The Teutoburg Forest (German: Teutoburger Wald) is a range of low, forested mountains in the German states of Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia, which was believed to be the environ of a decisive battle in AD 9.

Geography

The Teutoburger Wald is a northern extension of the central European uplands, extending eastward toward the Weser river, southward from the town of Osnabrück and southeastwards to Paderborn. It is divided by a broad valley, where the city of Bielefeld is located, into the two portions called Northern Teutoburg Forest and Southern Teutoburg Forest.

The highest elevation in the Southern Teutoburg Forest is the Velmerstot (468 m) (located south of Horn-Bad Meinburg ). In the Northern Teutoburg Forest the highest elevation is the Dörenberg (331 m) (north of Bad Iburg ).

The source of the Ems river is located in the southernmost portion of the Teutoburg Forest.

History

The forest was believed to be the site of a battle between the Roman Empire and an alliance of Germanic tribes in AD 9. The battle was described by the Roman historian Gaius Cornelius Tacitus as saltus Teutoburgiensis, and was therefore called the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. However, the actual location was unknown.

In the Battle, an alliance of Germanic tribes under the military leadership of Arminius faced three Roman legions under the command of general Publius Quinctilius Varus. The Roman legions, which had crossed the Rhine River in order to subdue the Germanic tribes and extend Rome's frontier eastward, were ambushed in the forests and annihilated by Arminius's warriors. The battle marked the end of Roman expansion in Germany; subsequently, the Empire withdrew to the west bank of the Rhine and recognized it as the Roman-German frontier.

The Roman emperor Augustus, upon hearing of this shocking defeat of the hitherto-victorious Roman armies by so-called barbarian Germans, is said to have uttered the famous and plaintive appeal, "Quinctillius Varus, redde legiones!" ('Quintilius Varus, give me back my legions!')

During the 19th century, Arminius (aka Hermann), leader of the German forces during the battle, became something of a legend; he was seen as an early protagonist of German resistance to foreign rule and symbol of national unity. A monumental statue of Arminius commemorating the battle, known as the Hermannsdenkmal (the "Hermann monument"), was erected on the Grotenburg hill near Detmold--near the site where the most popular theory of the time placed the battle. The monument was inaugurated in 1875 by emperor Wilhelm I. It was only then that this particular region came to be known as the "Teutoburg Forest".

However, recent excavations seem to suggest rather firmly that the battle took place further north, at Kalkriese , north of Osnabrück, retroactively turning the now-popular name into a misnomer.