Roman Empire History The Battle of Teutoburg Forest

I. Introduction The Battle of Teutoburg Forest was a critical battle in the history of the Roman Empire and in the formation of the German state. This battle took place during the reign of Augustus in 9 AD during the time of the Roman Empire expansion. The fall of the Romans in the Battle of Teutoburg Forest was the consequence of several mistakes and strategic blunders by the Roman general Varus and his superiors in Rome. This paper will outline these mistakes as well as the strategic advantages that Arminius exploited on behalf of the Germanic tribes that successfully pushed back the Romans from the forest. The defeat at Teutoburg devastated the Roman emperor Augustus, who, as a result, lost his willpower to pursue the continued†¦show more content†¦However, the Roman infantry and cavalry were extraordinarily well-disciplined and were in excellent physical condition.viiiI6, Although their men were in great physical shape, their uniforms were typically made of metal and had breast plates w hich are very cumbersome. In addition to the unfortunate uniforms, each Roman soldier carried forty pounds of equipment, which included spears, gladiuses (short two-sided swords that were used for thrusting, slashing, blocking, and parrying), and shields.ixI7 The Roman shields (aka. scutum) were heavy and covered most of the soldiers body. The German fighters consisted of about twenty to thirty thousand able-bodied freemen and ten thousand auxiliaries.xA2 While they lacked the formal discipline of the Roman army, their minimal heavy weapons and intimate knowledge of the terrain made the Germans better suited to fight in the forest.xiA2xiiG1 They wore limited armor, typically made of leather for ease of moving.xiiiG3 Some of their weapons included large swords, axes, shields, and large broadswords.xivI9 The German shields were light, and were used primarily for deflecting their opponents’ weapons as opposed to covering their entireShow MoreRelatedHistory of Germany to Present Day665 Words   |  3 PagesIntroduction Germany has a long and eventful history, which inevitably intersects with the past in neighboring countries. The history of Germany is complex and varies with the geographical and historical boundaries within which we consider the territory and the ethno genesis of the German people. As that nation-state, Germany has only existed since 1871. Before that date, however, there was a Germanic world with some variable consistency at different times, linguistically, culturally, and sometimesRead MoreThe Roman Empire And The Romans1815 Words   |  8 PagesIn Roman history, it is often true that history was written by the victors, and given the large expansion of the Roman Empire, the Romans likely wrote over the accounts of the civilizations they took over, adapting the new provinces into their way of life and assimilating Roman culture into new facets of outlying territories way of life. The Roman Empire and Augustus had the ambition to expand north, going east of the Rhine where they ha d never gone, to take over new territory and the tribes thatRead MoreFamous German People Essay3261 Words   |  14 Pagesdied in 21 AD in Germania. He was forty at his time of death. Arminius lived during the Roman Occupation. When Arminius was a boy he lived in Rome as a hostage, where he had received a military education, and obtained Roman citizenship as well as the status of petty noble before returning to Germania and driving the Romans out. When Arminius returned to northern Germania in about 7-8 AD, the Roman Empire had founded safe rule just east of the Rhine River, and along the Lippe and Main Rivers