The Battle Against Rome_2of2_The Battle
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00:00In the late summer of 9 AD, Varus' legions are getting ready to return to their winter
00:23quarters on the Rhine.
00:29Arminius begins to play a dangerous double game.
00:33He's preparing a plan to attack Varus' legions on the march back to the Rhine, while carrying
00:40on with his duty as an officer in the auxiliary cavalry.
00:56Varus and Arminius are close, almost like father and son.
01:00Later, they will reproach Varus for having been too trusting.
01:03But to Varus, Arminius is a Roman.
01:06His loyalty cannot be questioned.
01:11Behind his back, Arminius is wooing the warriors of the Germanic tribes in the dark forests.
01:22As a priestess prays to the gods and confidently predicts a great victory, Arminius concentrates
01:35on the huge practical challenge of defeating the Romans.
01:39Even if the gods are on their side, the tribes will have no chance if they meet the Romans
01:45in open battle.
01:50When he fought beside them in Pannonia, he watched the legions advance with such force
01:56and with such discipline and order in every unit, that the tribes would be defeated if
02:03they faced them directly.
02:10A tribal chieftain suggests attacking the Romans on the march, while their line stretches
02:14like a long thin worm across the plains.
02:19Arminius reminds them that Varus had three legions, that's nearly 20,000 men.
02:27The tribes had neither the men nor the weapons for such an attack.
02:31They'd be sure to fail, but the Romans are terrified of the Germanic forests.
02:38They hate the marshes and the narrow valleys.
02:42They must be invited to enter the forests.
02:52Arminius was in a very good position.
02:54He knew the Roman army well.
02:57He'd been on campaigns crushing the great Pannonian rebellion, where the Romans had
03:01to fight a long, tough war.
03:05And he had another advantage.
03:07The Romans trusted him.
03:09He was a Roman knight, a Roman officer.
03:12He must have had a great deal of charisma.
03:15People must have thought, this is the man who can make the changes we want in Germania.
03:22Rumors have reached the Romans that Germanic tribes are planning to rebel.
03:27Perhaps the legions should be marching in battle order.
03:31When Varus asks Arminius, he says it's just a rumor.
03:37But if Varus desires it, he'll scout the territory with his auxiliaries.
03:43Varus is satisfied, and all thoughts can turn to the distant homeland.
03:57The night before the march is due to start, the chieftain of the Cebuski comes to the
04:01Roman camp.
04:03Segestes opposes the plan to attack the legions, and Varus has invited him to a farewell meal.
04:15Segestes saw that Arminius was putting his own people, the Cherusci and the neighboring
04:20tribes into serious danger.
04:25Quite a number of senior members of the Cherusci thought that Arminius' hopes of succeeding
04:30were really not that great at all.
04:42Segestes takes a huge risk.
04:45He tries to warn Varus that a conspiracy and an uprising are planned against him and the
04:50Roman legions.
04:53Varus can't imagine who could be that foolhardy.
04:56Segestes points to Arminius.
05:04On a September morning in the year 9 A.D., Arminius leaves the camp with part of his
05:10auxiliary cavalry.
05:12Varus has dismissed Segestes' warning and given Arminius free hand to act as he wishes.
05:20After this first warning, there was no time for a second.
05:24The Roman sources say.
05:29The senior Roman commanders aren't as confident as Varus, but they can't see what Arminius
05:35could do, even if he were disloyal.
05:38Everyone has the same thought, to cross the forest safely and get back to the warmth and
05:43comfort of the winter quarters along the Rhine.
05:52Arminius is committed.
05:57There's no way back.
06:11The clatter of arms and the marching feet of thousands of legionaries could be heard
06:15deep in the forest, as the 17th, 18th and 19th legions march out of their summer camp.
06:23The mood is light-hearted.
06:24A few more days of hardship in the wilderness, and then the camps on the Rhine, with wine,
06:30women and song, games and baths.
06:41Only Varus already sees himself back in Rome, enjoying a wealthy and contented retirement.
06:48He's marching to his doom, with all of his 22,000 soldiers and their support units.
06:58The giant column probably takes the usual route, south from the river Weser, around
07:03the foothills of the Teutoburg forest, to the river Lippe.
07:08Across that, and onto the Rhine.
07:12That's how it should be.
07:20We still don't know how Arminius persuaded Varus and the legions to change their route.
07:25The Roman sources tell us simply, when Arminius and his auxiliaries were sent on ahead, they
07:30killed Roman troops stationed in their homeland.
07:39Arminius and his auxiliaries are still wearing Roman armour.
