After the establishment of imperial power in Rome, the Romans continued their traditional expansionist policy, moving in a northeast direction. Soon they were able to take control of the lands on the right bank of the Danube, and in addition, they strengthened their positions in Spain, on the border of Parthia and in Armenia. Much of the Romans' forces were diverted to anchor in Gaul, which became agitated again as the Romans engaged in their internal wars.
The situation in Gaul was all the time complicated by the raids of the Germanic tribes from across the Rhine. The Gauls themselves often hired the Germans for their service, especially when the struggle between the nobility began. Gradually, there is a penetration of Germanic tribes into the territory of Gaul. At times the Germans subjugated entire Gallic tribes and ruled "arrogantly and brutally." Then the Gauls turned to the Romans for help, and they drove the Germans over the Rhine. And yet up to 120,000 Germans lived in Gaul.
16 BC - The Germans crossed the Rhine again and defeated the Romans. Emperor Octavian Augustus turned his most serious attention to the north. Only 100 years ago, the Cimbri and Teutonic tribes invaded the Republic itself and brought it to the brink of extinction. Such an experience could not be neglected.
A distinctive feature of the Germanic tribes is their savagery, i.e. insensitivity to Roman culture. This made them different from the Celts, in particular the Gauls. Strabo believed that the Germans resemble the Gauls, but fiercer, that they are similar to the Celts, but more primitive. Julius Caesar paid much attention to the Germans in his notes.
“They have no land property at all, and no one is allowed to stay in one place for more than a year to cultivate the land. They eat relatively little bread, but mainly milk and meat from their livestock. In addition, they spend a lot of time hunting. It develops their physical strength and gives them tremendous growth thanks to special food, daily exercise and complete freedom, since they are not taught obedience and discipline from childhood, and they only do what they want."
The military organization of the Germans was primitive, like that of any people at the stage of military democracy. Caesar reported that each tribe (pag) every year sends a thousand armed people outside the borders of the state, "to war." This, as you can see, is about detachments of young people, which over time formed the backbone of the squads of the clan and tribal nobility.
"Robberies outside their own country are not considered a shame for them, and they even praise them as the best way to exercise youth and to eliminate idleness." Over the years, this lifestyle has become permanent for many raiders. For example, the leader of the Germans, Ariovistus, with whom Caesar had a chance to fight, said that his soldiers had not been under the roof of a house for 14 years.
This kind of squads of daredevils were only an integral part of the armed forces of the Germanic tribes. During a real war, everyone able to bear arms was put under the banner. “When a community wages a defensive or offensive war, it chooses to lead it with a special power with the right to life and death,” Caesar said.
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In addition, constant wars broke out due to the annual resettlement of Germanic tribes. “None of them have certain land plots and land ownership in general; but the authorities and princes annually endow land, how much and where they find necessary, the clans and the united unions of relatives, and a year later they force them to move to another place. They explain this order by various considerations; precisely so that in the passion for sedentary life people did not exchange interest in war for farming …”Constant movements in search of free land led to wars in which the whole people took part (with women, children and the elderly).
Any German was a highly trained individual warrior. “Their whole life is spent in hunting and in military pursuits: from childhood they are accustomed to work and to a harsh life. The longer young men remain celibate, the more glory they get from their own people: they believe that this increases growth and strengthens muscular strength; to know before the age of 20 what a woman is, they consider the greatest shame."
All sources emphasize their high stature, strong build, courage and extensive experience with all types of hand weapons. If there was no weapon, the German fought just as well with any piece of rock or with a club. In battle, they were particularly fierce. Caesar wrote that the Gauls could not stand the expression on their faces when the battle began.
On the whole, this was a serious enemy, and they should have fought with him seriously.
9 BC - Augustus' stepson Drusus crossed the Rhine and subdued the territory up to the Alba (Elbe) river. Octavian Augustus wanted to create a new province there - Germany (between the Rhine and Elbe). However, the Romans could not establish themselves here.
The situation on the Parthian border worsened. A. D. 4 - Judea rebelled. North of the Danube, the Marcomanian king Marobod was able to unite a number of Germanic tribes into one union, and this caused new anxiety in Rome.
Putting above all the security of the Empire, Rome did not wait for an open attack from enemies, but inflicted preventive strikes wherever it could suspect a threat to its borders. Preparing a preemptive strike against Marobod, another stepson of Augustus, Tiberius, in 6 AD. began recruiting troops among the tribes of Pannonia and Illyria. All this provoked resistance and resulted in a grand uprising. For three years, 15 legions crushed this performance and, in the end, due to treason, one of the local leaders was able to suppress.
9 AD, autumn - celebrations were held in Rome on the occasion of the victories in Pannonia and Illyria, but then disturbing news came from Germany. The Roman troops who crossed the Rhine and Visurgius (Weser) believed that they were on friendly territory. The Germans did not get along with each other, part of the nobility (including Arminius) sought support from Rome. The commander of the legions in Germany, Quintilius Var, did not pay attention to the fact that the establishment of Roman laws and taxes to the extreme embittered the Germans. The German leaders and even Arminius, tested by the Romans, decided to revolt.
In Germany, under the command of Var, there were 5 legions, as well as a significant number of auxiliary troops. One of these Cherusci auxiliary units was commanded by Arminius.
With the 3rd legions and an auxiliary unit, Arminius, Var became a summer camp in Central Germany east of the Visurgii River. At the end of the summer, he prepared to move to winter quarters at the camp founded by Druze in 11 BC. near Alizon on the Lupia River.
Var had three legions, an Arminius auxiliary unit of 6 cohorts and 3 cavalry squadrons. Historians believe that this amounted to more than 25,000 people, together with the baggage train, but in reality Var could put 12-18,000 soldiers on the battlefield. Judging by the blue color of the shields (there is such information), the soldiers were recruited in the Mediterranean region. These were usually used as marines, but they were not well adapted to operate in wooded areas.
At this time, by order of Arminius, scattered centers of unrest broke out in the region between Visurgius and Alyson. Var was warned of the conspiracy to the loyal Romans by the Germanic Segest, but did not want to believe in the betrayal of Arminius and decided to suppress the action of the Germans on the way to Alison.
After crossing the Visurgii, the column entered an inaccessible mountainous, forested region called the Teutoburg Forest. The weather deteriorated sharply, a prolonged rain began. The road became slippery and precarious. It was necessary to force the ravines, rivers and swamps filled with water. The soldiers sprawled among carts and pack animals.
The first attack by the Roman army came when the head of the stretched column, having traveled 2–2.5 miles, reached the place called "Black Marsh" near Herford. Shrieking and howling, the Germans threw their spears out of the thicket. The Roman legionaries staggered back. The Germans jumped out onto the road, picked up the same spears and, using them already as a thrusting weapon, mixed with the Romans. The legionnaires could not withstand the protracted hand-to-hand combat with the huge Germans.
Discipline in the army was not up to par, the column of Var stretched more than a mile. It was almost impossible to organize on the march and repel the attackers. As soon as there was a cry, announcing the attack of the Germans, the head of the column stopped near the "Black Swamp" and, under cover, began to break up the camp surrounded by a moat and rampart. Separate parts of the column, fighting off the Germans, gradually approached and hid behind the camp fortifications. The attacking Germans did not attack the camp, they disappeared from sight.
Having withstood the first attack of the Germans, the Roman legions pulled up. Var gave the order to burn all the extra baggage and, putting the troops in order, moved forward to his goal, Alizon. Seeing and assessing the strength of the attackers, he no longer hoped to casually suppress the rebellion, but dreamed of at least getting to the winter quarters.
Now the Roman army set out with all the precautions. Their path passed through an open area, and it was difficult to sneak up on the columns unnoticed. And now there were some losses, but the onslaught of the Germans was clearly weaker. Affected by their lack of powerful cavalry, which would be very useful during the pursuit and when attacking the enemy on the march.
The next day, the Romans also set out very carefully, in tightly closed ranks. After a two-mile march, by the evening (the morning was spent on attempts to reconnoitre the enemy's forces), the warheads approached the Derskoy gorge, covered with forest. In the gorge and in the forest, German forces were clearly visible, not going to give way.
According to Roman law, it was impossible to start battles without securing the troops with some kind of fortification, into which, if necessary, they could retreat. Therefore, Var decided to set up a camp, and the next day, relying on him, to make his way through the gorge.
The Der Gorge in the Oesting Mountains, at its narrowest point, has a 300-pace-wide passage. The mountains are composed of siliceous limestone, bordered on both sides by sand dunes. The Der Gorge itself below is covered with a deep layer of sand blown into the dune hills by the wind. There were no trees, only heather. There was also a small stream flowing northward. The sand dunes, oddly enough, were interspersed with swamps and marshes. The road through the gorge did not go along its bottom, not across the dunes, but bifurcated and ran along two sides of the gorge, along the slope of the mountains. The approaches to the gorge, as it was said, were also covered by dunes made of loose sand.
