Terror in the Teutoburg Forest

The Ancients

History Hit

History

4.7 • 3.5K Ratings

🗓️ 15 November 2020

⏱️ 49 minutes

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Summary

Its been used for nationalist propaganda across the ages and its just been dramatised for Netflix, but what do we actually know about the Battle of Teutoburg Forest? For a start, where was it? Dr Joanne Ball, from the University of Liverpool is a battlefield archaeologist. In this episode she takes Tristan through this story of the betrayal and destruction of three of Emperor Augustus’ Roman legions - under the leadership of Varus - by a Germanic alliance led by Arminius, a Germanic auxiliary officer brought up as a hostage of the Roman Empire. Together they explore the circumstances which led the Roman leaders to trust a Germanic subject against his fellow Germanic nationals. They also go through the evidence which places the ambush at Kalkriese and the battle’s extensive legacy, some of which stems from conflicting accounts of its location.

Presented by Tristan Hughes (@ancientstristan)

Featuring Jo Ball (@DrJEBall)

Edited by Sophie Gee (@SophieGee12)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's the ancients on History Hit. I'm Tristan Hughes your host and in today's podcast,
0:07.6	now you might have heard recently of a new show that has taken Netflix by storm. It's
0:12.6	called Barbarians and it's all about the battle of the Toiterberg Forest where the Roman
0:19.0	legions under probably as quintilius of the Aras were annihilated by the Germans led
0:25.2	by Arminius. And this is the subject of today's podcast to talk through the battle of the
0:31.6	Toiterberg Forest, one of the greatest defeats in Roman history. Now for this podcast, I would
0:37.6	like to be joined by Dr. Joe Bull. Joe is a battlefield archaeologist from the University
0:43.4	of Liverpool and the best of the Toiterberg Forest is one of her favourite topics. So it
0:48.6	was great to get Joe on the show to talk through not just the backgrounds of this battle,
0:53.0	not just the battle itself, but also its astonishing legacy. Without further ado, here's Joe.
1:04.8	Joe, it is great to have you on the show. Welcome. Thank you very much for inviting me. It's
1:09.6	a pleasure to be here. Not at all. And for a topic like this, the Battle of the Toiterberg Forest,
1:15.3	I mean, we're chatting just now. This feels like one of those moments in ancient history that is
1:20.8	so famous and perhaps we argue the most famous military defeat in the history of ancient Rome.
1:28.0	Say apart from maybe people who study can, I might disagree with you slightly, but certainly
1:33.2	of the Roman Empire, I would say yes. And absolutely just one of those historical events,
1:38.6	everybody knows, you know, along with the Battle of Marathon and the assassination of Julius
1:42.4	Caesar, it is just one of the key events of the Roman Empire and a particularly devastating one
1:48.8	for our friend Augustus, as we will see. Now you mentioned Augustus, so let's go into the
1:53.9	background right now. So this is the time of the early Roman Empire, the turn of the first century.
1:59.6	And is this a time of expansion for ancient Rome? Absolutely. So Augustus Octavian, as was,
2:08.2	by the time he's looking towards turning his attention towards Romania, he's been emperor for
	...

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