Avenging Varus - Battle of Idistaviso (16 AD) DOCUMENTARY

The campaigning season of 15 AD had begun with the Roman armies plunging deep into Germanic lands, bringing the enemy to the precipice of defeat. Yet the final death blow could not be struck, as the invaders were forced to turn back with the coming of winter. It is now, with northern chill and barbarian steel striking at their backs, that a series of catastrophic blows would be dealt to the Romans in the matter of just a few weeks. Drowned in the stormwaves or slaughtered in the bogs, the Romans were brought to within an inch of being wiped out, virtually erasing everything they had fought for. Only cunning generalship, luck, and sheer desperation would see any of them limp back home alive. To those battered survivors, the prospects of carrying on such a puric war must have seemed impossible. However, the empire had heard of their glorious exploits and now rose to support them with fresh waves of supplies and troops. Thus refreshed, Germanicus would now prepare to lead the legions on one last Herculean campaign to finish the job in Germania. You too can march through the lands of Germania with the documentary Aerial Odyssey Germany from Above, available for streaming now through our sponsor Magellan TV. It provides a fantastic overview of the rich landscape of the north, which shaped the Germanic tribes and bedeviled the Roman invaders for centuries. Nature and history videos like this are added weekly to Magellan TV, which already has a collection of over 3,000 videos to choose from among the categories of history, science, nature, space, and more. You can watch Germany from Above or any documentary that catches your interest by clicking the link in the description below or going to try.magellantv.com.slashinvicta to get While the legions along the Rhine licked their wounds, Germanicus and his officers were busy assessing the situation. Their messages calling for support from the nearby provinces were met with overwhelming responses and now the quartermasters had their hands full receiving the vast quantities of goods making their way to the front lines. Over the winter, many of these would be stockpiled in large depots and prepared for transport. Meanwhile, the troops were also in a state of recovery. Rested, fed, and bandaged up, they no longer feared for their lives. Thanks to celebrations, the disbursement of spoils, and award ceremonies led by Germanicus, they even began to feel like champions once more. Good old imperial propaganda and their own fierce sense of competition ensured that many troopers now clamored for a fight. The Germanic tribes to the east were similarly building their forces. However, they would not be able to do so as quickly. Many of their coalition had been horribly wounded in the last campaigns. Those who were not dead or dying struggled merely to survive in a land that had seen its towns sacked, its fields burned, and its herds stolen. Arminius and the other chiefs would have been in fierce negotiation among their ranks to keep everyone committed to the cause whilst also seeking out new allies. Thankfully, their near wins at the end of the 15 AD campaign made for a useful rallying cry to fan the flames of the resistance. Thus, as the months crept closer towards the start of the 16 AD campaigning season, both sides were geared up for one final climactic fight. As had occurred in the last few years, it would be the invading Romans who set the pace for the deadly dance that followed. This time though, special considerations had to be made. After all, Germanicus had at his disposal over a quarter of Rome's legionary might, all concentrated in one place, which was too large to move as a single doom stack. Thus, he resolved to undertake a two-pronged assault, the main arm of which would consist of an amphibious assault along the North Sea. To this end, shipwrights and laborers had spent all winter building a massive armada of warships and transport vessels, which Archaeology further backs this claim, with evidence of an enormous section of the forest along the Rhine having been felled during this period. This fleet would be key for establishing not just the initial beachhead, but also the vital supply lines to keep the Roman war machine running. Its needs were titanic. Germanicus commanded an estimated 50,000 soldiers, with many more support units, pack animals, and camp followers, all requiring supplies. Basically, the equivalent of feeding a sizable city. By some estimates, this would have called for 165,000 pounds of grain a day. Strategically, moving this much material overland would have courted disaster, given the ease with which Germanic armies could raid and cut off such supply lines. Thus, it would be the very life-giving rivers of Germania that would serve as the arteries into which the Roman invasion force would be injected. While the ships were being constructed, Germanicus sent one of his lieutenants to once again engage the battered Chati. These had not yet recovered from the previous year's beatdown, and the Romans had no pity in their hearts. The invaders swiftly took the Chati out of the war for a second year in a row, only being slightly delayed by bad weather. Tacitus dismisses the move as pointless, considering that there really wasn't anything that they could loot. But the army group took the