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[[File: Varus01.jpg|200px|thumb|left|A recreation of the encampment of Varus]]
==The Battle==
As Varus and his legions were on their way to the winter camps, Arminius spread a false rumor that there had been a rebellion in the area. Varus acted precisely as Arminius had expected and he accompanied him and his army as they set out to crush the rebellion. It has been claimed that Varus was warned not to trust Arminius by other Germans but he refused to believe them and regarded Arminius as a friend and ally <ref> Tacitus. 1 43</ref>. As the Romans marched to the site of the rebels’ camp Arminius excused himself. Then he met up with members of his tribe and planned to attack the Romans and soon he was joined by other tribes. The Germans under Arminius attacked the legions at Kalkriese Hill in Osnabrück county, Lower Saxony <ref>Burns, Mike. "Saga of the Lost Roman Legions." Archaeology 58, no. 6 (2005): 48. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41781422</reref>. According to Tacitus who has left a graphic account of the battle, the Romans were not prepared and they were not in battle formation and there were many camp followers interspersed among them. The Roman legions with Varus were not experienced and had not fought the Germans before <ref> Tacitus. 1 45</ref>. The best legions had been posted in the Balkans to deal with the rebellion, there. Arminius ordered his army to attack the Romans as they were marching. Unfortunately, for the Romans, the battle began in a downpour and the wet conditions favored the Germans. The Romans fought their way out of this trap and fell back to a hill<ref> Wells, Peter S. The Battle that stopped Rome. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. 2003, p. 187</ref>. The Germans had expected this and Arminius had earlier ordered that trenches be dug that would prevent the Romans from retreating. Varus and his men were trapped. The Germans attacked the Romans from an earthen wall that has also been pre-prepared<ref> Tacitus, Annals, 1. 57</ref>. After several assaults, the legion fell into disarray and the Germans were able to slaughter the Romans. Varus was later apprehended and killed by some German cavalrymen and many Roman officers committed suicide rather than be captured. Many ordinary soldiers seem to have become slaves <ref> Tacitus, Annals, 1. 59</ref>. In a moving account, Tacitus describes the aftermath of the scene of the battlefield some years later ‘near lay fragments of weapons and limbs of horses, and also human heads, prominently nailed to trunks of trees. In the adjacent groves were the barbarous altars, on which they had immolated tribunes and first-rank centurions’ <ref> Tacitus. 1.62</ref>.
[[File: Part of the Teutoburger forest near Karlkriese.jpg|200px|thumb|left|The Teutoberger Forest]]
== Romans driven from Germania==
In the aftermath of the disaster in the Teutoburg Forest, the Romans lost most of their territory, East of the River Rhine. One legion was able to make it back to the Rhine and from her was able to defend the Roman borders<ref> Tacitus. 1 56</ref>. Another legion was trapped in Germany in a fortress. It was besieged for several months but was able to break through and reach Roman territory. By the following year, the Romans had been completely expelled from all Germany east of the Rhine<ref> Wells, p 188</ref>. The defeat at Teutoburg Forest led to a panic in Rome and Augustus, the emperor at the time, seemed to have suffered some sort of breakdown. He was seen according to Suetonius, screaming and banging on the walls, calling on the ghost of Varus to give him back his legions<ref> Suetonius. The Twelve Caesars. 1 8</ref>. Arminius tried to forge a great alliance with the Marcomanni who had established a strong kingdom in the modern Czech Republic <ref> Tacitus. 1 67</ref>. This failed and there was no great German invasion of the Roman Empire. The Roman general Germanicus was given command of an army that was ordered to avenge the defeat at Teutoburg Forest and the legions did manage to inflict many defeats on the German tribes and they even managed to defeat Arminius. He was later to be assassinated by a rival. Tiberius ordered Germanicus not to establish a Roman province in the areas that he conquered and eventually he ordered him to return to Rome. No Roman army was to repeat the campaign of Germanicus and there was no further attempt to conquer Germania<ref> Wells, p. 190</ref>. After Teutoburg Forest, it seems that the Romans believed that the resources and legions needed to control the area was too great and not worth the risk. The Romans established a series of Limes or defensive walls with watchtowers along their border with Germany and they abandoned any attempt to conquer Germania <ref> Wells, p. 192</ref>. The battle of Teutoburg Forest had changed the Roman attitude to Germania and it had shown them that the Germans, unlike other peoples, were warlike and that they would be difficult to conquer and even more difficult to control. The Roman Imperial policy was based on the calculation that every province had to contribute to the Empire and not be a drain on its resources. Rome after the defeat and massacre of the legions of Varus was convinced that Germania would never be completely subdued. Thereafter the Romans although they retain some German territory such as Germania Superior, they decided never to undertake its conquest again <ref> Goodman, Martin The Roman World, 44 BC-AD 180 ( London: Routledge, 1997), p. 134</ref>
