In AD 16, in Germania, the air stank of revenge and hinted of death. They narrate the chronicles –sometimes exaggerated, sometimes excessively poetic– that Julius Caesar Germanicus might not bring himself to attack the local tribes in Idistaviso when he glimpsed how eight eagles flew over his army. One for each legion that, that day, waited to face the rebels led by the traitor Arminius. The general followed them with his eyes and saw that they entered the forest where the enemy waited anxiously. That was sign enough. “Follow the Roman birds, the true deities of our legions!” he ordered loudly.
Thus began the battle of Idistaviso, still surrounded today by a certain mystery for some historians
desperately searching for the exact point where it happened. What is known is that the resulting victory marked the decline of Arminius, the ancient Roman general of German origin who had led three legions to their deaths in the Teutoburg Forests seven years before. If from then on he managed to centralize power around him, the defeat once morest Caesar Germanicus destroyed his popularity and inspired enough courage in some local tribal leaders to rise up once morest him and assassinate him soon following.
sad memory
Needless to say, the germ of Rome’s hatred had its roots in the deception perpetrated by Arminius in 9 AD That year, the German wiped out three legions under the command of Publio Quintilio Varo; an unsuspecting general who innocently allowed himself to be led into a trap in the heart of the Teutonic forests. Publius Cornelius Tacitus himself, historian and politician, referred in this way to the barbarities perpetrated once morest the combatants of the ‘urbs’ that day: «In the field, the bones of the soldiers were found scattered where they had fallen, in their put or tried to flee. There were bits of weapons and horse bones and human heads attached to tree trunks.”
That catastrophe made the emperor Augusto he will send his son to Germany Tiberio. The goal was simple: bring stability to the area and prevent the local tribes from uniting once morest the power of Rome. He did half well since, following some minor victories, the offspring had to return to the capital to take over the easy chair following the death of his father. That’s how he got on stage Germanicwho was granted in the year 14 the ‘imperium proconsular‘ and the command of the armies of the Rhine. Outside the reports, he also received the order to avenge the affront committed in the Teutoburg forest.
It cannot be said that his work in Germany began with the good sandal. As he arrived in the area, Caesar – as Tacitus refers to him in his writings – had to face a revolt of legionnaires caused by the lack of pay and the death of Augustus. In ‘Legions of Rome‘, Stephen Dando-Collins affirms that the general bowed in principle to the needs of his men. Weeks later, when there was a second outbreak of revolt, one of his generals ordered to root out the rioters. «It was a destruction more than a remedy» lamented the successor of Tiberius.
In the following months, Germanicus launched several minor attacks once morest the local tribes. His most symbolic victory was reaching the Teutoburg Forest itself to bury the remains of the deceased soldiers. «And so, that Roman army, which appeared six years following the disaster, was burying the bones of the three legions, without anyone knowing if the remains they were giving to the earth were foreign or their own; they buried everyone like friends and relatives, and letting themselves be carried away by a growing hatred once morest the enemy, sad and irritated at the same time, “says Tacitus.
Already with his morale through the roof, in the year 16 AD, the general wanted to give the enemy the finishing touch and entered Teutonic territory once more by attacking ships. “In the summer, he used the fleet of a thousand ships that he had just built to return to the heart of Germania to seek revenge once morest Arminius and his rebel generals,” reveals Dando-Collins. With him were some 78,000 men between legionnaires and auxiliary cohorts. Almost nothing. Tacitus is even clearer in emphasizing that «Caesar pursued Arminius to impassable places» with his men. It seemed that, battle goes, combat comes, revenge was going to be perpetrated.
Facing
Mid-morning on a summer day – the exact date is unknown – César arrived with his men on the banks of the river weser, located in western Germany. The battle might be tasted. There is some controversy regarding what happened, but the most widespread version is that some natives informed him of the exact place where Arminius had gathered the Germanic tribes to once once more face the power of Rome. This time they would not be so lucky. Germanicus was not Varus. He lacked the innocence of his and would not fall into a trap. Tacitus explains it this way:
“Caesar crossed the Weser and, through the indications of a deserter, learned of the place chosen by Arminius for the combat: other peoples had also gone to a forest sacred to Hercules and were going to try a night attack on the camp. He took credit for such information; besides, bonfires might be seen, and the scouts reported that, as they approached closer, they had heard the neighing of horses and the murmur of an immense and disheveled army.’