wife of the hostage, ensuring that his spirit was as crippled as those of his people, most of whom lay dead in the silent forests. Germanicus himself then marched out with a different army unit, about six legions strong, to relieve the siege of a Roman fort that was still on the German side of the Rhine. When the besiegers heard that a full Roman army was bearing down on them, they melted away into the woods before the relief army had arrived. Germanicus, having accomplished his goal without any bloodshed, decided to take the initiative. After all, he was already across the Rhine with no apparent resistance. Why not push the advantage? Thus, while the amphibious invasion with their thousand ships got underway along the northern seas, the legions immediately set to work building infrastructure for the overland assault force. Starting from the position of the relief fort, they now built a defensive network of walls, towers, and bridges back to the Rhine. As they did so, elements of the northern fleet began to push their way upstream through the waterways of Germania. These were quickly able to link up with Germanicus. Now, transports bearing fresh supplies and troops refreshed the legions. For the individual troopers, hard at work with the Dilabra, this must have been a huge sigh of relief. The dark forests and murky bogs that haunted them the previous year were now being felled and filled. Meanwhile, watchtowers, patrols, and scouting parties confirmed that there was no enemy in sight. All nearby communities either fled or bent the knee. The army brimmed with confidence. When one tribe, the Angrivarii, attempted to buck its Roman overlords, Germanicus immediately sent men to put it down. Tacitus, ever the Roman historian, condenses this activity into a single chilling sentence. He sent Stertinius there with the cavalry and light infantry, so that their betrayal would be punished with fire and blood. Everything was going according to plan. However, the Germanic tribes would not go down so easily. They had realized the futility of holding the western banks of the Weser and were rallying their forces on the eastern side, saving their full strength for now, watching, waiting. As the Romans advanced their works to the Weser river and prepared to cross, the Carusii and their allies moved to intercept them. With Arminius at their head, they arrayed for battle. This tense standoff would finally be broken when the leaders of both sides rode to the river in a preliminary engagement of diplomacy. The river divided not just bitter enemies, but families. Arminius, the Romano-German traitor, stood opposite his brother Flaus, who had chosen to remain loyal to the invaders and had the scars to prove it. In a scene straight out of a Hollywood movie, the two would come face to face. Tacitus sets the scene for us. That brother Flaus, by name, was serving in the army, a conspicuous figure, both from his loyalty and from the loss of an eye through a wound received during Tiberius' term of command some few years before. Leave was granted, and Stertinius took him down to the river. Walking forward, he was greeted by Arminius, who, dismissing his own escort, demanded that the archers posted along our side of the stream should also be withdrawn. When these had retired, he asked his brother whence the disfigurement of his face. On being told the place and battle, he inquired what reward he had received. Flaus mentioned his increased pay, the chain of medals, the crown, and other military decorations. Arminius scoffed at the cheap rewards of servitude. They now began to argue from their opposite points of view. Flaus insisted on Roman greatness, the power of the Caesar, the heavy penalties for the vanquished, the mercy always waiting for him who submitted himself. Even Arminius' wife and child were not treated as enemies. His brother, meanwhile, urged the sacred call of their country, their ancestral liberty, the gods of their German hearths, and their mother who prayed with himself that Flaus would not choose the title of renegade and traitor to his people, to the kindred of his wife, to the whole of his race, in fact, before that of their liberator. From this point, they drifted little by little into recriminations, and not even the intervening river would have prevented a duel had not Sturtinius run up and laid a restraining hand on Flaus, who, enraged, was shouting for his weapons and his horse. On the other side, Arminius was visible, shouting threats and challenging his brother to single combat. He kept interjecting insults in Latin as he had service in the Roman camp as a captain of native auxiliaries. While the exact words of this verbal joust were likely manufactured by authors and should not be taken at face value, they do reveal some truths about the Roman perspective. Based on the arguments made by Flaus, we see imperial propaganda at work. This was not a war against the Germanic people. No, the quarrel was merely against the traitorous elements in their ranks. The Romans were merciful and generous masters, ready to greet any who laid down their arms as friends and allies. Of course, the brutality of the previous years would certainly beg to differ, but this was the game being played. After all, there were still many Germanic auxiliaries serving in the Roman military at this time, and imperial commanders clearly