Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: SunkenCiv

Well, she certainly didn't do any worse against the Roman Legions than any number of other indigenous Euros. I guess the Germanic tribes had the best track record against the Romans, but I am not very well read on this subject.


30 posted on 05/25/2006 5:17:12 PM PDT by Pharmboy (Democrats lie because they must)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies ]


To: Pharmboy
An alliance of German tribes led by Hermann the Cherusci [known by the Romans as Arminius] a Roman trained soldier, and, I believe a Roman citizen, ambushed three legions [XVII, XVIII, and XIX] under the extremely inept command of Quintillius Varus, and annihilated them [and their families and camp followers in a three day running battle in the Teutoburg Forest. [Hermann led them into the trap].Aside from punitive expeditions, and a mission to recover the lost eagles, and properly bury the dead, the Romans pulled back to the Rhine, and never sought to annex Germany east of that river again [although archaeologists are now finding a fairly extensive net of German-Roman settlements from before the battle. the three legions were never reconstituted.

Although not 'Euros', the peoples with the best track records against the Romans were the Carthaginians [Hannibal KILLED 50,000 Romans at Cannae], the Parthians almost entirely annihilated Crassus' army at Carrhae, and the Sassanid Persians [who actually captured a Caesar]. Second honors would go to the Huns and the Goths [Adrianople], but the Roman Army they faced was not the Roman Army of earlier times.
33 posted on 05/25/2006 7:59:43 PM PDT by PzLdr ("The Emperor is not as forgiving as I am" - Darth Vader)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies ]

To: Pharmboy

Arminius / Herman had trained as an auxiliary I believe, and also knew his victim. Turncoats definitely have an advantage. The battlefield was located about 15 or 20 years ago (hmm... maybe it was longer, brain fart), identified based on coins and other artifacts.

Afterward Augustus redrew the border, basing it on the Rhine, having (after the civil wars were over) cut the size of the regular army in half and making up the difference with auxiliary legions, to 58 legions (combined), plus the Praetorian Guard, and probably the naval forces (not sure they were in or out of the count of legions; there were, hmm, five major bases). The Romans maintained order and their frontiers for hundreds of years, even while the regular legions were no longer Roman.

Still in the time of Augustus, there were campaigns across the Rhine, and the Danube; colony towns were planted, and a system of (what we would call) bribery or payoffs were used to keep the neighbors across the frontier from getting restive. The largesse (and trade) moved backwards into the hinterlands, such that Roman-era goods are occasionally found in areas never held by the empire.


34 posted on 05/25/2006 8:13:48 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson