a Roman cavalry officer and coins stamped with a VAR mark. Researchers suggest that this is a designation of the name Quintillius Varus on special coins made during his reign over Germany and intended to be given to legionnaires. A large number of finds indicate the defeat of a large Roman military unit in this place, consisting of at least one legion, cavalry and light infantry. 5 group burials were discovered, some of the bones showed deep cut marks.

On the northern slope of Kalkriz Hill, facing the battle site, the remains of a protective peat rampart were excavated. The events that took place here are fairly accurately dated by numerous coins from the period 6-20 AD. According to ancient sources, during this period the only major defeat of the Roman troops occurred in this region: the defeat of the legions of Quintillius Varus in the Teutoburg Forest.

Notes

The exact date of the battle is unknown. It is known that the battle took place in the fall of the year 9, September is recognized by the consensus of historians. The ESBE indicates the date of the battle as September 9-11. Since the basis for calculating this date is unclear, it is not used in the works of modern historians.
Velleius Paterculus, 2.97
T. Mommsen. "History of Rome". In 4 vols., Rostov-on-D., 1997, p. 597-599.
Velleius Paterculus about Marobod: “ He provided refuge to tribes and individuals who separated from us; In general, he acted like a rival, hiding it poorly; and the army, which he brought to seventy thousand infantry and four thousand cavalry, he prepared in continuous wars with neighboring peoples for more significant activities than that which he carried out ... Italy also could not feel safe due to the increase his strength, since from the highest mountain ranges of the Alps, which mark the border of Italy, to the beginning of his borders there are no more than two hundred miles.»
Suetonius: "August", 26; "Tiberius", 16
Velleius Paterculus, 2.117
Velleius Paterculus, 2.118
One of the legionary badges was found in the lands of the Bructeri (Tacitus, Ann., 1.60), another - in the lands of the Mars (Tacitus, 2.25), the third - in the lands of possibly the Chauci (in most of the manuscripts of Cassius Dio the ethnonym Maurousios appears, only in one: Kauchoi ), unless we are talking about the same mars.
Legions XVII, XVIII, XIX. Tacitus mentioned the return of the eagle of the XIX legion (Ann., 1.60), the death of the XVIII legion is confirmed by the epitaph on the monument to the centurion Marcus Caelius, who fell in the Bello Variano (War of Varus). The participation of the XVII Legion is a likely hypothesis, since this number is not recorded elsewhere.
Velleius Paterculus, 2.117
G. Delbrück, “History of Military Art”, vol. 2, part 1, chapter 4
Dio Cassius, 56.18-22
Velleius Paterculus, 2.120
27 thousand dead Roman soldiers are listed in the ESBE with reference to the works of historians in the 1880s, an estimate repeated by the TSB.
Tacitus, Ann., 12.27
Flor, 2.30.39
Dio Cassius, book. 56
The poet Ovid, in describing the triumph of Tiberius, which he himself did not observe, but judged from letters from friends, devotes most of the lines to the symbol of conquered Germany (“Tristia”, IV.2).
Velleius Paterculus, 2.119
Tacitus, Ann., 1.62
Arminius was killed by those close to him in

Commanders Strengths of the parties Losses

unknown

18-27 thousand

Map of Var's defeat in the Teutoburg Forest

Battle of the Teutoburg Forest- battle in September 9 between the Germans and the Roman army.

Background

During the reign of the first Roman emperor Augustus, his commander, the future emperor Tiberius, by 7 BC. e. conquered Germany from the Rhine to the Elbe:

« Having penetrated with victory into all regions of Germany, without any loss of troops entrusted to him - which had always been his main concern - he finally pacified Germany, almost reducing it to the state of a province subject to taxes.»

Publius Quintilius Varus, who was the proconsul of Syria, was appointed governor of Germany in the absence of Tiberius. Velleius Paterculus gave him the following description:

« Quintilius Varus, who came from a family more famous than noble, was by nature a gentle man, of a calm disposition, clumsy in body and spirit, more suitable for camp leisure than for military activity. That he did not neglect money was proven by Syria, at the head of which he stood: he entered a rich country poor, and returned rich from a poor one.»

« The Romans led behind them, just as in times of peace, many carts and beasts of burden; They were also followed by a large number of children, women and other servants, so that the army was forced to stretch over a long distance. Separate parts of the army were even more separated from one another due to the fact that heavy rain poured down and a hurricane broke out.»

« They gouged out the eyes of some, cut off the hands of others, and sewed up the mouth of one, after cutting out the tongue. Holding it in his hands, one of the barbarians exclaimed: “Finally, you stopped hissing, snake!”»

Consequences and results

Liberation of Germany. 1st century

New time. 19th century

Roman horseman's mask found near Kalkriz

Notes

The exact date of the battle is unknown. It is known that the battle took place in the fall of the year 9, September is recognized by the consensus of historians. The ESBE indicates the date of the battle as September 9-11. Since the basis for calculating this date is unclear, it is not used in the works of modern historians.
Velleius Paterculus, 2.97
T. Mommsen. "History of Rome". In 4 vols., Rostov-on-D., 1997, p. 597-599.
Velleius Paterculus about Marobod: “ He provided refuge to tribes and individuals who separated from us; In general, he acted like a rival, hiding it poorly; and the army, which he brought to seventy thousand infantry and four thousand cavalry, he prepared in continuous wars with neighboring peoples for more significant activities than that which he carried out ... Italy also could not feel safe due to the increase his strength, since from the highest mountain ranges of the Alps, which mark the border of Italy, to the beginning of his borders there are no more than two hundred miles.»
Suetonius: "August", 26; "Tiberius", 16
Velleius Paterculus, 2.117
Velleius Paterculus, 2.118
One of the legionary badges was found in the lands of the Bructeri (Tacitus, Ann., 1.60), another - in the lands of the Mars (Tacitus, 2.25), the third - in the lands of possibly the Chauci (in most of the manuscripts of Cassius Dio the ethnonym Maurousios appears, only in one: Kauchoi ), unless we are talking about the same mars.
Legions XVII, XVIII, XIX. Tacitus mentioned the return of the eagle of the XIX legion (Ann., 1.60), the death of the XVIII legion is confirmed by the epitaph on the monument to the centurion Marcus Caelius, who fell in the Bello Variano (War of Varus). The participation of the XVII Legion is a likely hypothesis, since this number is not recorded elsewhere.
Velleius Paterculus, 2.117
G. Delbrück, “History of Military Art”, vol. 2, part 1, chapter 4
Dio Cassius, 56.18-22
Velleius Paterculus, 2.120
27 thousand dead Roman soldiers are listed in the ESBE with reference to the works of historians in the 1880s, an estimate repeated by the TSB.
Tacitus, Ann., 12.27
Flor, 2.30.39
Dio Cassius, book. 56
The poet Ovid, in describing the triumph of Tiberius, which he himself did not observe, but judged from letters from friends, devotes most of the lines to the symbol of conquered Germany (“Tristia”, IV.2).
Velleius Paterculus, 2.119
Tacitus, Ann., 1.62
Arminius was killed by those close to him in

The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest (9 AD), which ended in a terrible defeat for the troops of Emperor Augustus and the complete massacre of three legions, led to the fact that the Roman Empire lost dominion over Germany, conquered several years before. Despite several new attempts, it was not possible to include Germany into the Roman Empire even after this. The Rhine remained the northwestern border of the Roman state. Romanization did not take deep roots in the areas east of this river - therefore the battle in the Teutoburg Forest also has important world-historical significance.

Causes of the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest

The background of the events is as follows. Shortly before the Battle of the Teutoburg, the prudent governor of Sentius Saturninus was replaced in Germany by Quinctilius Varus, a man of limited intelligence, who ruled pampered Syria for nine years, accustomed there, with the servile obedience of the population, to carefreely indulge in his inclination to a quiet luxurious life and satisfy his greed. According to the historian Velleius Paterculus, he came to a rich country as a poor man and left an impoverished country as a rich man. When Var became the ruler of Germany, he was already a very old man and thought of leading in his new province that carefree, pleasant life that he was accustomed to in the luxurious, obedient East. This culprit of the soon-to-be catastrophe in the Teutoburg Forest avoided all troubles and frivolously neglected the difficulties. It is believed that the magnificent silverware found in Hildesheim belonged to him; if this is indeed the case, then we can form a clear idea from it about the luxurious surroundings of Varus’s life. But he was an experienced administrator. Emperor Augustus considered Varus a man capable of converting the conquered part of Germany into a Roman province and, together with the command of the troops, entrusted him with the civil administration of it. Thus, Varus was, strictly speaking, the first Roman ruler of Germany.