found some success in winning others to their cause with words, if not by steel. By trotting out the loyal, Germanic warrior Flaus, perhaps they might further induce others to give up the resistance before battle was held. Whatever the case though, it seems that the bulk of the Germanic tribes remained undeterred and formed a formidable battle line across the plain on the eastern banks of the Wesser. Seeing this, Germanicus spared little time on further propaganda games. He immediately dispatched scouts to find a way across. When a ford was located downriver, a large cavalry detachment under Stortinius was sent to ride out and establish a surprise flank against the Germans. Meanwhile, his primus pulis, a man named Emilius, was sent with another detachment of cavalry to find a ford upriver, forming a classic pincer maneuver. Germanicus anticipated that the enemy would move to counter these forces. Thus, when he observed the enemy center begin to reform, he now ordered a charge straight through the center where the river current was at its fiercest. Taking up the charge would be the elite Batavian cavalry, famed for their bravery and strength. The gamble here appears to have been to use the assault to fix the enemy in place and buy time for the flanking forces and, if luck would have it, perhaps even rout the tribes entirely. However, Arminius was ever the clever commander. He sent troops to intercept the cavalry on the sides while ordering his own forces in the center to undertake a feigned flight. This succeeded in drawing the Batavians into a clearing surrounded by woods, at which point an ambush was sprung that sealed them in. The elite auxiliaries were now forced to fight on all sides. They only managed to hang on due to their high levels of discipline and excellent gear. Slowly though, they were being picked off, either in close quarters or by the flurry of missiles that rained down among their packed ranks. When all seemed lost, the Batavian commander Cariovalda and his retinue made the ultimate sacrifice. They suicidally plunged straight into the jaws of the Germanic line whilst ordering their brethren to punch through the back. Thankfully, their daring escape was facilitated by the arrival of Roman cavalry from the wings who had come to the rescue. This ragtag group of survivors now pulled back to the Wesser. First blood had gone to Arminius. However, the action was not a complete disaster, and the chaos Germanicus had actually managed to make an uncontested crossing with the legions. Most of these immediately set to work constructing a camp to secure this strategic victory. Meanwhile, others dispersed to form a protective screen while several units prepared to join the fray. Yet by this point, Germanicus could see that things were quickly falling apart, and there was no need feeding yet more men into the bloody fields ahead. After all, who knew what other traps had been set by his wily opponent? Therefore, the Roman commander called a retreat, settled down for the night, and made ready to tend to the survivors as they trickled in. Once more, Germanicus and his officers huddled in a tent to plan their next moves. As they did so, they made sure to read all the latest reports coming in from the units of the Exploratories and the Speculatories who acted as the eyes and ears of the army. Luckily, fortune would smile upon them. Apparently, a deserter from the German camp had turned traitor, bringing with him the secrets of the enemy. These supposedly revealed that Arminius had selected a battlefield and was preparing a preliminary attack as soon as this night. Such important yet potentially false information had to be confirmed. It seems that Roman spies were able to verify the claims by creeping close to the enemy lines, whereupon they heard the neighing of horses and the movement of a tumultuous host. A fight was imminent. Germanicus went into high alert and wanted to be sure that his own forces were ready to meet any challenge that might be thrown against them. Disguising himself, he secretly slipped from the tent and wandered between the campfires, eavesdropping on conversations and even joining in on others, trying to get the measure of his men. What he heard was encouraging. Tacitus tells us that, quote, Germanicus enjoyed the men talk positively about himself, while they acknowledged that they ought to repay him with their gratitude in battle and at the same time sacrifice the perfidious violators of peace to a glorious vengeance. This was a good sign. He was doubly reassured by the jeering responses of the sentries when a rider came from the Germanic camp, shouting to all who might hear that Arminius was willing to pay any Romans handsomely should they turn traitor. The soldiers responded, let daylight come, let battle be given, then we'll take your land and carry off your women. As the sun rose the next day, the Romans were ready and waiting before their camp in battle order. This seems to have thwarted an initial skirmishing attack on the camp, which pulled back without any exchange of missiles. Both sides now prepared for a pitched battle, making rousing speeches to their men. Germanicus spoke of the superiority of Roman discipline, their gear, and their bravery that would see them win out. The legions must only weather the initial storm and victory would be theirs. Meanwhile, Arminius