Teutoburg Forest - battle that stopped Roman Empire

Three Legions were marching thru German dark forest. 20 000 soldiers accompanied by 10 000 mostly women, but also traders, medicians, slaves. Roman General Varus as a representative of Romans hoped to expand Roman power, Roman law, and Roman culture on the north of Europe.

He felt safe and sure, as he trusted advises of his Germanic friend, Arminius. Arminius, born in 18 or 17 BC, was son of the Cheruscan chief Segimerus and trained as a Roman military commander. He had lived in Rome as a hostage in his youth, where he had received a military education, and obtained Roman citizenship as well as the status of equestrian (petty noble), he knew Latin.

The forest was dark, Roman convoy had to change it's formation, The line of march was now stretched out perilously long – between 15 and 20 kilometers. The Germanic warriors waited in grim silence. Meanwhile, a violent rain and wind came up that separated them still further, while the ground, that had become slippery around the roots and logs, made walking very treacherous for them, and the tops of the trees kept breaking off and falling down, causing much confusion. While the Romans were in such difficulties, the barbarians suddenly surrounded them on all sides at once. At one moment 20 000 spears were in the air aiming at Romans. Arminius set an ambush.

Cache of silver dinarii discovered in 1987 on the site of the Battle of Teutoburg Forest

Marching units disintegrated into chaos. The attacked soldiers stopped walking, in order to try to defend themselves. Since they were marching in close formation and few could see much beyond the men immediately around them, those behind kept marching forward and crashed into their fellows. At first, soldiers farther back in the column were unaware of what was happening toward the front, and they kept pressing on.… Like a chain-reaction highway crash, men piled into one another.

Wounded, dying, and already dead men quickly covered the track, making movement increasingly difficult for the others. The scene was one of complete chaos — spears falling like hail, men collapsing and gasping, even those not yet wounded struggling to remain on their feet, and occasionally frenzied horses and mules crashing through the swarm of troops. Within minutes, thousands of Roman soldiers lay dead or dying, pierced by spears, while others struggled to stay on their feet and to use their shields for shelter.

Iron roman keys found in Kalkriese

Varus understood that there was no escape. Rather than face certain torture at the hands of the Germans, he chose suicide, falling on his sword as Roman tradition prescribed. Most of his commanders followed suit, leaving their troops leaderless in what had become a killing field. Of the 15,000-20,000 Roman soldiers, fewer than 1,000 survived. An army unexcelled in bravery, the first of Roman armies in discipline, in energy, and in experience in the field, through the negligence of its general, the perfidy of the enemy, and the unkindness of fortune was exterminated almost to a man by the very enemy whom it has always slaughtered like cattle. Tacitus wrote that many officers were sacrificed by the Germanic forces as part of their indigenous religious ceremonies, cooked in pots and their bones used for rituals. Others were ransomed, and some common soldiers appear to have been enslaved. Three Legions Legio XVII, Legio XVIII, and Legio XIX were wiped out. These legion numbers were never used again. 

When the news of the battle reached Rome, Emperor Augustus banged his head against the palace walls, shouting Quintili Vare, legions redde! (“Quintilius Varus, give me back my legions!”)

Six years would pass before a Roman army would return to the battle site. The scene the soldiers found was horrific. Heaped across the field at Kalkriese lay the whitening bones of dead men and animals, amid fragments of their shattered weapons. In nearby groves they found “barbarous altars” upon which the Germans had sacrificed the legionnaires who surrendered. Human heads were nailed everywhere to trees. The battle of Teutoborg forests ended Roman expansion in Northern Europe. 

For almost 2,000 years, the site of the battle was unidentified. Late-20th-century research and excavations found that a small village of Kalkriese. Archeologist firstly found a roman coin from the times of Augustus. More complex excavations found other artifacts like spears, sling projectiles, bones broken by the swords an finally, beautiful silver mask of Roman officer. 

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Polish winged hussars - the best cavalry in the world.

The early Polish Hussars wore no armour and were armed only with the lance, sabre and shield. It gave them greater maneuverability and speed in battle - unlike that of the heavy, lumbering knights. By the mid-16th-century, the Polish King and Lithuanian Grand Duke, Stefan Batory reorganized the Polish and Lithuanian cavalry. He included armor, yet ensured that the Hussars would remain a fast, albeit heavy cavalry.  They were made the standard of the Polish army, and were very-well trained and well-equipped.