The width of 300 steps seemed to make it possible to pass through the gorge, but the sand impeded movement to the limit and forced us to wade along the slopes of the mountains. In addition, as some researchers suggest, Arminius ordered in advance to cut down trees and set notches in narrow places of the gorge.
The Germans were on the outskirts of the gorge, on the sand dunes and on the slopes of the mountains. The Romans sent the main attack from the front, but several detachments were sent to bypass, into the mountains, which had rather gentle approaches.
The frontal attack was successful at first. The Romans took by storm the first sandy hills at the entrance to the gorge, dropping the Germans from them. The fight began to take on a protracted nature. A mile and a half from the beginning of the dunes to the entrance to the narrow part of the gorge, the legionnaires advanced with battle, crowding the Germans, losing their formation and more and more being drawn into the hollow between the slopes of the mountains.
Meanwhile, the Germans, lurking on the slopes, began to descend and literally hang over the bare flanks of the Romans leading the battle. The German cavalry, which was of little use in the mountains and in the forest, remained on the plain, constantly rushing from the rear and attacking the Roman columns, directed around.
Meanwhile, the weather lard is getting worse. It started pouring rain. The warriors who stormed the sand dunes, he was not afraid - the sand, letting water through, even becomes more convenient for movement. But as soon as the soldiers fell into the thickets along the slopes of the mountains, the soil under their feet became slippery and unreliable. The pouring rain had a depressing effect on the psyche, interrupted visual communication, and disrupted the leadership of the troops. The force of the onslaught weakened.
The exit from the gorge was not yet visible, they had not really been drawn into the gorge itself. So it was far from the breakthrough. And at the same time, the regular raids of the German cavalry from the rear and the clearly visible flanking outflanking created the impression that the troops were locked in a gorge. It was necessary to rebuild, align the ranks in order to break through further. The signal was given, and the cohorts that had rushed forward began to return to the main forces to rebuild in the already conquered space. At this time, from all sides - from the front and from the rear - the Germans rushed to the offensive. In particular, there was a strong blow from the German hundreds, who attacked the legionnaires from the flanks, from the slopes of the mountains.
The battle formations of the Romans were mixed. The frustrated soldiers rushed to the camp to take refuge in it. The cavalry of the legate Vala Numonia rode away, hoping to make their way through the mountains and get out of the trap on their own. The beating of the fleeing began. The hope of salvation was lost. Quintilius Var himself committed suicide by throwing himself on the sword. His example was followed by one of the camp prefects, Lucius Aegius. Most of the troops were killed while fleeing. The remains scattered, but were later overfished and killed. The same fate awaited the few women and children in the camp. Few, after long ordeals, managed to cross the Rhine.
They were able to save the eagle of one legion. The standard bearer broke it off from the mark of the legion and hid it behind his belt. Var's faithful servants tried to burn his body, or at least put him to burial. But Arminius ordered to dig up the body, cut off the head and send it to the king of the Marcomanians, Marobod. He then forwarded the head of Var to Emperor Augustus.
Panic began in Rome. August dismissed his German bodyguards. All Gauls were expelled from Rome, because they were afraid that after such a terrible defeat Gaul would be postponed and join the Germans. But the Germans, after their victory that shook Rome, dispersed to their homes, their raids on Gaul from beyond the Rhine remained the same both in terms of the strength of the attackers and in duration. Gaul remained calm …
Only six years later, Emperor Tiberius tried to restore the situation in the western regions of Germany. His stepson Germanicus crossed the Rhine with the legions. The few survivors of the battle in the Teutoburg Forest, who were now used as guides, took Germanicus to the scene of the battle. The piles of bones and split weapons were still in the gorge. The tree trunks of the Teutoburg forest were hung with the skulls of legionnaires, which meant a warning - the Teutoburg forest belongs to Arminius, and the same fate awaits his enemies.
The few who survived the battle in the Teutoburg Forest, and fell into the hands of the Germans, showed the places where captured Roman commanders were sacrificed to the northern god of war, showed the altars where the throat was cut to the unfortunate.
Three campaigns, in 15, 16 and 17 years. AD, made by Germanicus across the Rhine. He reached the Elbe again. But the Romans were never able to gain a foothold in this area. The area east of the Rhine remained inaccessible to them. Roman expansion to the north and northeast stopped here.
The Germans, having defeated the army of the Romans that seemed to be invincible until now, both before and until now, consider victory in the battle in the Teutoburg Forest as the moment when the scattered tribes realized themselves as one people, a kind of birth of the German nation.
A. Venkov