As mentioned in a previous post, Augustus was beside himself
when told of the loss of three legions at Teutoburg and screamed “Quinctilius
Varus, bring back my eagles!” Augustus was forever spooked by the massacre and
commanded that his army retreat to the banks of the Rhine, avoiding all future
designs on the German territory. He did not live to see the recovered eagles of
the lost legions or get the revenge he must have wanted against Arminius. At
the time of his death in 14 A.D, no plans had been made for dealing with the
Germans.
Tiberius, however, once he was named Caesar, wasted no time moving
north to control the German tribes and gain revenge against Arminius. Even
though Augustus’ death occurred as late as August 19th, an army
under Tiberius’ nephew Germanicus was ordered to attack the Germans before year
end.
The map below shows Germanicus’ campaigns of 14-16 A.D.
In 14 A.D. Germanicus ambushed the Marci and inflicted heavy
losses. During its withdrawal to the Rhine, his army was attacked by the
aroused Bructeri, Tubonti, and Usipedi tribes, but the Romans were able to escape
after significant losses.
In 15 A.D. there were two major campaigns. In the spring
Legatus Caecina Severus attacked the Marsi a second time while Germanicus was
defeating the Chatti. These attacks were preemptive and designed to suppress
allies of the Cherusci so the latter could be attacked with less risk. In the second
half of 15 Germanicus divided the Roman army into three parts, positioning them
for simultaneous attacks. Severus attacked the Bructeri while Albinovanus
attacked the Frisi. Separately, Germanicus came by sea and met up with them at
the Amisia River. The combined armies fought their way to the head of the river
which was near the site of the Teutoburg massacre.
Germanicus erected a mound over the burial site containing
the bones of the Roman soldiers and conducted funeral rites to honor the dead. On
their way back to the Rhine, the Romans were ambushed again by Arminius, but
this time Severus and Germanicus were able to fight their way out of the trap.
Germanicus had additional difficulty with his withdrawal by sea when his ships
could not be fully loaded because of shallow water. Part of his army had to
march along the shoreline and many soldiers were swept away and drowned by the
tides.
During the campaigns of 15, Germanicus was able to retrieve two
of the eagles lost in the Teutoburg battle (the third was not recovered until
41 A.D.).
The year 16 A.D. brought an end to the Roman campaigns against the Germans. The main event that year involved Germanicus pushing across the Weser and defeating Arminius at Idistaviso. Recalled after the German campaign was complete, Germanicus received a triumph in May of 17 A.D.
There is much debate about the Roman position vis a vis the
Germans after the Teutoburg massacre. Many have taken the position that the loss
of the three legions blocked forever Roman attempts to conquer Germany influencing the course of European development for the future. I think that
point is debatable for at least two reasons. First, Tiberius ended the German
campaigns because he felt the effort was not worth the losses incurred,
not because of the massacre. He decided that the plan of letting the German
tribes fight among themselves was a better strategy. Second, he had better uses
of the army than post them in barbarian Germany.
The fact that Rome never conquered Germany was more about
the difficulty of accomplishing that goal given the strength and relationship
between the German tribes than anything else. Rome would eventually reach
Britain during the time of Claudius, but would never move east of Gaul after 16
A.D.
5 comments:
Good post Mike and from memory I think one of transport ships was blown across here in a storm and so Britain had its only earlier mini invasion.
Noticed your map has the position of Idistaviso on it. Am trying to figure out exactly where that is so I can GPS it for a map I'm making. Do you have more exacting data for its location?
Guillermo, I will take a look and comment on what I find.
Ancient sources identify the location as Idistavisus, but the precise location is unknown, save that it was on the right side of the Weser River, somewhere between the cities of Minden and Hamelin of present-day Germany.
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