Just 18 months after the reform 1400 winged hussars stood in the front of 12 000 rebelling soldiers of Gdansk (3100 landsknechts, 400 mercenary reiter cavalry, 400 city cavalry, and 6,000–8,000 militiamen). Hussars charge in the flank crushed rebelling forces. That night Danzig's losses amounted to 4400 dead and 5000 taken prisoner, while the Polish's army suffered 88 deaths.

Few years later, the battle of Kircholm was decided in 20 minutes by the devastating charge of polish cavalry. The Swedish defeat was utter and complete. The army of Charles IX had lost at least half, perhaps as much as two-thirds, of its original strength (8000-9000 dead). The Polish-Lithuanian losses numbered only about 100 dead.

In 1610 five thousand hussars fought with 30 000 russian accompanied with 5000 mercenaries from western Europe. Russians retreated after losing 5000 men ( Poles lost 100 hussars). That allowed polish king Władysław IV Waza became the new Tsar of Russia. Napoleon and Hitler tried that too, but without success. Do not forget the Battle of Khotyn, when the charge of 600 cavalry crushed advancing 10 000 Ottoman troops. When sultan Osman II saw that he bursted into tears.

The battle of Vienna ended expansion of Ottomans, it saved Europe. Some say that the ending of Tolkien's battle of Helms Deep was inspired by their charge.

A typical charge was staged at gradually accelerated intervals; for the first 75 meters, the hussar, mounted on his steed, would advance at a normal walk, the next 150 meters would be at a trot, then a canter, breaking into a gallop.  The charge would be completed by a canter for the last 30 meters. This method was imperative in order to preserve the horse's stamina, especially in the event that the hussars had to engage in multiple charges, or final pursuit of the enemy. Incidentally, a trot is a two-beat gait with averages of about 8 mph (13 kph). A canter is a three-beat gait that averages 10-17 mph (16-27 kph).  A gallop is like a canter but much faster at a four-beat gait averaging 25-30 mph (40-48 kph).

The most distinctive feature of the Polish Hussars were the pair of huge wings attached to their backs, each constructed of high wooden frames upon which eagle feathers were attached, although ostrich, swan and goose feathers had also been used. It is believed that the Polish Hussars wore these wings for the purposes intimidating the enemy,  and they have often been depicted in battle wearing wings. This is the image that has long promoted by painters through the ages and more recently by film productions. The reality however may be that the Polish Hussars donned these wings only for the ceremonial purposes and victory parades.

The most deadly part of Hussars equipment was a 4.5m to 6.2m lance. Because of its length the lance had to be considerably light and easy to maneuver.  They were constructed from fir-wood, though aspen was used in the fore part of the lance to make it lighter. The lance point was made of steel and reinforced with additional metal straps around the shaft. This also protected the wood just below from any saber cuts. It was often richly gilded.

The armour of the Polish Hussar consisted of breast and backplates, a pair of pauldrons and a pair of arm-guards, and was a splendid example of decorative design and superb craftsmanship. Many of the designs were inspired by earlier Roman armoury. But until 1570 the armour consisted only of mail coat, helmet, shield, lance and saber, although many had implemented breastplates.  King Stefan Batory (1576-1586) had specific ideas about the type of armour worn by his men and insisted that they follow the Hungarian style. By 1600 the Hussars breastplates had been modified to take on the "half-lobster" design with several bands or lames from the lower chest to the bottom. he armour was much lighter, about 15kg, and permitted the hussar to ride quickly. The lighter, Turkish-style saddle allowed for more armour to be used by both the horses and the warriors. Moreover, the horses were bred to run very fast with a heavy load and to recover quickly. These were hybrids of old, Polish equine lineage and eastern horses, usually from Tatar tribes. As a result, a horse could walk hundreds of kilometres loaded with over 100 kilograms (warrior plus armour and weaponry) and instantly charge.

Polish King Sobieski battle armour from the battle of Vienna. 

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Bloody medieval warfare

On July 22, 1361, King Valdemar IV of Denmark sent an army of 2500 men ashore on Gotland's west coast. Gotland is an island that lies just ninety kilometers from the Swedish mainland, and for many centuries it played a dominant role in trade between Europe and Russia. Its walled town of Visby had been a member of the Hanseatic League since 1280. This league protected the economic interests of all cities within its membership along trade routes and each city had its own legal system and military force. By the middle of the fourteenth century the town had encroached into rural areas, this fact and its membership of the Hanseatic League had separated the city from the rest of the island and this had caused much antagonism between the town dwellers and those who lived in the countryside. By 1356, Visby had become less important within the Hanseatic community and this had not gone unnoticed by King Valdemar of Denmark who had seen the Hanseatic League become increasing powerful within his own country, angry that he had no control or any say within the trade route it protected, Valdemar made his way to Gotland. [Top image:

The citizens of Visby had somehow been warned, and had closed the gates. But 1800 peasants prepared to fight for their small country. It is unknown who commanded the Gutnish army. However, he was probably a minor noble of some standing, probably with military experience. The Danish army was composed mainly of Danish and German troops, many mercenaries from the Baltic coast of Germany, with recent experience in the various feuds and wars between the German and Scandinavian states.

Simple peasants armor found in mass grave near city wall.

A legion of Swedish peasants tried to repel the Danish invasion near the city of Visby, but the inexperienced Gotlanders were no match for the Danish soldiers and many of them were slaughtered during the battle. Men, old folk, youths, cripples – they all die in battle outside the city walls of Visby. Their corpses are thrown into mass graves.

Nearly 700 years later a mass grave was found on the Island of Gotland and in the years up to 1928 at least three more pits were found. The final ones were found outside the gates of Visby, a walled city. Extensive archaeological investigations of the graves in 1928-1930 and modern science have provided new knowledge of what happened.

The dead of the peasant defenders were stripped of virtually anything of value and any arms or armour and then flung into pits where they had been despatched. Over 1185 human remains were found in pits excavated and many more are known about - some inaccessible.

Just a few were found still wearing minor bits of equipment such as skull with the mail coif still in position but many would have been very poorly equipped or armed.

There were 456 wounds with visible evidence of cutting weapons, such as swords and axes. There were 126 which were from piercing weapons such as arrows, lances and "morning stars" which were a wooden ball studded with metal spikes and attached to a short handle with a chain and these were used against head and shoulders from above. There were also an undisclosed number of crushing injuries by the mace and war hammer. The latter were also often used to finish off the wounded. [Left: Armoured glove, from the mass graves, Visby]

Cutting wounds were split into two groups, those which showed hacking evidence but finished at the bone and those which actually severed the bone were 29. For example in more than one case where a single well aimed blow with a sword had been aimed at the upper legs and gone straight through both severing them instantly. Some had evidence of more than one lesser blow before the killer blow was used either in or after the battle.

War hammers were also in evidence where a square section of the hammer head showing in the shape of the section of the skull which had been stove in. See the picture on the left which points to three bodkin arrow points which had penetrated the skull and two holes where a hammer had been used and the skull split between them.

Which came first is unknown. A number of guesses can be made such as two quick hammer blows to fell the man and the arrows landing after, or a hail of arrows which he had turned his back on and then later two hammer blows to put him out of his misery. Before stripping and dumping him with his mates. The grouping of the arrow heads is particularly spectacular and it makes one wonder if they used the tactic of a hail of arrows as in the later battle of Crecy where it is said the English Longbow men kept 100,000 arrows in the air at one time.

There is one skeleton of a man who has had both legs severed, and it appears to have been done with one blow! The blow landed on the right leg below the knee on the outside, and then struck the left leg slightly below and on the inside. Since it appears to be unreasonable that someone would stand still with one leg hewn off, that one blow cut off both legs below the knee. As can be seen in another section of this book, that is not so astounding after all. There are several skeletons where a foot has been severed, and there are many with cuts to the lower leg. Indeed, this seems to have been a major target. A rough estimate is that close to 70 percent of the blows detected at Visby were aimed at the lower leg. This is quite understandable, as the lower leg is hard to protect, even with a shield. When you consider that these fighters were not well equipped with leg defenses it explains why they were targeted. The head also took many blows. There are several skulls from Visby that received so many blows that you would think the enemy would have gotten tired of hitting the poor devils. Many of the skulls still have their mail hoods, and although the hoods did provide some protection, many of the blows cut through the mail and into the bone. One of the most unsettling skulls is one where the victim had been hit a sharp blow right at the bridge of the nose. The blow was so hard that it cut through the upper jaw.