In the years before the battle in the Teutoburg Forest, the life of the conquered part of Germany had already acquired such a calm character that Varus could easily imagine that the Germans were disposed to submit to their new position without resistance: they showed a desire to learn the habits of an educated life, willingly went to serve in the Roman army, got used to Roman life. Var did not understand that the Germans only want to adopt foreign forms of life, but do not at all want to renounce their nationality and independence. He had the recklessness to introduce Roman taxes and a Roman court among the Germans, acted arbitrarily, and opened wide scope for the oppression of secondary rulers, their employees, tax farmers, and money lenders. Varus himself, a man of a noble family, a relative of the emperor, a rich man, attracted German princes and nobles with the splendor of his court, luxurious lifestyle, and secular courtesy, while his assistants, Roman lawyers and tax collectors, forcibly oppressed the people.

Shortly before the battle in the Teutoburg Forest, it seemed that nothing foreshadowed the terrible events to come. Northwestern Germany began to resemble other Roman provinces in appearance: Var introduced Roman administration and Roman legal proceedings into it. In his fortified camp on the Lippe River in the land of the Cherusci, he sat on the judge's chair, like a praetor in Rome, and settled the quarrels of the Germans among themselves, with Roman soldiers and merchants, not according to German customary law, which every free German knew and considered fair, but according to Roman laws and according to the decisions of learned jurists, unknown to the people, in a Latin language foreign to them. Foreigner Romans, servants of the ruler, carried out his sentences with inexorable severity. The Germans saw something they had never heard of before: their fellow tribesmen, free people, were flogged with rods; They also saw something else, also unheard of until that time: the heads of the Germans fell under the axes of lictors according to the verdict of a foreign judge. Free Germans were subjected to corporal punishment for minor offenses, which, according to their concepts, dishonored a person for life; a foreign judge pronounced death sentences, which, according to German custom, could only be passed by a free assembly of the people; The Germans were subject to monetary taxes and duties in kind, completely unknown to them before. Princes and nobles were seduced by the luxurious dinners of Varus and the refined forms of Roman life, but the common people, no doubt, suffered many insults from the arrogance of Roman administrators and soldiers.

German leader Arminius

This was the main reason for the uprising, which ended in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. All the oppression of the rule of a greedy and reckless foreign despot was needed for the Germans to find Roman rule shameful for themselves and for the dormant love of freedom to awaken in them. Under the leadership of the brave and cautious Cherusci prince Arminius, the Cherusci, Bructeri, Chatti and other Germanic tribes entered into an alliance with each other in order to overthrow the Roman yoke. Arminius in his youth he served in the Roman army, learned the Roman military art there, received the right of Roman citizenship and the rank of equestrian. This future leader of the Germans in the Battle of Teutoburg was then in the prime of his years, distinguished by the beauty of his face, the strength of his arm, the insight of his mind, and was a man of fiery courage. Arminius's father, Segimer, and his related prince Segestes enjoyed the trust of Varus; Arminius himself used it. This made it easier for him to carry out his plan. Loyal to the Romans, jealous of the fame and influence of Arminius, Segestes warned Varus; but the Roman governor remained careless, considering his notices slander. The gods blinded Varus so that Germany would be freed.

Progress of the battle in the Teutoburg Forest

In the autumn of 762 from the founding of Rome (9 AD), Varus, carefree and luxurious in his summer camp, was alarmed by the news that one of the distant tribes had rebelled against the Romans. It seems that the leaders of the conspiracy deliberately incited this rebellion in order to lure the Romans into a distant area that was not convenient for them. Suspecting nothing, Var with the army that was in the summer camp, immediately went to restore order and then return to the fortified winter camps on the Rhine. The German princes with their troops accompanied the Roman army; The Roman soldiers took with them their wives, children, and the entire baggage train, so that the column stretched to an immense length. When the legions arrived at the forested mountains, cut by low-lying valleys, near the Weser, near the present city of Detmold, they saw that the passages through the gorges and dense forests were blocked by huge trees, laid as a rampart across the road. They moved slowly along the slippery soil washed away by continuous rains, and suddenly enemies attacked them from all sides; German princes and troops accompanying the Romans joined the enemies.

