Book Review: Rome's Greatest Defeat

Two thousand years ago this month the Roman Army in Lower Germany, three legions strong with auxiliaries, was was wiped out, almost to a man. The battle of the Teutoburg Forest is one of Rome’s largest and most famous defeats. Until recently very little was known about the battle, even it’s exact location, except for a few second hand reports from Roman authors. Recently a number of archeological discoveries have shed light on this battle.




Rome’s Greatest Defeat: Massacre in the Teutoburg Forest
Adrian Murdoch
Sutton Publishing, 2006

Murdoch's Bread and Circuses Blog
The Blog's Teutoburg Posts

Imperium Konflict Mythos Official 2000th Anniversary site.
Kalkriese Museum





Adrian Murdoch describes the tangle of political, cultural and military affairs that led to this battle and the consequences. The account of the battle is just a chapter but with a judicious reading of the ancient sources and modern research he presents a very common sense account of the events leading up to the battle , the battle, and it‘s consequences.

Lower Germany was in the process of being integrated into the Empire. Murdoch describes this process, involving a forced change in the culture politics and economy of the province. It was always complicated with winners and losers at many levels of socity and sometimes resulting in a revolt, usually defeated with much bloodshed. He tells the story of Sextus Quinctilius Varus a proven governor, able administrator, and competent general who was apparently under orders to speed up the process; and Arminius a German noble, an officer in the Roman army, and secretly a leader of the anti-Roman faction. Arminius managed to set up an alliance of several tribes, despite opposition in his own and the other tribes, while convincing Varus of his loyalty and preparing a trap for the Roman Army. There was a report of a revolt and Varus and the Army set off to deal with it and marched into the carefully laid trap, for three days they fight to escape and are finally annihilated at the recently discovered battle field at Kalkriese. The defeat rocks the Roman world, and the resulting Roman punitive expedition wrecks the hostile tribes for generations. The Romans make no effort reestablish a permanent presence on the east side of the Rhine. The impact of the failure to Romanize German culture has been debated for centuries. Much later Arminius becomes a hero in the development of German nationalism. Arminius gets the rare distinction of being a general who defeated the Romans: but is not killed by Rome or dies in their captivity.

Defeated generals are always easy targets for blame, Murdoch shows that despite the accusations of incompetence heaped on Varus, he was in fact a competent governor and general, selected for both ability and loyalty the Emperor. He had extensive experience as governor of the tumultus province of Syria. Many of the criticisms of his action are based on 20/20 hindsight but his actions were quite reasonable in the circumstances.

Arminius had learned soldiering from the Romans, but a was also master of the German tribal politics. There were many in the tribes, including members of his own family, who favored cooperation with Romans, ether because they saw an advantage or it was the lesser of two evils. Arminius managed to convince enough of the leadership in the tribes to join him. Since Arminius was a central contact for Roman contact with the Germans he controlled much of the information going to Varus. Murdoch thinks that Varus dismissed the reports that got to him as attempts to draw him into the internal politics of the tribes, which he declined.

Murdoch’s encyclopedic knowledge of the classical world, his easy writing style and common sense analysis provide a clear explanation of the events that is assessable al l readers. This is by far the best of the recent books on this battle that have been published in English. Strongly Recommended.

See Also

Book Review: The Battle That Stopped Rome by Peter Wells
Book Review: Quest for The Lost Legions by Tony Benn

The Advance Guard Fiction

Related
Book Review: Eagle in the Snow
Book Review: The Fall of the Roman Empire




Analysis and opinion.

What happened, this is my assessment.





One thing is certain is that Varus did not get his route from Google Maps, but it is a best case close approximation and gives an idea of what was involved. [See comment from Delta V] He was moving to put down a revolt was in what is now the northern Netherlands or extreme northwest Germany. It is sixty kilometers from Minden to Kalkriese and another ten to Bramsche. 100 kilometers more to the legionary fortress at Haltern or 150 kilometers to the base at Xanten on the Rhine, He would have been expecting to march for about six hours 20 to 24 kilomters a day with column of about 12,000 solidiers, at least the same number of camp followers and 5000 horses or oxen. Quite possibly the advance guard would be marking the evenings camp as the rear guard was exiting last nights camp. Given the large amount of equipment they carried they would have at most five days of food.

