All language subtitles for Rome Rise and Fall of an Empire - S01E04 - The Forest of Death_track3_[und]

[music playing]

\hNARRATOR: The Democratic
Roman Republic is no more.

After a relentless drive
to seize absolute power,

Julius Caesar is assassinated by
aristocrats hoping to maintain

the senate as the center of
Rome’s political authority.

\hBut the effort fails,
and the age of emperors

begins with the reign
\hof Caesar Augustus.

Now, in the first century
\h\h\hBC, under the reign

\h\h\h\h\hof the new emperor
Augustus, a New Roman Empire

\his on a mission
of rapid expansion

\h\hand sets its sights on the
savage land beyond the Rhine.

But the latest and
greatest conquest

collapses into a bloodbath.

\hGermanic tribes spurn the
imperial yoke and defy Roman

authority, hobbling
imperial ambitions,

\hredrawing history, and
jeopardizing the empire.

[music playing]

\hGaul, first century BC,
Rome takes its first steps

to world domination.

\h\h\h\hSpurred on by
unprecedented growth,

\hthe empire believes
the rest of the world

\hwill eagerly bask in
its civilizing light.

\hEmperor Augustus
consolidates power

\h\hafter the murder of his
great uncle, Julius Caesar,

\h\hand Rome rises and
spreads its influence

across the known world.

THOMAS MARTIN: Augustus was
\h\hJulius Caesar’s relative

who became, in our terms,
\hthe first Roman emperor.

Augustus saved the
Republic in a way

\h\hthat Julius Caesar
had been unable to do.

PETER WELLS: This was the
beginning of the real peak

of Roman power.

It was rapidly expanding
\hits imperial frontiers

\h\hand had had a series of
stunning military victories.

\h\hMany in Rome felt that
the state was invincible.

NARRATOR: The beloved
Augustus has triumphed

\h\h\hin his difficult task of
melding the Democratic values

of the old republic under
\hthe power and leadership

of an emperor.

THOMAS MARTIN: Augustus
\h\h\hsaved the Republic

by becoming its number
\hone and sole leader,

in fact, but by saying and
\hconvincing other people

that the republic was still
\h\hwhat it had always been,

\h\ha cooperation among people
up and down the social ladder

for the good of all.

NARRATOR: After 35 years
\h\hof successful rule,

\hAugustus sees his
greatest achievement

as the massive expansion
\h\hof Roman territory.

\h\hTo him it is more than
simple military conquest.

There is a higher
\hmission as well.

Romans, after all, are superior.

THOMAS MARTIN: The Romans also
\hfelt that they had a mission

to take Roman civilization to
\hother people who didn’t have

it.

So they thought that they had a
cultural mission to bring law,

and as they saw it,
\hjustice to people

who were living without it, the
people they called barbarians.

NARRATOR: With Gaul successfully
becoming a Roman province,

the newborn Roman
\hEmpire eyes land

beyond the Rhine in
\han area that will

come to be called Germania.

\hThe tribes beyond the
Rhine live precariously,

vying for power or turf
\h\hthrough bloody raids

against each other.

Some tribes even extend their
raiding into Roman territory,

which Rome will not tolerate.

[music playing]

[cries out]

\h\hThe empire sees
these barbarians as

savage, unpredictable,
\hdangerous, and worth

conquering.

[groans]

PETER WELLS: There has been
much debate about what Rome

was doing east of the Rhine.

\h\hThe big question
is, was Rome trying

\h\hto establish a new province
between the Rhine and the Elba,

\h\h\h\hor was Rome simply
conducting punitive raids

to try to stop incursions
\h\hthat have been coming

across the Rhine from the east.

\h\hMost scholarly opinion now
suggests that Rome was really

trying to establish
\h\ha new province.

[music playing]

\h\h\hNARRATOR: By 9 BC, Emperor
Augustus sends General Tiberius

on a campaign across the Rhine.

[calling out drill commands]

\h\h\h\h\h\hSTEVEN RUTLEDGE: The
relationship between the Romans

and Germans is very problematic.

