Early Roman battle in Germany (16 AD)
The
Battle of the
Angrivarian Wall
was fought near
Porta Westfalica
,
Germany
in 16 AD between the
Roman
general
Germanicus
and an alliance of
Germanic
tribes commanded by
Arminius
. This battle followed immediately after the
Battle of Idistaviso
, and was supposedly sparked by Germanic outrage over the trophy erected on that prior battlefield by the Romans.
[5]
It was the final battle of a three-year
series of campaigns
by Germanicus in
Germania
. According to
Tacitus
, the battle was a victory for the Romans. Germanicus, now in winter quarters across the Rhine, wanted to renew the conquest in the Spring, but was recalled to Rome by
Tiberius
, now Rome's Emperor.
[6]
In fact this final action led to a withdrawal of the Roman troops from territories of Germania east of the
Rhine
river effectively until the collapse of the Roman Empire.
Background
[
edit
]
The Germanic chief,
Arminius
, had been instrumental in the organising of the
Battle of the Teutoburg Forest
, in which three Roman legions moving west to winter quarters were ambushed and annihilated by allied Germanic forces in the deep forests of western Germania.
[7]
[8]
That defeat plagued the Roman psyche, and revenge and the neutralisation of the threat of Arminius were the impetus for Germanicus' campaign. In the year before the battle, 15 AD, Germanicus had marched against the
Chatti
and then against the
Cherusci
under Arminius. During that campaign, the Romans advanced along the region of the Teutoburg Forest, where the legions had been massacred and buried the bones of the Roman soldiers that still lay there.
[9]
The
eagle
of the annihilated nineteenth legion was also recovered.
[10]
The Germanic tribes generally avoided open large-scale combat, but by repeated Roman incursions deep into Germanic territory, Germanicus was able to force Arminius, at the head of a large but fractious coalition, into response. The Romans, along with the
Chauci
, who fought for Romans as
auxiliaries
, defeated the allied Germanic forces and inflicted heavy losses on them.
[11]
Opposing forces
[
edit
]
Before the
battle of Idistaviso
, which took place a few days or weeks earlier, Germanicus had eight legions with auxiliary troops: among these, according to Tacitus, are the Germanic allies such as the
Batavi
(mainly as cavalry),
[12]
Chauci
and Celtic contingents such as
Raeti
,
Vindelici
and
Gauls
.
[11]
Ampsivarii
,
Belgians
and
Frisians
may also have been among the allies.
[13]
In addition, archers and horse archers have been mentioned. The size of the allied contingents is unknown, but may have been significant. For the total number of troops of the campaign army in the year 16, Hans Delbruck assumes "no less than 50,000". Klaus-Peter Johne cites 80,000. Wolfgang Jungandreas explicitly placed 100,000 men too high for the battle of the Angrivarian Wall.
Even more difficult is to establish the number of troops at the disposal of the
Cherusci
under Arminius.
[14]
Overall, the coalition appears to have been stronger than the previous year. In essence, the Cheruschi allies would have been the tribes involved in the
Battle of the Teutoburg Forest
in 9 AD. Germanicus' military operations were directed against them in particular.
[15]
It can therefore be assumed that the
Bructeri
and
Marsi
belonged to the coalition. In addition,
Usipetes
,
Tencteri
and
Tubantes
are counted among the allies.
[16]
Together with the Cherusci and the
Angrivari
, the
Chatti
belong to the three tribes that Tacitus particularly emphasizes in his account of the triumphal march of Germanicus in 17 AD:
Germanicus Caesar, celebrated his triumph over the Cherusci, Chatti, and Angrivarii, and the other tribes which extend as far as the Elbe.
[6]
It is not clear if and how the Chatti joined the Arminius alliance in the summer of 16 AD. Due to their rivalry with the Cherusci, they may have taken part in the fighting by operating independently. If one calculates the number of warriors in the coalition using the data provided by Gunter Stangl for the individual tribes, one gets from 40,000 to about 75,000.
[17]
Aftermath
[
edit
]
The two battles of Idistaviso ended positively for the Roman army; the legions of Varus destroyed in Teutoburg were avenged and Germanicus also managed to recover two of the three eagles lost by the Romans in the defeat, but in reality Germanicus' campaign did not obtain decisive results. Tacitus asserts bitterly that a jealous Tiberius recalled Germanicus due to feeling threatened by a potential rise in his political appeal due to successes in avenging Teutoburg. According to other opinions, Germanicus was unable to remain permanently, despite his victories, east of the Rhine; in addition, his fleet had suffered heavy losses in a storm.
[18]
Tiberius considered that it was useless and wasteful to try again to conquer Germany as far as the Elbe river and therefore he recalled Germanicus; the emperor also believed that internal discords between the Germanic peoples would safeguard the integrity of the imperial borders on the Rhine better than a long and costly war of conquest.
[18]
Bibliography
[
edit
]
Primary sources
[
edit
]
- Tacitus, Cornelius (2008), Barrett, Anthony (ed.),
The Annals: The Reigns of Tiberius, Claudius, and Nero
, Oxford University Press,
ISBN
9780192824219
Secondary sources
[
edit
]
- Dyck, Ludwig Heinrich (2015),
The Roman Barbarian Wars: The Era of Roman Conquest
, Pen and Sword,
ISBN
9781473877887
- Scullard, Howard Hayes (2012),
A History of the Roman World from 753 to 146 BC
, Routledge,
ISBN
9780415522274
- Tausend, Klaus (2009),
Im Inneren Germaniens. Beziehungen zwischen den germanischen Stammen vom 1. Jh. v. Chr. bis zum 2. Jh. n. Chr.
, Franz Steiner Verlag,
ISBN
9783515094160
- Geuenich, Dieter (1998),
Reallexikon Der Germanischen Altertumskunde: Gemeinde, Getodakische Kulver Und Kunst: 11
, Walter De Gruyter Inc,
ISBN
9783110158328
- Wolters, Reinhard (2017),
Die Schlacht im Teutoburger Wald: Arminius, Varus und das romische Germanien
, Beck C. H.,
ISBN
9783406699955
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Tacitus & Barrett 2008
, pp. 58?60.
- ^
Dyck 2015
, p. 154.
- ^
Tacitus (1876).
The Annals (From the Passing of the Divine Augustus)
, translated by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Brodribb.
2.16
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the
public domain
.
- ^
Tacitus & Barrett 2008
, pp. 206.
- ^
Tacitus,
The Annals
2.19
- ^
a
b
Tacitus,
The Annals
2.41
- ^
Stephen Dando-Collins,
Legions of Rome
. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2010, p. 238.
- ^
Dando-Collins 2010, 237.
- ^
Tacitus,
The Annals
1.62
- ^
Tacitus,
The Annals
1.60
- ^
a
b
Tacitus,
The Annals
2.17
- ^
Tacitus,
The Annals
2.11
- ^
Tacitus,
The Annals
13.55
- ^
Geuenich 1998
, p. 44.
- ^
Wolters 2017
, p. 122.
- ^
Tausend 2009
, p. 25.
- ^
Tausend 2009
, pp. 227?253.
- ^
a
b
Scullard 2012
, p. 326.