Battle of the Teutoburg Forest
The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, described as the Varian Disaster (Latin: Clades Variana) by Roman historians, was a major battle between Germanic tribes and the Roman Empire that took place somewhere near modern Kalkriese from September 8–11, 9 AD, when an alliance of Germanic peoples ambushed three Roman legions led by Publius Quinctilius Varus and their auxiliaries. The alliance was led by Arminius, a Germanic officer of Varus's auxilia. Arminius had acquired Roman citizenship and had received a Roman military education, which enabled him to deceive the Roman commander methodically and anticipate the Roman army's tactical responses.
| Battle of the Teutoburg Forest | |||||||||
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| Part of the early imperial campaigns in Germania | |||||||||
Cenotaph of Marcus Caelius, 1st centurion of XVIII, who "fell in the war of Varus" ('bello Variano'). | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
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Allied Germanic peoples, possibly including the:
| Roman Empire | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Arminius Segimer | Publius Quinctilius Varus † | ||||||||
| Units involved | |||||||||
| Unknown |
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| Strength | |||||||||
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18,000–30,000
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Estimates vary by historian | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| 5000 | 16,000–20,000 killed | ||||||||
Teutoburg Forest is commonly seen as one of the most important defeats in Roman history, bringing the triumphant period of expansion under Augustus to an abrupt end. The outcome of this battle dissuaded the Romans from their ambition of conquering Germania, and is thus considered one of the most important events in European history.
The provinces of Germania Superior and Germania Inferior, sometimes collectively referred to as Roman Germania, were subsequently established in northeast Roman Gaul, while territories beyond the Rhine remained independent of Roman control. Retaliatory campaigns were commanded by Tiberius and Germanicus and would enjoy success, but the Rhine would eventually become the border between the Roman Empire and the rest of Germania. The Roman Empire would launch no other major incursion into Germania until Marcus Aurelius (r. 161–180) during the Marcomannic Wars.
Some of the descendants of the vassal kingdoms, like the Suebi (by suzerainty), that Augustus tried to create in Germania to expand the romanitas and the Empire would be the ones that invaded Rome in the fourth and fifth centuries.