Battle of the Teutoburg Forest

Battle of the Teutoburg Forest
Part of the Roman-Germanic wars
Cenotaph of Marcus Caelius, 1st centurion of XVIII, who "fell in the war of Varus" (bello Variano) Reconstructed inscription: "To Marcus Caelius, son of Titus, of the Lemonian district, from Bologna, first centurion of the eighteenth legion. 53½ years old. He fell in the Varian War. His bones may be interred here. Publius Caelius, son of Titus, of the Lemonian district, his brother, erected (this monument)".[1]
Date September, 9 AD (no exact date) Location Osnabrück County, Lower Saxony Result Germanic victory Roman Empire's withdrawal from Germany
Belligerents
Germanic tribes (Cherusci, Marsi, Chatti, Bructeri, Chauci and Sicambri).	Roman Empire
Commanders and leaders
Arminius	Publius Quinctilius Varus
Strength
12,000 – 32,000	20,000 – max. 36,000: 3 Roman legions (XVII, XVIII/XIIX, and XIX/XVIIII), 3 alae and 6 auxiliary cohorts
Casualties and losses
unknown	16,000 dead [2][3] some enslaved

The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest was a military battle that took place in the year 9 AD. In the battle, an alliance of Germanic tribes won a major victory over three Roman legions. The Germanic tribes were led by Arminius, the Roman legions by Publius Quinctilius Varus.

It was more than a Germanic victory: it was the complete destruction of three Roman legions and all of their commanders. The few men who survived were made slaves.^[4] It was one of the two greatest disasters in Roman military history, the other being at the Battle of Cannae. Apart from occasional raids and campaigns, the Romans never again held Germanic land across the Rhine.

The battle began a seven-year war. The war ended with the Rhine as the boundary of the Roman Empire for the next 400 years, until the decline of the Western Roman Empire.

1. ↑ "Marcus Caelius". www.livius.org. 2010. Archived from the original on 2010-03-08. Retrieved 2012-05-28.
2. ↑ Wells, Peter S. The Battle that stopped Rome. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. 2003, p. 187 ISBN 0-393-32643-8
3. ↑ Kevin Sweeney, Scholars look at factors surrounding Hermann’s victory Archived 2011-07-14 at the Wayback Machine. www.nujournal.com
4. ↑ Cite error: The named reference Bordewich was used but no text was provided for refs named (see the help page).