The attackers pressed the Romans more and more; the army was in confusion. The Romans themselves did not have the opportunity to attack their enemies; they only fought off attacks that lasted without interruption. By evening, Var reached the clearing and pitched his camp on it. The Romans burned part of the convoy and in the morning went west, thinking of breaking through to the fortification that was on Lippa. But in the wooded Osning Mountains, between the sources of the Lippe and the Ems, in the Teutoburg Forest, as the Romans called this area, the enemy attack resumed, and it was now even more difficult to fight back, because it was carried out according to a deliberate plan under the leadership of Arminius. The German princes decided to mercilessly exterminate the Romans. In the evening the legions, having lost heart, became a poorly fortified camp; the next morning they resumed their harrowing trek through the Teutoburg Forest. The rain fell continuously; the arrows and darts of the Germans struck the Romans; They could barely move through the deep mud, and finally reached a swampy forest plain, where their death awaited them. By order of Arminius, who controlled the actions of the Germans from the hill, enemies from all sides rushed at the tired Romans, not giving them time to form into battle ranks.

Attack of Arminius during the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. Painting by I. Jansen, 1870-1873

All order soon disappeared in the army. Varus was wounded in the battle; despairing of salvation, he threw himself on his sword, not wanting to endure the shame of defeat. Many of the military leaders followed his example; others sought death in battle. The eagles of the legions were taken and put to shame; The lowland of the Teutoburg Forest was covered far and wide with the bodies of the Romans. Only a few managed to escape from the battlefield to the fortified Alizon camp; Besides them, everyone who did not fall in the Battle of Teutoburg was captured.

Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. Painting by O. A. Koch, 1909

The rage with which the Germans took revenge for their enslavement was terrible. Many noble Romans, military tribunes and centurions were slaughtered on the altars of the Germanic gods; Roman judges suffered a painful death. The heads of the slain were hung on the trees of the Teutoburg Forest, all around the battlefield, as trophies of victory. Those who were not killed by the victors were condemned by them to shameful slavery. Many Romans of equestrian and senatorial families spent their entire lives as workers or shepherds for Germanic villagers. Vengeance did not spare the dead. The barbarians dug the body of Varus, buried by Roman soldiers, from the grave and sent his severed head to the powerful German prince of Bohemia Marobodus, who then sent it to the emperor in Rome.

Aftermath of the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest

Thus perished a brave army, numbering 20,000 men (September 9 AD). Emperor Augustus was plunged into deep sadness by the news of the battle in the Teutoburg Forest and desperately exclaimed: “Var, return the legions!” Many noble families had to mourn the death of close relatives. Games and celebrations stopped. After the battle in the Teutoburg Forest, noisy Rome fell silent. Augustus sent his German bodyguards from the capital to the islands. At night, military guards walked along the Roman streets. Vows were made to the Roman gods, and new warriors were recruited on a large scale. The Romans feared that the terrible years would return invasions of the Cimbri and Teutons.

The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest was followed by the Germans taking the Roman fortifications between the Rhine and Weser rivers. Alizon held out longer than all the others, where the Romans took their wives and children and where those who managed to escape from the Teutoburg defeat gathered. When food supplies were exhausted, the besieged tried to pass through the guards of the besiegers on a stormy night; but only armed men managed to pave their way with the sword to the Rhine, where the legate Lucius Asprenatus, nephew of Varus, stood; the unarmed were almost all taken by the victors and shared the fate of other prisoners. Alizon was destroyed. Asprenatus, standing on the Rhine with two legions, had to watch so that the impressionable Gauls would not be carried away by the thought of an uprising, and could not go against the Germans.

The location of the battle in the Teutoburg Forest and the territorial losses of the Romans in Germany after it (indicated in yellow)

Roman rule on the right bank of the Rhine was destroyed after the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. Only the tribes of the northern coastal region, the Frisians, Chauci and their neighbors remained allies of the Romans. Augustus's stepson Tiberius, who hastily came to the Rhine with new legions (10 AD), limited himself to strengthening the Rhine border and observing the Gauls. The following year he crossed the Rhine to show the Germans that the strength of the Romans was not broken by defeat in the Teutoburg Forest. But Tiberius did not go far from the shore; it was clear that he understood the danger that the Germans threatened Roman rule in Gaul and learned lessons from the bitter experience of Varus. He observed strict discipline, demanded a harsh life from his soldiers, and himself set an example for them in this. Returning in 12 AD. e. from the Rhine, Tiberius celebrated his triumph for pacifying the German rebellion; but he did not win such victories that would atone for the shame of defeat in the Teutoburg Forest. Only the already brave Germanicus, the son of his brother, Drusus, who, after Tiberius’ departure from the Rhine, received command over all the troops on this river and control of Gaul, avenged Varus.