Skull of peasant from Visby with three arrowheads

Crushed skull with riveted mail coif from the medieval battle of Visby. 

There is also a skull from a different battle that shows how brutal the fight were. The Battle of Towton was fought during the English Wars of the Roses on 29 March 1461, near the village of Towton in Yorkshire. It brought about a change of monarchs in England, with the victor, the Yorkist Edward, Duke of York—who became King Edward IV. 28 000 men died that one day.

The skull (left) of a warrior shows was crushed. The soldier  had survived battle before. A healed skull fracture points to previous engagements. He was old enough—somewhere between 36 and 45 when he died.

He suffered eight wounds to his head that day. The precise order can be worked out from the direction of fractures on his skull: when bone breaks, the cracks veer towards existing areas of weakness. The first five blows were delivered by a bladed weapon to the left-hand side of his head, presumably by a right-handed opponent standing in front of him. None is likely to have been lethal.


The next one almost certainly was. From behind him someone swung a blade towards his skull, carving a down-to-up trajectory through the air. The blow opened a huge horizontal gash into the back of his head—picture a slit you could post an envelope through. Fragments of bone were forced in to his brain. His enemies were not done yet. Another small blow to the right and back of the head may have been enough to turn him over onto his back. Finally another blade arced towards him. This one bisected his face, opening a crevice that ran from his left eye to his right jaw.

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Clash of nations: Battle of Waterloo

On the morning the sun shone most gloriously. June 18 1815 saw 180,000 men, 60,000 horses and 500 pieces of artillery crammed into 2½ sq miles of Belgian countryside. In the nine frantic hours that followed, a quarter-century of central European warfare was brought to a close, leaving more than 44,000 dead, dying and wounded on the field. The world turned upside down.

The battle began around 11am. Napoleon was at his station, near the inn of La Belle Alliance, with view of the entire battlefield. Initially he was on foot, pacing backwards and forwards, issuing orders. His adversary Wellington had stationed himself on a ridge to the rear of La Haye Sainte farmhouse. Plainly attired, he calmly contemplated the scene. 


It started with an attack by a division of the French 2nd Corps, led by Jerome Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon, on Hougoumont farmhouse and gardens, held by a 1,500-strong Allied force and standing between the two armies. If taken it would have uncovered the British flank and given the French an advantage over the whole line. Though hugely outnumbered, light companies from Gen Byng’s brigade of Guards and the Dutch Nassau Regiment defended their position fiercely. In this location the English were outnumbered, with just 1,500 troops to the French 5,000, but their position behind the walls of the farm gave them an advantage. When 40 French soldiers finally managed to break through the doors, the English quickly shut them in, and killed all but one, an 11-year-old drummer boy. 

It was late afternoon when the Prussian army began arriving at Napoleon’s right flank and rear. Napoleon knew time and numbers were now against him and so made one more push, with his trusted Imperial Guard. But under Wellington’s direction it was repulsed, with the feared Imperial Guard, veterans of Napoleon's many campaigns in Europe, fleeing in terror. The collapse of the Imperial Guard quickly spread panic through the French ranks and many turned and fled. Wellington and Blücher met beside La Belle Alliance where the Duke agreed that his exhausted troops be spared the pursuit of Napoleon and the French, entrusting it to the fresher Prussians. Finally Wellington's army launched a general advance, aided by the Prussian attack from the east, which led to a panicked French retreat. 