07:43The Roman soldiers see them as allies.
07:46In a surprise attack, they have no chance at all.
08:01Burn the towers.
08:11The auxiliaries torch the observation towers the Romans have erected at the edge of their
08:15marching routes.
08:18Arminius makes sure his attacks won't go unnoticed.
08:31At the end of their first day's march, the legions reach the foothills of the Teutoburg
08:41forest.
08:43The land is flat, the weather is dull but dry, and the troops are making good progress.
08:51And this is the moment Arminius burns the watchtower.
09:06How would Varus react?
09:14The Romans ask themselves what it can mean.
09:24Varus concludes that the rumours of an uprising were not groundless after all.
09:31Arminius must have come into conflict with rebels.
09:43Roman commanders in Germania would normally avoid entering forests or marshlands with
09:48their troops.
09:53If they had to cross a marsh, they would lay down a wooden walkway first.
09:59These were the Pontis Longae, the long bridges described by Roman historians.
10:07None has yet been found, but they were probably similar to the walkways the Germanic tribes
10:14constructed.
10:20This one is almost 3,500 years old, built by the tribes living near the Venner Marsh,
10:27close to Osnabrück.
10:37On day two of the march, Varus makes a fatal mistake.
10:41He departs from the usual route and erects his legions into the forests.
10:48He's hurrying to Arminius' aid to nip the rebellion in the bud.
10:54The Jurassican's plan is working.
10:59The Teutoburg Forest
11:06Then, as now, these highlands in northwest Germany are known for their craggy outcrops,
11:22impenetrable valleys and dense forests.
11:30It's a nightmare for Roman soldiers, and impossible for an army of 22,000 men.
11:47Progress is painfully slow.
11:53Sliding in the mud and stumbling over tree roots, the soldiers can't stay in formation.
11:59Weighed down by their armor and weapons, the legionaries become more and more weary with
12:03each step.
12:06The supply wagons and the civilians slow their progress even more.
12:11Why Varus insists in penetrating ever deeper into the forest remains a mystery.
12:17Centurions do all they can to speed up the stragglers, with mixed success.
12:28The tribesmen know their way around the forests.
12:48Armed with just spears, axes and swords, they can appear from all directions at once, moving
12:54silently along well-trodden, well-disguised paths.
13:00Arminius maneuvers his men into position in the undergrowth.
13:04The Romans notice nothing.
13:16Long before they get to look an enemy in the face, the Romans are weakened by their struggle
13:21against the forest.
13:23Cassius Dio writes, even before the attack, the Romans were in enough trouble felling
13:29trees, laying walkways and building bridges to advance.
13:38Precisely the situation Arminius intends to create.
13:49It was all happening pretty much as Arminius planned it.
13:52He was able to prepare his little surprises for the Romans along the route.
13:57He could choose the moment when they were too far from their usual route to turn back
14:02after the first attacks.
14:05They would say, we have to go on, we keep marching, and that way they were walking further
14:10and further into the trap.
14:16Historians can't agree how many warriors Arminius was able to mobilize to fight Varus.
14:22And it's hard to imagine the total came anywhere near the numbers of Varus's three legions.
14:39The Roman column has now become extremely stretched, another advantage for the tribesmen.
14:47Their weapons are clearly inferior to the Romans. Axes, swords, wooden spears and simple
14:56shields.
15:00The tribesmen didn't necessarily need superiority in numbers. Because they were attacking the
15:05Romans in a long column, they could choose the place for the assault.
15:11Say for example, three thousand legionaries are marching along a narrow front in a two
15:15kilometre long column, accompanied by wagons and mules, with people at the rear weighed
15:20down by packs, and they're suddenly attacked by five thousand tribesmen. The tribesmen
15:26have both the element of surprise and at that point considerable numerical superiority.
15:34Arminius has one further crucial advantage.
15:38Legions crossing difficult country are given protection for their flanks. Auxiliary cavalry,
15:44Germanic mercenaries, that he commands.
15:51And they have joined the rebellion.
15:56Varus cannot guess that the very forces that are protecting his flank will be the first
16:01to attack his legions.
16:09The warriors storm down from their hiding places in the hills.
16:26They are absolutely silent. Only the distant thunder of their feet betrays their presence.
16:39At that moment, the auxiliaries change sides. The attack finds the Romans entirely unprepared.
16:46There's barely time to raise the alarm.
17:17The Germans fight more with their bodies than with their weapons, a Roman historian says.
17:26In the chaotic confusion of civilians and supply wagons, it's impossible to bring up
17:30reinforcements.