Many praise Rome. His legions. but were the legions really magnificent? They struck down “wild barbarians” with sword and fire? Here, for example, are the Heramites. That's what we'll be talking about

The battles of the civil war have long died down. The entire Roman Empire was now under the rule of one man - Emperor Caesar Augustus, the son of the "divine Julius" - the same one who defeated all rivals in the struggle for power during the Second Civil War. Having stabilized the internal political situation, Augustus tried to occupy the Roman army, which had now become professional, in large and small wars. These wars, wherever they were fought, had one ultimate goal, and that was the achievement of world domination by Rome. In other words, Augustus decided to achieve what Alexander the Great failed to achieve, and thereby forever strengthen both the power of Rome over the conquered peoples and the position of the dynasty he founded at the head of the world power.

The Romans then considered the Parthian kingdom to be their most dangerous enemy. The Euphrates River remained the border between the two great powers; to the east of it were still the possessions of the Parthian king, to the west - Rome. Since repeated attempts to crush Parthia by military means failed, Augustus chose to temporarily establish peace in the East, going on the offensive in the West. From 12 BC The Romans begin their conquest of Germany, establishing control over the territory between the Rhine and the Elbe through a series of military campaigns.
In Germany, the Romans had conquered a vast area between the Rhine and the Elbe and were preparing to make it a province. But the Germans turned out to be too restless subjects, the Romans constantly had to suppress their uprisings, until finally the rebellious tribes reconciled (as it turned out, only in appearance) with the new masters. Many members of the tribal nobility entered Roman service and received command positions in the auxiliary units of the Roman army. Among them was Arminius, the son of a German tribal leader. The details of his military career are unknown, but he received the title of Roman citizen and other honors, i.e. clearly had great services to the Romans. Returning to Germany, Arminius found himself among the inner circle of the new governor of Publius Quintilius Varus, a confidant of Emperor Augustus himself.

Having consolidated his hegemony in Central Europe, Augustus was about to resume his offensive to the east.
However, the implementation of his plans of conquest was prevented by a grandiose uprising against the Romans in Pannonia (northwest of the Balkan Peninsula) in 6–9 AD. AD Its suppression cost a lot of blood. But before the Romans had time to strangle the last centers of this uprising, thunder struck in Germany: across the Rhine, in the forests and swamps, the three best legions of the Roman army, led by the governor of Gaul and Germany, Publius Quintilius Varus, perished. This was a turning point in world history: the defeat of Varus finally buried Augustus’s plans to establish world domination.
The Roman armed forces in Germany were destroyed somewhere at Visurgis (the modern Weser River) - numerous attempts to determine the place of death of Var's army for a long time did not give a reliable result, until an unexpected archaeological discovery in 1987 and excavations in subsequent years proved that Var's army had died near Mount Kalkriese in Westphalia.

Events in Germany developed as follows: during the summer of 9, the participants in the already established anti-Roman conspiracy tried to disperse the Roman troops located between the Rhine and Elbe as much as possible. For this purpose, they often turned to Varus with a request to provide them with military units, supposedly to ensure local security, and achieved what they wanted (although auxiliary troops were usually sent for this purpose, not legionnaires). But the bulk of Var's army was still with him, near his summer residence.
When the conspirators considered the preparations completed, a seemingly minor rebellion broke out among the Germanic tribes at a sufficient distance from the Roman forces. Var, with his army and a cumbersome baggage train, left the camp and set out to suppress it. The presence of women, children, and numerous servants with the military units shows that this happened in the fall - Varus clearly intended to suppress the rebellion on the way to the winter camps, where the Romans went every year.
The instigators of the uprising, who were still present at the feast at Varus the day before, left Varus after the Romans set out on a campaign under the pretext of preparing troops to help him. Having destroyed the Roman garrisons stationed in the midst of the Germans and waited for Varus to go deeper into the impenetrable forests, they attacked him from all sides.