Now, 200 years after the battle the artifacts are bringing the battle to life:

The breastplate of cuirassier Antoine Fraveau, struck and killed by a canonball. June, 1815, serving Napoleon Bonaparte at the Battle of Waterloo. He was struck full in the chest by a cannonball. It smashed through his breastplate armour – known as a cuirass – straight through his body and out of the other side. For a split second he may well have seen the shot hurtling towards him but he had no time to react. Mercifully, his death would have been instantaneous. Napoleon had 4,500 heavy cavalry at Waterloo, all carrying a carbine or short musket and a long straight sword for stabbing. British cavalrymen, armed only with swords, were nervous of them, until they worked out how to get in close, where the cuirassier had no room to stab, and then smash him off his horse with a punch in the face.

The Saw and Glove Used to Amputate the Duke of Uxbridge's Leg. He was hit by cannon-fire during the battle of Waterloo his leg had to be amputated. The glove is still stained with this blood. Amputation, without anesthetic, was often the only hope for soldiers who suffered badly damaged bones. It could prevent disease setting in and in many cases resulted in a rapid recovery. The wounded soldier had a leather tourniquet tied about eight centimetres (three inches) above the place where the cutting would be done.

A knife was then used to slice down to the bone, arteries pinned out of the way and then the surgeon would begin his work with the bone saw. The arteries were then sewn up and linen bandages were applied. The medical equipment used by Napoleonic surgeons was not impressive and each carried, usually in a travelling box, knives, saws, scalpels, tourniquets and forceps, with strops to sharpen the instruments. He also carried dressings, sutures and needles, and crude drugs, many of which were ineffective.

Uxbridge remained composed throughout the operation, which took place at a farmhouse, and once remarked that he did not think the saw was very sharp! It is said that some years later Uxbridge later revisited the place with two of his sons, found the table on which the operation had taken place, and ate dinner off it.

The captured eagles of Waterloo. There is no Napoleonic symbol more famous than that of the Imperial Eagles carried into battle by the French Army. Symbols of their Emperor’s grandeur, they were at the heart of each French regiment’s pride. During the six years of conflict in the Iberian peninsula, the British Army only succeeded in taking three eagles in battle.At Waterloo they took two in five minutes.

These boots were owned by the Duke of Wellington who popularised medium-length leather boots as they were practical for both the battlefield and the ballroom. These boots were the precursor to the modern 'welly.

Captain George Holmes died after being shot in the spine. His widow wanted a souvenir of her husband's death so arranged to have his body boiled, the damaged vertebra removed, varnished and set with silver. She also kept the bullet that killed him

Napoleon's bicorne hat and coat found after the battle with other his clothes.

This field trumpet sounded the crucial charge of the Household Cavalry at the Battle of Waterloo. At 2.00pm, the left of the Allied defensive position on the ridge of Mont St Jean was under severe attack from the 16,000-strong Infantry Corps of Count D’Erlon. It was a close fight but the French were beginning to break through the Allied line.

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Death at Trafalgar

Shortly before noon on October 21, 1805, a fleet of 27 Royal Navy warships sliced through the seas near the southern coast of Spain. Onboard the flagship HMS Victory, Lord Horatio Nelson paced the main deck, his gazed fixed on the 33 French and Spanish ships floating on the horizon. 

Traditionally, enemy fleets would face each other in parallel lines. Nelson’s strategy was to arrange his ships in two smaller squadrons at right angles to the enemy – one column lead by Nelson in HMS Victory, captained by Thomas Hardy; the other by Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood in HMS Royal Sovereign. That way, Nelson hoped to get in among the enemy and spread confusion from the outset. It left them vulnerable to enemy fire as they approached, but allowed them to rake the enemy – fire along the length of the ships, causing huge damage. Unable to return fire during their approach, Victory’s 820 crewmen could only grit their teeth and take cover as iron shot ripped through their decks and rigging. One blast hewed Nelson’s personal secretary clean in half. Another tore through a group of marines, killing eight men and mauling several more. Seemingly ignoring the mayhem, Nelson continued to stroll the deck alongside Victory’s captain, Thomas Hardy. “This is too warm work to last long,” he mused. 