This is the shortest route with the least hills, we forget how important that was when everything moved by sore muscles and aching backs. The route is mostly open farmland making it possible for the Army to get at least some of it’s food locally. Tactically it is reasonable ground, with only one real choke point, the narrows at Kalkriese. The other possible routes were longer, had less farm land and more obstacles. I think that the first leg of his march was to the area of modern Bramcshe, where the army would have to spend a day on river crossing. From there he could send his excess baggage back to Haltern or Xanten with a small escort and the tactical part of the Army would move to suppress the revolt. He would have made a prior announcement that he will be buying food at Bramcshe for the next leg of the march. All this assumes he believed he was marching through friendly territory.

The tactical system of the Roman army was a combination of heavy and light infantry supported by cavalry. The legion provided the heavy infantry. The legion can be compared to a steam roller. Nothing could stand in front of it. But it was slow and awkward to move, subject to flank attacks and required an enemy who was willing or forced to stand in front of it. Rough terrain could break it’s formation reducing it’s effectiveness. If the enemy had fortifications the legions engineers would overcome them with time. The other half of the team was the light infantry. This was either Roman auxiliary cohorts or forces provided by allies. They would scout, protect the flanks, clear enemy scouts, and with luck push the enemy under the steam roller. The light infantry would guard the legions march into hostile territory where the legions would attack a political, cultural or economic location that the enemy must defend, i.e. stand in front of the "steam roller" and hope to win. The important thing is that the legions of this period could not act alone they needed their light infantry support. The light infantry could operate alone but they would seldom be able to defeat an enemy unless they out numbered them or they had some unusual advantage. It was the team effort that make the Roman armies formidable. A common statistic in Roman history is the light and heavy forces were approximately equal strength. Varus’s Army did not have enough auxiliaries to provide the light infantry part of the team. The other auxiliary cohorts were garrisoning forts throughout the province. Varus was depending on his German allies to provide the light infantry.



In August Varus received word of the revolt. He started his preparations and called back his scattered garrisons to Minden, which is a good concentration point and possibly his headquarters. I think, since the route was known he had engineers out improving the road and had his German allies secure the route and occupy critical points such as the narrows at Kalkriese (with fortifications?). The word was sent out where he would be buying food along the route. The Allied tribes were called to come join him, either at Minden or Bramsche. The warnings he had received probably seemed to be part of the background noise that happens in any occupied province, but nothing so significant as to arouse suspicion, or make him distrust Arminius.

The Army moved out. I would think they would have made twenty to twenty four kilometers, and built a camp. The next day the advance guard had moved another twenty to twenty four kilometers and was at or close to it’s intended camp for the night when the attacks started. The front of the Army started to set up a camp and the rest closed in on it. There would have been hundreds of little attacks, each not causing much damage but the total would add up. The ground was still open enough that the Romans could move off the road and clear flanks. The baggage trains were probably hurt worse than the troops. This would be a nightmare for Varus and the senior commanders, the Army was spread out along the road there was little they could do to influence the battle. It was a centurions and soldiers battle, if the army was not well disciplined and trained it might not have survived the first day.

In the camp they got ready for the next day. The Army was in trouble but it was not defeated. Wagons and excess baggage were burned. This shortened the length of the column and make it eaiser to bypass obstacles. To make matters worse the fierce autumn German thunder storms started soaking every thing and making the roads much less usable. The Army rested as much as it could, reorganized and came out fighting. They moved a lot slower because they were in a tactical formtion partly off the road, the Germans destroyed advance work of the engineers, the rain, and fighting off constant attacks. By nightfall they would have been lucky to have advanced ten kilometers. they established a new but a vary hasty and improvised camp. The Army knew it was not going to get home. Varus and his top aides committed suicide, the cavalry tried to ride out, some tried to surrender. In the morning the Army moved out in a forlorn hope on broken ground and came to the ambush at Kalkriese. Most of the army perished here. Only a handful got back to Roman territory.