\h\h\h\hYou have people who are
willing to work with the Romans

and people who hate the Romans.

And what this goes back
\hto, at times no doubt,

is a jockeying for power
among the German tribes

within ancient Germany,
\h\h\h\hGermania itself.

[music playing]

\h\h\hNARRATOR: Tiberius, a
well-connected and effective

soldier, is heir apparent
\hto the imperial throne.

\h\h\h\hIn Germania, he courts a
leader of the Cheruscian tribe,

seeing a potential ally.

\hTHOMAS MARTIN: The
Romans became allies

of some of these
barbarian groups

\h\h\hbecause those
groups wanted Roman

\h\h\h\hhelp against their
fellow barbarian enemies.

And the Romans wanted to expand
their territorial control,

\hand also their, as they
saw it, civilizing mission

further north.

\h\h\hNARRATOR: The
Cheruscian chieftain

welcomes an alliance with Rome.

Though his people have no
\hinterest in Roman ways,

they crave the empire’s
protection and prestige.

THOMAS BURNS: They
had a lot to gain

\h\h\hfrom the relationship with
Rome, particularly their ruling

elite.

\h\hEconomically, there is
access to Roman products.

What’s more important, is
that Roman products enable

a person to show status.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: The young Germanic
\h\h\hprince happily playing

Roman soldier will learn to
be a shrewd player of Roman

politics.

Raised in two worlds under the
proud traditions of his people

\hand the might and
glory of the empire,

\h\h\hhe will become a Roman
officer and a Germanic king.

His name is Arminius.

[music playing]

\hFor more than a
decade, the empire

has enjoyed relative peace with
the tribes across the Rhine

\h\h\h\h\hthanks to the strong
military of Emperor Augustus.

[calling out drill commands]

STEVEN RUTLEDGE: Augustus
\h\his a military dictator

\hwho is going to have to
fight constantly in order

to establish an empire
that’s actually going

\hto be stable for a
full two centuries.

[music playing]

\hNARRATOR: Arminius, the young
Germanic prince now in his 20s,

\hhas become an auxiliary
commander in the empire’s

service.

\h\h\h\h\hThese auxiliary troops
recruited from Rome’s provinces

are a crucial supplement
\hto the Roman army’s 28

official legions.

THOMAS MARTIN: Augustus
\h\h\h\hhad to make sure

that people understood
that he was doing what

\h\h\htraditional Roman
leaders had always done,

\hlead Rome to glorious and
profitable conquest in war.

\h\h\hNARRATOR: In 6 AD,
Roman general, Tiberius,

travels from Germania to
\hquell a violent revolt

\h\h\h\hand the volatile Roman
province of Pannonia, roughly

modern Hungary and Austria.

[music playing]

[cries of battle]

\hTiberius directs all
his forces in Germany

\h\hagainst the insurgents who
are rejecting Rome’s taxation

and intrusion into
their way of life.

[cries of battle]

THOMAS MARTIN: When the Romans
\h\htried to push Romanization

of the barbarians, to make them
live more like Romans at a pace

\h\h\h\hfaster than the
barbarians wanted to go,

\h\hthen the barbarians
said, we won’t go there.

[cries of battle]

\h\h\hNARRATOR: The
revolt against Rome

will last three grueling years,
stretching the Roman army thin.

Emperor Augustus sends
\hin auxiliary troops.

\hArminius fights
in this campaign,

mastering the techniques
\h\h\h\hof Roman warfare

and distinguishing himself
\hto his Roman superiors.

First century Roman historian
\h\h\h\hVelleius Paterculus--

ACTOR (AS VALLEIUS PATERCULUS):
Brave in action and sharp

\hin mind, Arminius
had an intelligence

\h\hquite beyond the
ordinary barbarian,

\hand he showed in his
manner and in his eyes

the fire of the mind within.

\hNARRATOR: Arminius
is also sharp enough

to see how brutally Rome
can treat its provinces,

crushing their autonomy.

[cries of battle]

\h\hPETER WELLS: I think
he might have seen many

of the native Pannonians in
very much the same position

as his peoples back
in northern Germany.