This shot entered the bow of the Victory at the glorious battle of Trafalgar on the 21st October 1805 and lodged in the piece of timber in which it now lies

As their twin columns inched toward the Combined Fleet, Nelson’s 18,000 sailors readied themselves for a fight. They ate a hearty breakfast, stowed wooden objects that might splinter during battle, and stuffed bandages and handkerchiefs into their ears to dull the roar of cannon fire. Similar scenes had already unfolded on the decks of the 33 Franco-Spanish vessels, which had formed a traditional battle line that stretched several miles. On the French flagship Bucentaure, Admiral Villeneuve displayed a bronze Imperial Eagle to his crewmen, who responded with patriotic cries of “Long live the Emperor!” At half past noon, Victory finally advanced within firing range of the Combined Fleet. The British vessel immediately steered toward the stern of Villeneuve’s Bucentaure and unleashed a blast from a carronade, a 68-pound gun packed with both a single cannonball and a hive of 500 musket rounds. They followed it with a withering broadside from their 50 portside guns. After only a few minutes, 20 of Villeneuve’s cannons were disabled and some 200 French crewmen lay dead.

Having struck a ferocious blow against the enemy flagship, the badly damaged Victory continued its rampage by confronting the 74-gun French vessel Redoubtable. The two vessels soon rammed into one another and became entangled. As the ships shuddered from broadsides fired at point blank range, French marines tried to clear the British decks with musket fire and hand grenades. Around 1:15 p.m., a sniper on Redoubtable’s mizzen top took aim at Nelson and shot him in the shoulder. The musket ball passed through the Admiral’s back, severing an artery and smashing part of his spine. “They have done for me at last, Hardy,” Nelson cried as he collapsed in agony. He died later that day.

Around 1:45 p.m., Villeneuve’s flagship Bucentaure became the first French vessel to strike its colors in surrender. Redoubtable followed suit a few minutes later, having been pummeled into submission by repeated broadsides from both Victory and the British HMS Temeraire. More French and Spanish ships gave up over the next few hours, and following an abortive assault by their long overdue vanguard, the remaining vessels of the Combined Fleet hoisted their sails and took flight. By then, 19 French and Spanish ships had been captured or destroyed and some 6,000 of their sailors were dead or wounded. Despite suffering some 1,700 casualties of their own, the British hadn’t lost a single ship.

Top image: Flag of Spanish warship San Ildenfonso, which fought against the British fleet led by Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar. Later it was hung at Admiral Nelson's funeral at St. Paul’s Cathedral alongside a similar French flag.

Sketches made by Nelson just before the battle

Epaulet on Admiral Nelson's coat and the bullet hole that killed him

The only surviving Union Jack Flag from the Battle of Trafalgar 

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Skeleton of a 23 years old soldier who died in the battle of Waterloo. 1815. The bullet which killed him is still visible in his chest.

Buried under just 15 inches of soil, the position of the skeleton suggests the young man died where he fell and was hastily covered with a thin layer of dirt, probably by his comrades.

The victorious armies cleared the battlefield of their dead, and the defeated French were eventually buried on site in mass graves. It’s the first time in a century that a body from the Napoleonic wars has been found on a Belgian battlefield, and this one is almost entirely undisturbed.

His uniform has rotted away but his leather epaulets survived. Archaeologists are hoping they will be able to identify the soldier’s regiment from the epaulets, and possibly from the spoon if it’s army-issue. If they can discover his regiment, they’ll probably be able to find his name on the combatant records. The initial analysis of the bones indicates that he was around 20 years old, 5’1″ tall and had abrasion grooves on his molars from tearing opening gunpowder tubules with his teeth.

One particularly poignant artifact was a musket ball found inside the soldier’s ribcage. This is probably the smoking gun, as it were: he took a bullet to the chest, then either retreated or was carried by comrades 100 yards or so behind the front line. The location of his burial was 100 meters (109 yards) behind the British front line, close to the Duke of Wellington’s army infirmary. It’s highly unlikely that a French soldier would have fallen in this position.

After a painstaking process historians identified the man as Friedrich Brandt, 23, a Hanoverian hunchback who trained in the East Sussex resort of Bexhill-on-Sea. Brandt, a member of George III’s German Legion, was killed by Napoleon’s forces.

An estimated 50,000 died at Waterloo with a proportion of the dead burnt and then buried in mass graves. Other bodies were sold commercially as fertiliser or their teeth were sold as dentures.

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