Classical sources put the Germans at regarding 50.000, an acceptable figure for the time. The core of the troops was formed by the the oaks of Arminius, but there was an extensive list of ‘barbarians’: arpos, catos, marsos, fosios, usipetes, tubantes, bructeros, angrivarios, tencteros, matiaci, ampsivarios and some longbardos. They stood out, to the sadness of Germanicus, the rubbers, who had stolen the eagle from one of Varus’s legions –in practice, the most painful affront that might be committed once morest Rome–. When Caesar saw that contingent he limited himself to forming his men. He did it calmly and knowing that he had in his army two cohorts of the Praetorian Guard ceded by the emperor himself, something unusual at the time.
He also knew what he was doing. In fact, he had already warned his officers that they must fight in the jungles and forests. “And it is that, he affirms, the immense shields of the barbarians and their enormous spears are not handled between tree trunks and branches that come out of the ground,” explains the classical historian in his work. Germanicus had also lectured his men on the enemy’s tricks. Their guttural cries, their stocky bodies without armor… Everything was designed to generate fear, but the reality is that they were not resistant to injuries and long combats were like a stab for them.
And so the one and the other remained, face to face. The barbarians occupied the surroundings of a lush forest in which they intended to support themselves. Caesar, for his part, placed the auxiliary soldiers in a long line at the forefront and, behind them, his eight legions. At the center of it all he placed the Praetorian Guard, faithful and secure. The icing on the cake was the cavalry, which he placed on the left flank under the command of pike stertinus.
battle of revenge
Some eagles in the wind then the battle began. Caesar immediately ordered the trumpet to call for combat. The auxiliary troops advanced, ready to resist the charge of the Cherusci, who had thrown themselves loudly at the compact Latin formation. Germanicus’ archers barely had time to fire a salvo at them before the extreme vanguard of both contingents engaged in a barbaric fight. At the same time, the Roman general saw that his horsemen might wreak havoc on the right flank and the rear of Arminius and sent Stertinus once morest them. Thus, first and without waiting for events.
It was a success. The thrust of the horsemen acted like a hammer while the auxiliary lines endured, like an anvil, the bulk of the conflict. Within minutes, more than two thousand Germans began to withdraw. “It was something admirable to tell, two columns of enemies fleeing in opposite directions, those who had occupied the forest, rushed towards the plain, and those who had occupied the open field, towards the forest”, reveals Tácito. The Cherusci, for their part, were forced to give ground. In practice, the contest was over before it even started. And all, for a successful blow of the hand. The German leader must have seen so black what he opted to escape in a cowardly way.
«Arminio, making himself known, sustained the combat with his sword, with his voice and with his wounds. And he had swooped down on the archers, intending to break through, and would have done so had he not been opposed by the challenge cohorts, Vindelic and Gaul. However, thanks to his personal efforts and the spirit of his horse, he managed to save himself from him, following staining his face with his own blood so that he would not be known. Some say that he was recognized by the Caucos operating in the Roman auxiliary troops and that he was allowed to go. A value or trick equal to that gave Inguiomero an opportunity to escape; the rest were massacred without distinction».
What happened from then on was a painful slaughter. The Germans who tried to flee across the river they were hunted with arrows like cattle; those who escaped the shells they drowned O were swept away by the current. Many others tried to hide in the treetops and served as entertainment for the archers. Abandoned by their general, a third group surrendered; something that, unfortunately for them, saved them from execution. Tacitus remembers it this way:
“Great and bloodless was that victory for us. The dead enemies from the fifth hour of the day until night covered ten miles with their corpses and their weapons; and the chains they had worn once morest the Romans were found among their spoils, like someone who did not doubt the outcome. In the place of combat, the soldiers saluted Tiberius as ‘imperator’, raised an embankment and placed the weapons on it like trophies, writing below the names of the defeated peoples».
The rest, as they say, is history…