Once Arminius united the tribes and attacked the Army, the Army was lost, every thing else was details. The Army was, at best, seven to ten days march on half rations from nearest fort. The closest possible relief force was at Mainz a months march away. The tactical system was broken, without light infantry the legions would be would be worn down in a series of small actions. They were north of the Wiehengebrige ridge and their bases were on the south side. Forcing any of the gaps in the ridge would require light infantry. A wall had been constructed at Kalkrese, the engineers could defeat it with time, but a retreating army on half rations does not have time. A Gaius Julius Caesar might have brought that army home, but Sextus Quinctilius Varus was simply a competent general in a situation where genius might not have been enough.

The defeat was more political than military. The credit is Arminius’s as a political leader for uniting tribes and the defeat is Varus’s as governor for failing to prevent it.


Note: The exact size of the Army and how much road space it took, can’t be determined from the existing data. I made a number of assumptions, but small changes make big changes in the result. The Roman legions were probably between 2000 and 4000 men present for duty, I think closer to 3000. The auxiliaries were probably another 3000 men. The number of camp followers was usual about the same as the number of soldiers. They other big factor is how wide was the road. I am assuming it was wide enough to march four abreast, which would also be wide enough for a wagon. There would be an interval (size?) between units, necessary to keep the army from bunching up an spreading out on hills and turns. While the Romans were masters at it, moving an Army this size was difficult to manage under the best of circumstances.
For those who want to crunch their own numbers.

Field Manual 21-18 - Procedures and Techniques of Foot Marches

The March

Book Review: The Quest for the Lost Legions

The Emperor Augustus looked at the severed head of Publius Quinctilius Varus and cried

“Give me back my legions!”

Varus was long past answering, but for centuries people have pondered the question of just how did he go about losing three legions of professional soldiers to what is essentially a tribal militia. This book describes the latest chapter in the The Quest for the Lost Legions.




The Quest for the Lost Legions, Discovering the Varus Battlefield
Author: Major Tony Clunn
UK Publisher: Spellmount Limited, Staplehurst, Kent, 2005
US Publisher: Savas Beatie, New York, New York, 2005

Tony Clunn’s webpage
Kalkriese Museum
Imperium Konflikt Mythos
Official 2000th Anniversary site.



The Battle of the Teutoburger Wald in the fall of 9 AD, though always listed as one of the most important battles in world history, was an event of some mystery since the location of the battle was somewhere in German Forests and the historical sources are summaries written by later authors. It was known that Varus lost three legions and auxiliaries to a coalition of German tribes lead by Arminius an auxiliary officer in Roman service, the political shock to Rome was tremendous, and precipitated a change of frontier policy by Rome. In 1989 the author Tony Clunn, a British Army officer stationed in Germany, and an amateur archeologist, discovered some Roman coins in the vicinity of Kalkriese in Northern Germany. Additional discoveries proved his theory that this was the location of the Teutoburger Wald battle. This is one of the most significant archeological discoveries in recent times.



The book has two story lines, the discovery of the battle site and Clunn’s other explorations in northern Germany interweaved with a fictional reconstruction of the Battle

The Search.

Clunn tells the story of his discovery, armed with an avocation for Roman history a metal detector and some military common sense, discovers the long lost battlefield. He rather downplays that he had already done the available archive research on the subject, talked with the last person who had found a Roman coin at the site. Using this information and a soldier’s eye for looking at the ground; his selection was an informed estimate rather than a lucky guess.