\h\hAnd he may well have seen a
reflection of his own community

\h\hin some of those
places in Pannonia.

[cries of battle]

\hNARRATOR: Still, in service to
the empire, Arminius fights on,

mustering his auxiliary forces
\h\halongside the Roman troops

of General Tiberius.

As Rome fights to keep Pannonia
in line, back in Germania,

the empire building
progresses smoothly.

[music playing]

Arminius’s people, constructing
roads and other Civil projects

under Roman watch, are beginning
to see the benefit of Rome’s

intrusion.

THOMAS MARTIN: For the
barbarians, especially

\hthose against the Rhine,
who really weren’t living

in a Roman world, they could
\hstill see the attractions

of what we call Romanization,
\hdeveloping a life more based

on trade and commerce, building
larger communities as opposed

to very small separate
\hcommunities the way

they had traditionally lived.

NARRATOR: Third century
historian, Cassius Dio--

\hACTOR (AS CASSIUS
DIO): The barbarians

were adapting themselves
\h\h\h\h\hto Roman ways,

were becoming accustomed
\h\h\hto holding markets

and we’re meeting peaceably.

They were becoming different
\h\h\h\hwithout knowing it.

NARRATOR: In 7 AD,
\hEmperor Augustus

\happoints his close friend,
Quinctilius Varus to govern

the land east of the Rhine.

STEVEN RUTLEDGE: Varus is a
relatively capable commander

in a pinch, but there’s
\h\h\halso an intimation

that we get from our sources
\h\h\hthat he’s not the best

character in the world.

[music playing]

\hNARRATOR: His description by
historian Velleius Paterculus

is less than flattering.

\h\h\h\h\h\hACTOR (AS VELLEIUS
PATERCULUS): Quinctilius Varus

was a man of mild character
and of a quiet disposition,

somewhat slow in mind
\h\has he was in body,

\hand more accustomed to
the leisure of the camp

than to actual service in war.

NARRATOR: The peaceful
situation in Germania

suits his relaxed disposition.

[music playing]

Varus has befriended
\h\h\hArminius, who

\h\h\hhas returned to
Germany and his people

as a respected Roman citizen.

\h\h\hIn Arminius, Rome sees a
strong ally and lasting peace.

[music playing]

The Germans play
by Rome’s rules,

\h\hbut only to keep the
Romans off their backs.

THOMAS MARTIN: The
\hGermans weren’t

happy about being forced
\hto go to Roman courts

and let a Roman decide their
disputes for which they had

\h\hlong standing homegrown ways
of solving their problems with.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: The resentment
\h\h\h\hbegins to build,

\h\heven though the
surface looks calm,

according to the Velleius.

\h\h\hACTOR (AS VELLEIUS
PATERCULUS): The Germans

are a race to lying born.

By trumping up a series
of fictitious lawsuits,

\h\h\hprovoking one
another in disputes,

\hand settling quarrels
by law rather than arms,

they appear to express their
\hgratitude to Roman justice

while pretending their
\hown barbaric nature

was being softened.

\h\hTHOMAS MARTIN: Varus had
experience governing people

\hwho’d been used
to being governed.

Nothing could be farther
\h\hfrom the experience

and the expectations of
\hthe Germanic peoples.

[music playing]

\h\h\hNARRATOR: The intrusion,
according to historian Cassius

\h\hDio, pushes Arminius and the
other tribal leaders to action.

\h\h\hACTOR (AS CASSIUS DIO):
Besides issuing orders to them

as if they were actually
\hslaves of the Romans,

Varus extracted money as they
\hwould from subject nations.

\h\hTo this, they were
in no mood to submit,

\hfor the leaders long
for their former power

the masses preferred
\htheir former ways.

THOMAS MARTIN: So when
\hthe Germanic peoples

\halong the Rhine decided
they’d had enough of Varus

and his haughty administration,
his imposition of Roman ways,

especially in court, they
\h\hdecided to fool Varus,

to get rid of him.

\h\hNARRATOR: And no one
is in a better position

to do that than Arminius.