roused his own men, assuring them that the Romans they faced were cowardly fugitives and mutineers. Half their backs were covered from the wounds of retreat, while the limbs of the rest were battered by storms. Far from their fleet and their forts, the Romans held no hope of advantage. He finished by shouting, quote, remember only their greed, their cruelty, their pride. Is anything left for us but to retain our freedom or to die before we are enslaved? With that, the two armies advanced on the plain of Ilistaviso. As the Roman forces deployed with drilled discipline, the Germanic tribesmen flowed down from the slopes to meet them. Arminius had some 50,000 or more warriors that massed in their tribes and clans along a wide front that stretched across the width of the plain up to the forest. Here along the slopes were posted the Cherusci, who aimed to rush down upon the enemy once battle was joined. Before them were arranged a thin screen of skirmishers. As for the cavalry, their strength and position are unattested to. Perhaps they are left out from our records because of their low numbers with protection of the flanks being yielded to the infantry and the terrain. Opposite them was an enormous Roman army of some 74,000 men deployed into three lines. The first was made up of several thousand Gallic and Germanic auxiliaries backed by archers. Behind these stood four legions with the two Praetorian cohorts sent by Tiberius at their center. In the final line stood four more legions, light troops, and the remaining allied units. Some 8,000 cavalry were arranged on the Roman left by the forested flank with an additional 2,000 mounted archers. By this point, it must have been around midday. The sun shone brightly overhead as over 100,000 men dripped with sweat in anticipation of what was to come. Finally, the initiative was seized by the Germanic tribes who now unleashed an attack on the front lines. We are told that these crashed upon the Romans with a mighty fury, Arminius and the Cherusci nearly piercing through the ranks of the auxiliary and the archers. However, this was clearly anticipated by Germanicus who had used his most disposable troops as a breaker. Now with the first wave having crashed, he sent forth the cavalry to assault the flank and the rear. The elite riders under Sturtinius smashed into the melee by the forest's edge. Missiles flew in all directions and even Arminius was injured, though fighting on nonetheless. At this point, an auspicious omen was observed. Eight eagles, one for each legion, flew over the battlefield. Seeing this, Germanicus shouted to his men, quote, go, follow the birds of Rome, follow the true gods of our legions. And with that, the colossus of the Roman army advanced in mass. Their crushing weight added to the front in combination with the flanking maneuvers of the cavalry proved inexorable. All discipline broke down within the German army. Those at the front tried to flee from the grim Roman tide, while those who had been held in reserve charged into the fray. This swirling of desperate men only added further to the chaotic disintegration of the tribal battle lines. The Germanic commander, Iguiomerus, managed to escape, while Arminius also fled on horse, having smeared blood on his face to hide his identity. I'll now quote Tacitus. The rest were cut down in every direction. Many, in attempting to swim across the Vesurgis, were overwhelmed under a storm of missiles, or by the force of the current, or by the rush of fugitives and the falling in of the banks. Some, in their ignominious flight, climbed the tops of trees, and as they were hiding themselves in the boughs, archers were brought up, and they were shot for sport. Others were dashed to the ground by the felling of the trees. It was a great victory, and without bloodshed to us. From morning to nightfall, the enemy was slaughtered, and ten miles were covered with arms and dead bodies. For the Romans, this was a most glorious victory that surely wiped clean the disgrace of Teutoburg. After all, littered among the fields were the arms of many who had perpetrated that dreadful act. These would now be dedicated to the Emperor, with the construction of a massive trophy. It was a brutal monument, an uprooted tree adorned with the gear of the vanquished. Shields, spears, swords, and chainmail hanging from every branch and crowned with helmets. But even this was not enough to convey the enormity of the victory. Around its base, the legionaries then constructed a mound with yet more heaps of trophies taken from the fallen. Finally, nailed to the grisly trunk would be plaques with the names of the defeated tribes. Surely, the surviving Germans would cower at this most formidable of displays. Yet they did not. Instead, Arminius and the tribes found themselves burning with anger at this most egregious affront to their honor. They now made ready for one last attempt at victory. However, the Germanic chieftains realized that this could not be achieved in a pitched battle. Their greatest and final hope was to recreate what they had achieved at Teutoburg seven long years ago. A big thanks to the patrons for funding the channel, and to the researchers, writers, and artists for making this episode possible. Be sure to like and subscribe for more content, and check out these other related episodes. See you in the next one.