He provides a good example of how an amateur should work with professional archeologists. First he got required permissions to conduct a survey and then kept the professionals informed. When enough evidence came to light to make this an official project he kept in the background, maintaining an interest and helping but never working at cross-purposes. A major dig is expensive, where as Clunn could just get the permissions and search on his free time. One of his biggest achievements was to do the preliminary searches on his own and find the discoveries that could justify a major project. He also tells of his subsequent efforts to find related sites which will take further searching to confirm his theories.

Clunn’s telling makes the story of the archaeological discovery an adventure.


Reconstructing the Battle.

The principle Roman character is Marcus Aius the Tribune second in command of the Army. (Cloak clasps belong to a Marcus Aius were found in Kalkriese though real Marcus was of a much lower rank.) A professional solider to Varus’s politician he tries to convince Varus to maintain a more combat ready posture and he also suspects that something is wrong and that Arminious is behind it but he does not have the hard evidence that will convince Varus. After Varus and many of his top commanders committed suicide he leads the legions in a last desperate attempt to escape and unknowingly leads them into the ambush at Kalkriese.

The principle German character is Arminius who has been working for a least a year to destroy the Varsus's Army, building alliances with the tribes, giving advice to Varus that leaves the Romans exposed, training his forces and preparing the battle site. He knows the tribes cannot stand in open formation against a Roman legion so he plans to draw them into a route where the Romans can be ground down in many small attacks and ambushes culminating in a major trap at Kalkriese where it will be destroyed. All the while pretending to be loyal officer in Roman Army.

This is a possible reconstruction that explains how one goes abut losing three legions. It does a good job of integrating the historical sources and the archeological discoveries. The route he picks seems to be very long but not impossible. The best features of this account are seeing the ground and situation with a soldier’s eye, and giving the feel of a professional army to the Roman command.



The book tells both stories with a clarity that can engage the general reader but still be informative to readers with more background. The photographs add to the story. The maps are adequate. Recommended.




Related:
The Battle That Stopped Rome by Peter S. Wells
Book Review: Rome's Greatest Defeat By Adrian Murdoch
Eagle in the Snow by Wallace Breem
Friday Snippet


Topic:
Rome

Friday Snippet

Gabriele of The Lost Fort is participating in Holly Lisle’s Friday Snippet meme where people post snippets of their fiction writing.

This Friday Snippets thing encouraged me to try. I know it’s awful. This is my first attempt at fiction since required class assignments in school. Suggestions for improving would be appreciated. Thanks to Gabriele for help with names.


The Advance Guard

Background: In 9 AD a Roman Army under Publius Quinctilius Varus was ambushed by German Tribesman lead by Arminius a former officer of German troops in the Roman army. The main part of the battle is at Kalkriese in the Teutobergerwald. There is some question as to the actual sequence of events; this is based on a possible scenario.





Centurion Gaius Antonius, commanding the advance guard, turned in the saddle looked back on his Cohort. – The bottom dropped out of stomach as it tied in knots. He was dead, his men were dead, their families, his children, his precious Lalage, all dead except for dying. And a voice in the back of head was saying, “just march, you didn’t see anything, just march, no one will know, just march, let some one else die”.


That morning.

Lalage pulled her husband to the side. “Don’t give me that ‘Centurion’ look. I’ve been a soldier’s daughter since I can remember, a soldier’s wife, your wife, for five years, something’s wrong! It’s not our turn for advance guard, families don’t move with the advance guard!

“Lalage sweet, quite down, no one follows a doubtful command. Senator Varus says the situation is delicate and maintaining a bluff like nothing is wrong is best.” Lalage noticed he used the civilian Senator not the military Legate. ”Staying at Minden would have been more dangerous. Families have been with the lead cohort for three days, if they aren’t today it is signaling we know something is wrong. When you bluff, bluff big. Or it won't work."

“And if it doesn’t work! We can’t hire villagers to help with the baggage, they won’t sell us food, nothing is right, we should be marching ready to fight!”

"I think it’s all right. The Fifth Cherusciorum is scouting in front of us. If Arminius’s old cohort can’t find an enemy they’re not there. I have half the men guarding our wagons and families. If the other half can’t get them out of any trouble they find it will take the whole Legion. Besides, your father recommended us, said he wanted the best cohort on advance guard, now you can’t argue with the Primus Pilus.”