The Roman commander then had 12–15 thousand legionnaires, 6 cohorts of light infantry (approximately 3 thousand people) and 3 alami cavalry (1.5–3 thousand people), a total of about 17–20 thousand soldiers. Varus undoubtedly believed that this (and the German auxiliary units promised to him) was more than enough to suppress the local rebellion. The belief Varus acquired during his previous governorship in Syria that the mere appearance of a Roman soldier was enough to sober up the rebels was also to play a fatal role, especially since the leader of the conspirators, Arminius, of course, tried to strengthen this conviction in him.
The main striking force of the uprising were the German auxiliary troops of the Roman army, who betrayed Rome. The leaders of the conspiracy, who had previously been constantly at the headquarters of Varus and should have had detailed information about military operations in the Balkans related to the suppression of the uprising in Pannonia, took into account the mistakes made by their Illyrian colleagues. The devastating blow to the Roman army in Germany was dealt with the firm hand of a master who managed to put the elite of the Roman field troops in a hopeless and helpless position.

The so-called Battle of the Teutoburg Forest lasted for several days and 40–50 km of travel. At first, the Germans limited themselves to the actions of light infantry, the battle only in some places turning into hand-to-hand combat. A storm raged, torrential rain poured down; all this seriously hampered the actions of the legionnaires and Roman cavalry. Suffering huge losses and almost no defense, the Romans fought their way forward until they reached a place where they could set up camp.
Arminius, knowing the Roman military order, foresaw Var's stop in this very place and reliably blocked his camp. Varus may have tried to gain time by establishing contact with Arminius and at the same time making his situation known to the Roman fortresses. But the messengers were intercepted by the Germans, who did not try to storm the camp, destroying only those small detachments that dared to go beyond its borders. A few days later, Var ordered to set out, having first destroyed everything unnecessary for fighting.

As soon as the entire column of Roman troops left the camp, continuous German attacks began again, which continued all day. At the end of the day, the exhausted and wounded legionnaires still had enough strength to set up a new camp. Then a new day dawned, and the remnants of the legions continued on their way, heading towards the main military road that led to the Roman fortresses along the Rhine. Again the battle continued all day, and under the cover of darkness the huddled Roman units tried to break away from the enemy.
If we consider that even before the attack of the Germans, the Romans, making their way through the impassable terrain, were, in the words of Dio Cassius, “exhausted by labor, because they had to cut down trees, build roads and bridges where necessary,” then you can imagine imagine how exhausted they were before their last day. Var's army, having already suffered huge losses, abandoning everything except what was necessary for the battle in the first camp, desperately made its way to the Rhine - and came across the eastern slope of Mount Kalkriese.

The army, consisting mainly of heavy infantry and burdened with a convoy (or rather, the surviving part of it), in which they carried the tools necessary for laying the path, throwing machines and shells for them, women, children, and the wounded, could not pass between Kalkriese and the Vienna Mountains (there is no road there now and never has been), nor directly through the highlands (the few narrow passages were probably blocked by the enemy). They had only one thing left to do - go around the obstacle along the shortest path, i.e. along the road through the sandy slope at the foot of Mount Kalkriese.
The entrance to the gorge was most likely left free. Even if the Romans suspected a trap, they still had no other choice. And the road between the Kalkriese slope and the swamp was already equipped for a meeting: heavily washed out by rain streams running down the mountain, in all suitable places it was equipped with a chain of fortifications stretching along it - a tree-earthen wall five meters wide and certainly no less high. The wall, as revealed by excavations, did not have a defensive ditch in front of it, but along its back side there was a narrow drainage ditch.
This detail suggests that the fortifications were built in advance, because their builders took care that the wall would not be washed away during bad weather. In other words, the exit of Varus’ army to Kalkrisa was planned by the enemy: Arminius and other leaders of the rebellion creatively applied the military knowledge they had acquired in Roman service.