17:40The tribesmen and the auxiliaries attack from both sides, giving the Romans no chance to
17:45regroup.
17:49The most powerful army in the ancient world is defenseless.
18:00There are no armies marching in formation. This is just hit and run.
18:08The surprise has been total. Centurions have been cut down even before they can gather
18:17their troops into action. They couldn't fight back.
18:21But what do their enemies plan? Are they after booty, or is it a major attack?
18:25All they know is that the enemy are present in large numbers.
18:29And where is Arminius?
18:37Varus decides the only option is to press on.
18:41As soon as they find a suitable place in the forest, they will halt, gather the legions,
18:47and build an emergency camp.
18:58According to Tacitus, the Romans manage to advance through the forest.
19:03Then, all three legions work together to build a temporary camp.
19:13No single legion had been destroyed.
19:21One battle had been lost.
19:29The war could still be won.
19:36At this point, Varus was still following standard Roman procedure.
19:40He built a fortified encampment as well as he could in the terrain and given the state of his troops.
19:45And it was the right thing to do, because the enemy was nearby and he had to ensure
19:50that his men could at least rest that night without having to fight off non-stop attacks.
19:56The wall in the ditch, with sentries placed behind it, was precisely what was needed
20:01to make an impression on the enemy and make them think twice before launching an attack.
20:09Behind the ramparts, they tend to the wounded,
20:18while the commanders consider their options.
20:23They realize their losses are worse than they thought. Eight cohorts have been wiped out.
20:28Their choices are poor.
20:33Maybe they should make a break for it.
20:38But marching on could be suicide.
20:43Varus must decide.
20:47Betrayed by the man he trusted most.
20:52His commanders urge him to stay behind their defenses.
20:57Messengers can be sent to the Halten and Xanten garrisons for reinforcement.
21:02There's no alternative. They need help.
21:07Varus rejects their advice. They can wipe out the barbarians once they leave the forest.
21:12He instructs his commanders to abandon the civilians and destroy the baggage train.
21:17The Germans will march on at daybreak.
21:22The orders are clear and will be obeyed without question.
21:35It is a serious strategic error.
21:40The Germanic forces immediately spot the burning baggage train.
22:10A scout reports to Arminius.
22:15The Romans have ejected the civilians from the camp and are destroying their supplies.
22:20Some of the chieftains want to pillage before everything is burned.
22:25They know they owe their men booty. This is their chance.
22:30Arminius is furious.
22:35He promises to lead them to victory if they obey his orders.
22:47Arminius' achievement here was in making his non-too-disciplined forces follow rational, deliberate tactics.
22:56Many of them would surely have seen this as cowardice
23:01in order to go along with his plan.
23:06Morally, Arminius' behavior may be dubious.
23:11But there's no doubt that he was a military genius
23:16and a man torn between two cultures.
23:21Realistically, he has no chance against the Romans.
23:26But he still went ahead with his attack.
23:33The next morning, the legions leave the camp in battle order.
23:38Varus abandons the civilians to their fate.
23:43Perhaps he expects the barbarians to massacre them and plunder the supplies
23:48and let his legions go free.
23:54Arminius said that war is fought only against soldiers.
24:01This Germanic code of honor was based on sound reasoning.
24:09If Arminius spared the civilians in the baggage train,
24:14that wouldn't have been for humanitarian reasons.
24:19He could free them from prison and then hold them to ransom.
24:28Trading in people, prisoners of war, is perfectly normal in warfare
24:33because people mean manpower, and that's extremely valuable.
24:43So I don't see that as evidence that Arminius was a man of integrity who was sparing civilians.
24:48He was simply being practical.
24:56On the third day, the weather turns.
25:06Torrential rain brings the legions' forced march to a halt.
25:11Their armour, now soaking wet and heavy as lead,
25:16is much more fragile than before.
25:21For Arminius and his men, this is perfectly normal weather.
25:34Cassius Dio writes, heavy storms broke out.
25:39While the Romans fought the elements, the barbarians moved into position,
25:45and the Roman army advanced.
25:53Arminius now unleashes an attack of appalling brutality.
26:15To the Romans, they must seem like evil spirits.
26:32There's no time for a heroic rearguard action.
26:37No time to look after the wounded.
26:45No time to look after the wounded.
26:58One chronicler wrote, caught in the bogs and the forests,
27:03the Romans were butchered man by man,
27:08by the same enemy they had butchered like cattle so many times before.
27:15And finally, in the chaos,
27:20Varus loses control of his legions.
27:25There are no generals left for the soldiers to follow.
27:30His army falls apart.