“I can’t? Father’s right, your cohort is best, but if he puts families in front tomorrow; I will talk with him.”



Antonius had been told the last stretch for the day went through a place called ‘The Narrows’, A steep hill to the left a swamp to the right, in between ten feet of road that could carry a wagon!. The Fifth was sending scouts to both sides and he saw them give the all clear, and post guards to keep it clear. The wagons and families were in the middle of the Cohort and a thousand feet behind that the legion, “Damn Varus” he thought, “if the Fifth gets in trouble here I can’t support them and defend the wagons”.


In the center of the Narrows Antonius looked back, the Cohort was in good order, The princepales’s were keeping the troops in line. The men were maintaining as even a pace as the ground allowed, despite orders he had had them wear helmets and unsling their shields. -- He froze.-- From his mounted perch the afternoon light was just right. There was a wall, trampled vegetation behind it, javelin tips just over the edge. Arminius’s Fifth was guarding an ambush not the road. His four hundred in a trap to kill four thousand, do his duty and everything that was his would be gone, and a voice saying “’Just march’ like you saw nothing, the cohort will be clear the when legion dies. ‘Just march’”


Lalage had the wagon master wondering just who was in charge of the Cohort. Every one was armed; she made sure every one knew their part in ambush and laagering drill; stragglers weren’t allowed.

Lalage looked up at Antonius’s screamed command. “DROP packs! AMBUSH drill LEFT!” A surprised volley of javelins; the alarm trumpets sounding; legionaires forming ranks to attack, more javelins this time finding their mark; getting the family’s and children under cover. The Barbarian charge came in for the kill led by the Fifth Cherusciorum. She last saw Antonius leading the survivors, screaming hate and despair, into the Fifth.

Related:

Book Review: The Battle That Stopped Rome By Peter Wells
Quest for the Lost Legions By Tony Benn
Book Review: Rome's Greatest Defeat By Adrian Murdoch
Eagle in the Snow by Wallace Breem

The Battle That Stopped Rome

Somewhere east of the Rhine, Province of Lower Germany, September, 9 AD.

It’s stopped raining for now. Sixty pounds of equipment are not lighter for being wet. The Legion marches or rather slops along the trail. A swamp to the right, a forested hill to the left, the ground would be soft in sunny weather. At least they are the lead legion; several thousand pairs of feet haven’t already chewed up the ground. Eight hours marching yesterday, five today and who knows how many until they get to a place to build a camp. Four or five more days of sore muscles, aching backs, and maybe a fight to get home.

The Centurions are calling to
“Keep formation;” “how, the trail is barely wide enough.”
“Watch your sectors;” “right, this is allied country, who but poor legionnaire would be out in this weather.”
“A perfect place for an ambush;” “come on, the auxiliaries already cleared the road or we wouldn’t be here.”
"At least they aren’t saying to unsling shields and weapons."



War cries break the air.
A shower of javelins.
Even without orders the well rehearsed drill tries to assert itself:
unsling shields and weapons, drop packs, move off the road, form a shield wall.
The javelins rip though the ranks. When they do not hit flesh they remain stuck in the equipment so it can’t be moved without hitting another solider.
Slipping in the mud, tripping over bodies, climbing over packs they struggle to reach the side of the road and form a line.
Another yell; every warrior in Germania swarms out of the woods.
The shield wall never forms.
Those who don’t die outright, mostly die of exsanguation or hypothermia.




Book Review:
The Battle that Stopped Rome
Peter S Wells
W. H. Norton 2003

Kalkriese museum

In 9 AD a Roman Army of three legions and nine cohorts of auxiliariescommanded by Publius Quinctilius Varus was destroyed in the “Teutoburger Wald” by the German leader Arminius some place in northern Germany. The event has come down in history as one of the "Great Battles" but where it was fought was unknown. In 1989 the site of this battle was found. This book is a beginners Archeological/Anthropological/Historical study of the battle using the new information.



