The Battle That Stopped Rome by Peter S. Wells
Published June 21, 2004
The Roman Empire suffered one of its greatest defeats at the Battle of Teutoburg Forest. In the year 9, German tribal forces ambushed and destroyed three Roman Legions which the Emperor Augustus had sent to pacify the region between the Rhine and the Elbe. As a result of this defeat, the Roman Empire defined the Rhine as its border with Germany, a border line which held until the fall of the Empire.
The actual site of the battle was only discovered in 1987. Since then, excavations have illuminated details of the German ambush that were unknown to ancients like Tacitus who wrote about the battle. The ambush was planned and executed by a German tribal leader named Arminius (referred to in later German history as Hermann). Arminius was trusted as an ally by the Roman governor of the Rhineland, Varus. He provided false information which caused the Romans to take a particular route in one of their expeditionary marches. They were led through a narrow pathway between the base of a hill and marshland near Kalkriese. The Germans had prepared a disguised turf wall at the base of the hill and hid behind it until the Romans passed, when they launched a spear attack which caught the Romans by surprise in an area where they could not maneuver. Three legions were destroyed.
The author combines historical chapters which narrate the reconstructed story in an exciting manner with archeological chapters which describe in detail the evidence found in excavations. The excellent illustrations include maps and photographs of weapons uncovered. Recommended for anyone fascinated by the opening battle scenes in Gladiator.
- The Battle That Stopped Rome by Peter S. Wells
- Published: June 21, 2004
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- Section: Books
- Filed Under: Books: Nonfiction
- Writer: Rick Heller
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I have read and re-read book by Peter S Wells -
"The Battle That Stopped Rome" - however, what I do not understand is HOW DID THE ROMANS GET IT SO WRONG??? - We they just plain stupid?? - did they not have the know how and all the experience?? - sure at Tutoberg - they may have been outnumbered, but what of 'scouts' who went ahead and check out the area/terain/conditions/and or any changes that may have raised some BIG concerns for the leaders of the troops passing through ????? - it seems so incredible??? they simply rode into a trap and annihilated!!! IF THERE IS AN EXPERT OUT THERE ON THE SUBJECT - WOULD APPRECIATE IF YOU COULD THROW SOME LIGHT ON THE TOPIC!!! - I find Peter Welles book a little hard to believe!!
Katherine
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Peter Wells' book on the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest suffers from the author's insistance upon presupposing a certain course of events and then trying to fit the evidence to it.
He bases his thesis on the most untrustworthy of all the 4 Roman accounts of the battle, the infamous "Florus" repott, branded "ridiculous" by the great historian Theodore Mommsen. It claims that Varus' 3 Legions - a huge army for those days - was gathered in a single camp to attend a trial conducted by Varus, whent he Germans stormed in and massacred them all.
Wells moves this scene out of the camp to the field where it in fact occurred, but maintains the claim that the army was surprised and overwhelmed without being able to resist at all, in just an hour or so.
This contradicts all the other written evidence and also the findings at Kalkriese hill, the site of the battlefield. Absolutely all analysis of that evidence points to a long march of the Romans, either culminating with the annihilation of the remains of their army at or near Kalkriese (this is the view of the vast majority), or an initial attack at Kalkriese, followed by a a breakout and the annihilation of the Roman army somewhere to the soutwest (view of Prof. Ledering, Amsterdam, hitherto the only English-language site on the issue).
The idea that a Roman army could be wiped out in the manner Wells describes is not credible. A visit to Kalkriese will also show that the terrain there is in no way so extreme as to permit an exception to this conclusion.