Teutoburg Forest: Rome’s Worst Military Disaster

“ Trying to stop a freight train with a stern look” it’s quotes like these that have kept me watching Simon’s videos for the past four years

Brilliant stuff. I would recommend Invicta's 'Avenging Varus', for the details of the revenge.

1:20 - Chapter 1 - Here comes the romans 5:00 - Chapter 2 - A tightening grip 9:05 - Chapter 3 - The great betrayal 12:45 - Chapter 4 - The battle begins 16:15 - Chapter 5 - No exit 19:20 - Chapter 6 - Aftershocks

I grew up in this area. At that time (70s and early 80s) there was still lots of speculation where the actual battle took place. As kids we would talk about finding Roman treasure as if it was pirate loot. I was excited to find out recently that it has now been found and excavated. Also went to the Hermann monument on field trips. The forest is pronounced Toy-to-burg (it's ok, I don't mind you butchering the German language :) )

"Quintilius Varus, give me back my legions!" - Augustus

I remember reading or watching something, I can't remember where exactly, that said that Varus was actually pretty capable; Arminius was just a genius-tier strategist. Augustus would rather have a fall guy than give a German barbarian credit, and Varus was (for this purpose) conveniently dead, so all the official narratives blamed his incompetence instead of crediting Arminius' cleverness.

It's fair to point out that in battles such as Cannae and Arausio, the Romans lost 80,000 men, nearly four times the number lost at Teutoberg Forest. But while the Romans bounced back after those defeats and won the war, the Teutoberg Forest certainly ended in at best a draw.

Crassus's disaster at Carrhae against the parthians needs an episode. It essentially pushed the Caesar versus Pompey civil clash to the forefront and directly led to the fall of the Republic in favor of the new empire. Also a much bigger disaster in terms of legions lost. Right before he was assassinated Julius Caesar was planning a new parthian campaign to avenge Crassus even. The following few years they avenged the defeat at teutoburg anyways and this battle has always been way overblown in terms of significance. The empire didn't stop expanding suddenly, not even past the Rhine in fact. Watch how everyone disagreeing with me will just parrot that same lie though.

"that's a story for another channel" - oh if only there was someone as easy to listen to and engaging as this chap Simon who hosted such a channel... I mean it would be fascinating to see how this Geographic Megaproject of uniting Germany came into being...

I wrote my undergraduate paper on the battle and how Rome's germanic expansion was thus halted. Germanicus probably wished later he never went across the Rhine in hindsight

Interestingly, I've been reading Tacitus lately and he portrays Arminius in surprisingly positive terms, saying that he fought to maintain Germania's freedom and clearly portraying him as a heroic figure from the Germanic tribes' point of view. Tacitus did live long after the battle of Teutoburg, and mentions that during his time Arminius wasn't a particularly well-know historical figure among Romans, but it's still a bit surprising to see a Roman refer to the man who caused them a massive military defeat through underhanded means as anythign other than a complete villain.

Decided to check this out bc it looked interesting. Never heard of the channel before. Was surprised to hear Simon’s voice. Then I realized I’ve discovered ANOTHER ONE OF SIMON’S CHANNELS. I swear it never ends I love it.

Hey Simon, could we have a warographics on the battle of Agincourt? Great content as always, keep it up!

For the Dutch here, Frissii have nothing in common with the Frisians or Friesland. Their are a different tribe who moved south and west during time.

Simon, would appreciate one on the Battke of Carrhae, both a brilliant tactical victory and historically consequential

Excellent video. I would just like to add two points. One, Arminius' brother Flavus also served in the Roman army, stayed loyal despite the battle, and Tacitus records a conversation between the two brothers discussing the pros and cons of Roman rule that took place years after the battle. Second, Varus was not exactly the model Roman citizen. Tacitus relates a saying about him. "Varus came to the rich province of Syria a poor man and left the poor province a rich man."

The Pyrrhic War would be a great video, where we get the phrase Pyrrhic victory from. "If we are victorious in one more battle with the Romans, we shall be utterly ruined"

Varus: “aight imma head out”

I remember reading about this in my classics classes mostly in high school and the textbooks treated it like a footnote...

Simon, you and Kings and Generals should do a collab! Two of my favorite channels!