27:45In the space of 24 hours,
27:50Varus has faced two overwhelming attacks on his legions.
27:55He must have come to realise that victory is now beyond his grasp.
28:00He can only hope to avoid annihilation.
28:06One of his cavalry commanders finally reaches the scene of the massacre.
28:11He finds Varus at his wit's end,
28:16with no idea what to do.
28:21This could be the last chance to call for reinforcements.
28:26Pneumonius volunteers to break out with his cavalry to the nearest Roman stronghold.
28:31According to Roman historians,
28:36Pneumonius only wanted to save his own skin.
28:41He left the foot soldiers in the lurch and fled towards the Rhine.
28:46But fate took its revenge.
28:51As Paterculus recorded,
28:56Death overtook the traitor on the way.
29:01Whatever Varus and Pneumonius may have planned,
29:06Arminius is a step ahead.
29:11Another trap awaits the fleeing cavalry.
29:16Not a single horseman will make it to the Rhine.
29:26Now the legionaries waste no time to get moving.
29:34Nothing matters but getting out of the forest.
29:39The tribesmen are always just behind them.
29:44They know they only have to drive the Romans forwards.
30:09And the legions stumble blindly on.
30:31But the knight's forced march has done the trick.
30:36At last, three days after the Romans left their regular route,
30:41the forest gets lighter, the land gets flatter.
30:53At last, there's a glimmer of hope.
30:58The Romans are safe.
31:03Open country.
31:13If Varus had been counting on Pneumonius' cavalry,
31:18he realizes now that all hope is lost.
31:24And Arminius makes sure the Romans understand
31:29they're still in the trap.
31:34Tracing their progress, we can assume that Varus
31:39and the remains of his legions moved north on the third day
31:44and marched over the Wien hills
31:50They turn west towards the Rhine.
31:55They're marching into a bottleneck just 80 meters wide
32:00between the Kalkriser mountain to the south
32:05and a giant swamp to the north.
32:11Just a few years ago, archaeologists stumbled
32:16on the remains of a palisade wall.
32:21Behind these ramparts, Arminius and his men are thought
32:26to have waited in ambush for Varus for the final decisive blow.
32:31That's what the experts believe.
32:36But also spear tips and tools.
32:41Is this the site of the last battle?
32:46Pride of place goes to a Roman cavalry officer's ceremonial mask.
32:55Though there are very many finds at Kalkriser,
33:00the whole terrain is quite small.
33:06So far, the finds at Kalkriser don't reflect those numbers.
33:15Even if conclusive proof is still lacking,
33:20Kalkriser was soon declared the definitive location of the battle.
33:25The museum is a magnet for tourists.
33:30It shows the coordinates of the coins found at the site.
33:35Judging by the current evidence,
33:40there's a great deal more that argues for Kalkriser than against it.
33:45We found coins with Varus's likeness on them.
33:50So these coins must have found their way into the ground
33:55to be sure about that.
34:00The second point is, we've found no coins that were minted after 9 AD
34:05among the 1800 or so that we have dug up.
34:10Scientists have found traces of a battle
34:15along a 10-kilometer stretch of the Vien Mountains.
34:20This allows us to reconstruct a clear scenario for the third decisive day.
34:29The lie of the land in Kalkriser over the whole area we're working on
34:34makes it clear that the Roman army was moving from east to west
34:39and that the tribesmen attacked them repeatedly from the lower slopes of Kalkriser hill.
34:44We can demonstrate this over a zone of at least 10 kilometers.
34:49We can show that the tribesmen kept harrying the marching Roman army
34:54with small-scale darting attacks.
35:03When the Romans emerge from the forest and form up in the open,
35:08Arminius gathers his men for the final battle.
35:13They're fighting to counter the tribe's cry of freedom or death.
35:23Now they sent victory. More and more tribesmen are going over to Arminius.
35:28Even Roman allies like Segestes, through opportunism, not conviction.
35:34We shouldn't get ideas about the honorable Germanic peoples.
35:39That's an 18th and 19th century idea.
35:44Archaeology can bring us down to earth here.
35:49We see from the battlefield that there was plunder, probably the stripping of corpses.
35:54Taking booty was very important.
35:59Gold, bronze and even iron.
36:06The battle is a victory over the Romans that no one would have thought possible.
36:11Close to 15,000 soldiers lie dead in the forest.
36:21The few survivors drag themselves across the plain,
36:26waiting to be captured and slaughtered.
36:45There could be no greater humiliation for the superpower that is Rome.
36:57Arminius' victory is unprecedented.
37:02Of the Roman historians, it was Tacitus who really understood its significance.