The battle took place at the base of what is now called Kalkriese hill about 10 miles north of Osnabruck in Lower Saxony, Germany. The archeological remains combined with the sketchy information in the sources allow for several reasonable reconstructions of the battle. The most notable discovery is that the ambush had been planned for a long time. The trail as it would have existed at the time would have been a narrow stretch of sand and clay soil along the base of the hill just wide enough for the Roman column to march. A sod wall had been built along the uphill side of the road and the vegetation allowed to grow so it looked like part of nature from the trail. In Wells reconstruction, the attackers hid behind the wall until the lead legion was parallel and then attacked with javelins followed by a charge. With a small amount of warning a Roman column with an unexpected enemy on the flank could easily drop it’s packs, grab its weapons, and form a line on the threatened flank. Once they had formed a shield wall they had a tactical superiority over any possible enemy. Arminius, the German commander had commanded an auxiliary cohort in the Roman Army and a number of his key subordinates had also served with the Romans. They set an ambush that placed a legion in the worst possible situation, no warning time and no room to form ranks. The wall was the length of one legion. My vignette above is most likely what happened to the lead legion, about 4000 to 5000 men. The Roman commander considered Arminius to be an ally and accepted his suggestion for a route.

A modern reconstruction of the Kalkriese "narrows" at the Kalkriese
Museum. In front, the bog; then, a small strip of land,
and finally the slopes of the mountain, fortified with a wall.

The battle stopped Augustus’s attempt to push the Roman boundary to the Elbe. A larger Army was needed to garrison both the Rhine and Danube lines than would have been required for the Elbe line. Since the Army was larger and closer to Rome it could more easily use it's strength in electing Emperors, changing for the worse the state of Roman politics. The difference of several hundred years of Roman rule still is a cultural dividing line for many things in Europe. The Reformation/Counter Reformation ended with territories close to this line. Whether beer or wine is usually had with dinner also follows this line. Depending on your point of view it was either a major defeat to European unification or a key event in the forming of the German nation. Actually, I think both are correct.

In twelve easy to read chapters with basic maps and some good photographs Dr. Wells describes the events leading up to the battle, the battle, and it’s aftermath. It is especially strong on the archeology of the site and the anthropology of northern Germany. Since I already know a good bit of Roman military history I learned the most from his description of the peoples of northern Germany. His descriptions make the German participants alive rather than the stereotypes that most histories make them out of ignorance. It did much to provide context for other reading on the subject.

Not a military historian, the Dr. Wells made extensive research to understand the event as military history. He almost succeeded. He did make good use of John Keegans the Face of Battle in his analysis. His conclusion that the other two legions were destroyed with in an hour of the first is imimplausible, doesn’t agree with the ancient sources, is not tactically sound, and seems unlikely from the topography. The archeological evidence he describes does not require it and would support other conclusions. It seems more likely that the ancient account is close to correct, these legions had the time to form ranks and then establish a fortified camp that evening, then were destroyed piecemeal as they tried to fight their way home. Other more probalble theories assume the battle began several days earlier and the Romans were driven into this trap and finally destroyed.

The book is intended as an introduction for those without background, and I think especially to introduce people to his favorite field of Anthropology. In this he succeeds admirably. The reader with more background will find the book interesting, while wishing for a more extensive and critical examination and analysis of the battle itself.

See Also


Book Review: Quest for The Lost Legions by Tony Benn
Book Review: Rome‘s Greatest Defeat by Adrian Murdoch
In my opnion, this is the best book in English on the subject. I appended my analysis of the battle.

The Advance Guard Fiction

Related
Book Review: Eagle in the Snow
Book Review: The Fall of the Roman Empire

The pictures are from Livius website were made by Marco Prins and Jona Lendering, and can be downloaded and used for non-commercial purposes, but you have to acknowledge Livius.

Updated 18 May 2007