Posted on 05/13/2021 8:30:30 AM PDT by LuciusDomitiusAutelian
The Roman legions didn’t often know defeat. Military supremacy is what made the Roman Empire one of the most powerful in history. So the thousands of Roman soldiers who lay dying in the German mud of Teutoburg forest in 9 AD must have, beneath the pain of their wounds and the fear of death, felt a keen surprise. Roman legions didn’t often know defeat, and here three of them were utterly annihilated. This was not something a legionary expected to experience in his career.
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So Bagster is a girl eh? I’ll be more gentle with her. I’m a gentleman.
Scipio was a great general.
Thanks, I didn’t know that. I always assumed the Italians took the land from other people.
Thanks, I didn’t know that. I always assumed the Italians took the land from other people.
He fights like a girl too.
How come you keep losing?
The statue was built nowhere near to the site of the battle, and the historical Arminius fled when the Romans returned and beat his ass and those of his followers. Rome's reach was long, and eventually his own relatives, with whom he'd taken refuge, killed him. The exaggeration of the impact of Teutoberg goes on.
It is about 60 miles from the actual battleground site. And in the Tuetoberg Wald. For the 19th century they did the best they could. And the battle site itself is strung out over miles. And Arminius paid the price. Still a valiant and astonishing feat. Arminius was a patriot for his people and used the hubris of Varus to lead them into one of the worst defeats in Roman history.
I agree militarily it is exagerrated, but was still significant to lose three legions. That would be like us losing the 82nd and the 10th Mountain and the the 1st MEU, in a single blunder. Wouldn’t keep us from being the predominant world power (albeit slipping) but would cause serious problems defending a hostile border and require replacing these legions which was a big chunk of the treasury and loss of trained men. After this battle there were some significant punitive incursions into Germanic lands but the Empire began taking a defensive posture along the Rhine and the Danube and the serious threat would shift to further east along the Danube.
Arminius reminds me of Tojo. He thought a good single strike could cripple an empire. He should have been Yamamoto who knew what would happen because he was trained and lived in his adversary’s country.
The Romans’ always got their piece of skin and almost always got their standards back. Even if it was poured in molten form down their throats (Valerian). After this slaughter the Romans began evolving into a defensive posture as opposed to an aggressive expansionist posture along the Rhine and Danube.
A few centuries later they would learn with Dacia, After they got the gold, it was indefensible and not worth the effort. And Hadrian would realize that the Caledonians weren’t worth fighting and built a wall.
I would like to suggest a book. Which I find to be the best hypothesis about the rise and fall of civilizations for you sunkenciv; The Collapse of Complex Societies written by Joseph S Tainter. I think his theory on the fall of great civilizations contains the best hypothesis of why great civilizations like Rome eventually fail. And what we see occurring in the USA.
I am everything the left hates as well.
Proud of it too.
The monument was built as a nationalist anachronism, along the lines of the Victorian monument to Boudicca, and Napoleon III's excavation of the (supposed) site of the Battle of Alesia. There was no surviving folk tradition of so-called resistance to the Romans, not merely because of the great antiquity, but because Arminius' entire people and culture had by that time been covered by many other coats of paint.
Wasn’t familiar with the excavation by Napoleon III. Thanks for the tip. I’ll dig (pun intended) into that. Thanks SunkenCiv.
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