THE BATTLE OF THE TEUTOBURGER WALD

______The Roman Empire was still expanding in 9 A.D. Many provinces had been added to it and it now included what is now modern Italy, France, Greece, Egypt, Portugal and Spain, as well as parts of Turkey, Syria, Israel, Libya, and Algeria. It was at this time that the Empire set its sights on Germania, the host of tribes living to the east of the Rhine.
______The German tribes raided Roman territory on occasion, and the Roman legions on the frontier responded in kind with punitive expeditions, taking along with them auxiliaries, or units drawn from the local area to conduct operations for which the legions were unsuitable. A major expedition, intent on establishing permanent camps on the east bank of the Rhine as the first step towards colonization, proceeded under the command of General Publius Quinctilius Varus. With him were auxiliaries under the command of a German named Arminius.
______Unbeknownst (I always wanted to use that word) to the Romans, Arminius hated Rome. He and his auxiliaries disappeared the first night, having led the Roman legions deep into the forest. The Romans continued slogging eastward the next morning, despite a rainstorm that made the trail slick and German raids which gave the Romans no rest.
______The raids increased in frequency and intensity, and the legionaires' progress slowed as felled trees blocked the trail. Soon the frequency of the attacks were such that the Romans found themselves in a full-fledged battle.
______The Germans succeeded in annihilating three Roman legions, the XVII, XVIII and the XIX. Perhaps as many as 25,000 Romans died in the massacre, with only a handful returning to the Roman settlements to tell what happened.
______The Battle of the Teutoburger Wald did not end German attempts to expand into Germany, but the stubborness of the German tribes was not lost on the Roman emperors. Roman armor and human bones were still scattered around the forest when the Romans returned six years later and it is still possible to find an artifact or two at the sites. Eventually the Romans simply established the Rhine as a permanent border, and would not be bothered with the Germans again... until failure to control illegal immigration across the border led to the Empire's fall, but that's a whole different story!

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