37:07Arminius was indisputably the liberator of Germania.
37:15Varus would become the scapegoat for the greatest military disaster Rome had ever experienced.
37:21He commits suicide on the battlefield.
37:26As Paterculus disdainfully comments,
37:31this commander had more courage to die than to fight.
37:36In the end, he ran himself through.
37:51Even after three days of fighting, the bloodshed is not at an end.
37:56The victorious tribesmen pass over the battlefield,
38:01ripping armour and weapons from the bodies of the dead and dying.
38:12They sacrifice captured legionaries to the gods that granted them victory.
38:21The legions are stamped into the mud,
38:26and Varus' corpse is defiled.
38:31His head goes on a terrible journey to the Emperor Augustus in Rome.
38:51If the tribes stay loyal, Arminius can build on his triumph.
38:58In his hour of victory, he is the undisputed leader of the Germanic tribes.
39:03But will the Romans seek revenge?
39:08The short-term result of Arminius' victory
39:13was that Augustus abandoned his plans to occupy Germania as far as the river Elbe.
39:18Augustus had to fight plenty of internal battles,
39:23and he had a tough time imposing his policy.
39:28Plenty of people in Rome who said,
39:33we can't accept this humiliation, we must hit back.
39:38But Augustus believed it wasn't worth it.
39:43He was right. So they can keep fighting the stronger ones.
39:48And we're sitting pretty, and the Germanic tribes are no longer a problem for us.
39:56Six years later, in 15 AD,
40:01Roman legions return to the site of the disaster.
40:13Tacitus describes the terrible discoveries made by the legions
40:18under the command of Germanicus.
40:23Bleached bones were lying all over the forest floor.
40:28Skulls were nailed to trees.
40:33These were the barbed wires,
40:38and nails were nailed to trees.
40:43These were the barbarians' altars,
40:48on which they slaughtered the tribunes and centurions.
40:56Almost 2,000 years later,
41:01archaeologists in Caltresa discover bones buried in a mass grave.
41:06They show signs of violence.
41:11They were exposed to the elements for a long time before being buried.
41:16Could this be proof that Caltresa was the site of the battle?
41:21Perhaps the archaeologists have confirmed the truth of Tacitus' account 2,000 years later.
41:26But not everyone is satisfied,
41:31and this is not the end of the story.
41:36Germanicus failed in his attempt to take revenge,
41:41to crush the Germanic tribes.
41:46Arminius fought more battles against the Romans and kept them at bay.
41:51Germanicus was ordered back to Rome.
41:56This area would never become a Roman province.
42:01The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest was one of the most significant of the ancient world.
42:06It resulted in a fundamental and long-lasting cultural divide
42:11that split Europe in two.
42:16Here on the Rhine, where the Xanten Archaeology Park now stands,
42:21was a Roman town with temples, an amphitheater and baths.
42:26This was a center of antique civilization.
42:31On the other side of the river,
42:36the Germanic tribes remained what they were, free and volatile.
42:41Germania simply carried on as it had done before the Romans came.
42:46Germania was anything but a unified nation.
42:51It was many centuries before bigger tribal groupings formed,
42:56like the Alemanns or the Franks,
43:01who were finally strong enough to bring down the Roman Empire in the West.
43:06Arminius paid for his ambition
43:12of creating a Germanic kingdom with his life.
43:17He was poisoned, probably by his own family.
43:22Without a common enemy,
43:27the land fell back into a state of permanent feuding.
43:32No chieftain could tolerate another exceeding him in power and influence,
43:38until modern times.
43:43The problem for the kings was always the aristocracy.
43:48And that problem lasted in Germany
43:53until the reign of Frederick William IV.
43:58When he was offered the throne in 1848, he said,
44:03he doesn't care what the people think,
44:08but he's afraid of his peers, the other crowned heads of Germany.
44:13So we can say that this sense of envy,
44:18this sense of rivalry with the aristocracy,
44:23becomes a permanent factor in Germany.
44:28With the completion of the Hermann Monument in 1875,
44:33the sword points towards France, Germany's archenemy in the 19th century,
44:38even though Arminius had fought against Rome.
44:47But that doesn't minimize his achievement
44:52of challenging and defeating Rome at her peak.
44:59But we would know nothing of this hero
45:04if his enemies hadn't told his story.
45:09It was Tacitus, Rome's greatest historian,
45:14who wrote the words that immortalized this barbarian tribesman.
45:19He was undefeated in war.
45:24Today, they still sing his praises among the barbarian people.
45:54Music
45:59Music
46:04Music
46:09Music