The Romans needed to overcome the gorge in order to get through to their military communications between the middle reaches of the Ems and Weser. Their command could not help but understand that the upcoming battle would be unequal: the Germans, according to Cassius Dio, “became much more numerous, because of the rest of the barbarians, even those who had previously hesitated gathered in a crowd primarily for the sake of booty.” Var could only rely on the courage of his warriors, who were faced with a dilemma - to fight their way through the hordes of enemies with weapons or die.
When the Roman column began to be drawn into the defile, Arminius had to wait until the enemy vanguard reached the first of the German fortifications. At this point, the section of the sandy slope suitable for moving forward sharply narrows. As a result, the “dam effect” worked: the vanguard stopped in front of an obstacle, while the rest of the army continued to move. The ranks of the Romans inevitably had to mix, and at that moment a general attack began on the Germans, hiding on the wooded slope of Kalkriese and located on the wall.

Based on the results of the excavations, it can be concluded that, at least at first, the Roman command confidently controlled the battle: sappers, light and heavy infantry, and throwing vehicles were deployed against the German fortifications. Judging by the fact that the wall was set on fire and partially destroyed, the Roman counterattack had at least temporary success. Under the cover of the fighting units, the rest of the army was able to advance further, repelling continuous attacks from the left flank. But at the next narrowing of the gorge, the Romans came across the same wall...
At some point in the battle, a storm broke out with torrential rain: “Heavy rain and high winds not only did not allow them to move forward and stand firmly on their feet, but also deprived them of the opportunity to use weapons: they could not properly use the wet arrows , darts and shields. On the contrary, for the enemies, who for the most part were lightly armed and could freely advance and retreat, this was not so bad" (Dio Cassius).

Armed mainly with long spears, which they were accustomed to throwing over long distances, the Germans pelted them from above at the Romans, helpless in their heavy weapons. The throwing machines, if they had survived by that time, were out of order, the archers and slingers were also unable to operate due to bad weather, while for the enemies, every throw of a spear found its victim among the people gathered on the road in a dense mass.
If the remnants of Varus’s army managed to reach the exit from the gorge, it was only because the Germans avoided a head-on collision with the legionnaires marching in close formation. They preferred to destroy the enemy with flank attacks and continuous shelling while outside the affected area. One of the legionary legates, Numonius Vala, took command of the cavalry units (alas) and managed to break into the operational space. The Roman historian Velleius Paterculus, who personally knew the legate and described him as “usually a prudent and efficient man,” regards this act as betrayal and, not without gloating, notes that both Vala and the cavalry that abandoned their comrades were destroyed during their flight to the Rhine.
There is an assumption that this assessment of a contemporary is too harsh, but in fact the legate was formally carrying out the commander’s order for a breakthrough, which was still in effect, given at the beginning of the battle. However, in any case, Numonius Vala abandoned the legion entrusted to him (or its remnants), and this flight indicates the panic that had begun among the Romans.

For her, however, there were reasons: the Roman troops, subjected to merciless beatings, were disorganized, and their battle formations were upset, as clearly evidenced by the fact that Var and other senior officers were wounded. The tormented remnants of the column that approached the gorge in the morning nevertheless escaped from the deadly trap, but were immediately completely surrounded “in an open field” (Tacitus). The destruction began.
The Romans had only one worthy option - to die in battle. But most did not even have the strength for this. Therefore, when Velleius Paterculus reproaches Varus for being “ready to die rather than fight,” this posthumous reprimand is unfair: there is much more reason to agree with Dio Cassius, who considers the suicide of Varus and a number of other officers “a terrible but inevitable step.” , which made it possible to avoid shameful captivity and execution. By that time, the legions of the legions had already died and even the legion's eagles were captured by the enemy. When it became known about the suicide of the commander, “of the rest, none of the others began to defend themselves, even those who were still in strength. Some acted according to the example of their commander, while others threw down their weapons and instructed the one who agreed to kill themselves...”

However, not everyone had the determination to die; the camp prefect Ceionius, the military tribunes (young people who really wanted to live), many centurions, not to mention ordinary soldiers, chose to surrender. However, the captured officers, on the orders of Arminius, were executed after torture.
The finale of the tragedy obviously took place over a vast area and took a certain amount of time. It was probably in those hours and minutes that remained before death or captivity that the Romans tried to bury their most valuable property - hence the many treasures of gold and silver coins to the west of the Kalkriese-Nivedder defile, i.e. precisely in the direction of the failed breakthrough of the Roman troops. Thus, the surroundings of Kalkriese mark the last point of the route of the lost army.