[music playing]

[cries of battle]

For three years, Roman
\h\hgeneral, Tiberius,

\h\hhas been struggling to
crush a violent rebellion

in the province of Pannonia.

[cries of battle]

[music playing]

\h\hAt last, in 9 AD, he is
seeing his efforts rewarded

as the insurgents are
defeated or surrender.

Victory is within his grasp.

\h\h\hBut as order is
restored in Pannonia,

\h\hunknown to the Romans,
the situation in Germania

is about to explode into chaos.

In this supposedly
peaceful province,

Roman governor-general,
\h\h\h\h\h\h\hVarus, has

\hpushed to establish Roman rule
and pushed the Germans too far.

[music playing]

The proud German barbarians,
under their leader Arminius,

have grown tired of
\hpaying Roman taxes

\h\h\hand being treated as
slaves on their own lands.

Refusing subservience
\h\h\h\hto Rome, they

\h\h\h\hdecide to take up arms
against the most powerful army

in the world.

[non-english speech]

Not all of the German chieftains
are convinced by the plan.

\h\hOne, a man named Segestes
fears the risks are too great.

But Arminius sways the others.

\hTHOMAS BURNS: For
a man like Arminius

at this point in his career,
\h\h\hand he’s acknowledged

as the dominant person
\h\hamong his people,

\hthis is a great honor for
him, to become just a client

\h\h\hin some kind of
provincial structure,

an unclear category, something
\h\hhe just didn’t want to do.

[music playing]

\h\h\hNARRATOR: Arminius has
fought alongside the Romans

and he knows the Roman army is
an army of power, not stealth.

[music playing]

\hSTEVEN RUTLEDGE: So
he had the opportunity

\hto learn Roman tactics,
and to learn how the Roman

\harmy operated, and what
it could and could not do,

\hwhat its capacities
and capabilities were,

how it deployed, how it fought.

[cries of battle]

NARRATOR: Arminius
\hknows about Rome

\h\h\h\hand he knows the Romans
underestimate Germanic resolve.

\h\h\hHe tells General Varus
everything he wants to hear.

Historian Velleius Paterculus--

ACTOR (AS VELLEIUS PATERCULUS):
Arminius use of the negligence

\hof General Varus
as an opportunity

\hfor treachery, wisely
seeing that no one could

\h\hbe more quickly overpowered
than the man who feared nothing.

\h\h\hHe knew that the most
common beginning of disaster

was a sense of security.

PETER WELLS: Part of the
problem was Romes bias,

Rome’s overconfidence, that
\h\hit could defeat anybody,

that nobody up in these
\h\hnorthern regions far

from the Mediterranean
\h\h\h\hcould possibly

\h\hMount a successful
defense against Rome.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: If the Germans are to
strike, they must do it soon.

Their enemy is stretched
\hthin by other battles

and completely unsuspecting.

The Germans set their trap
in the soggy tree clogged

\hTeutoburg Forest in
Northwestern Germany.

STEVEN RUTLEDGE: And what
\hArminius had done was--

\h\hit must have taken several
weeks and several hundred men.

They actually constructed a 5
\hfoot high, 15 foot wide wall

\hcomplete with fences and
presumably some camouflage

as well.

[music playing]

\hNARRATOR: For Roman general,
Varus, it’s business as usual,

\h\hunaware he and his troops of
the 17th, 18th, and 19th legions

\hprepare to pull up stakes
and make their seasonal move

to their encampment to the west.

\h\h\h\h\h\hThird century
chronicler, Cassius Dio--

ACTOR (AS CASSIUS DIO): They
\hhad with them many wagons

\hand beasts of burden
as in times of peace.

Also, many women, children and
servants were following them.

\h\h\hTHOMAS MARTIN: Their
armor and their equipment

is probably being carried in
\ha wagon or by pack animals

\h\hbecause nobody could
carry 70 pounds of armor

\h\hand 40 pounds of
pack day after day.

\hThey’re chatting with
their common law wives,

or arranging for somebody to
come and polish their armor

that night, or thinking
\h\h\habout the evening

\h\h\h\hthey’re going to have
drinking with the prostitutes.

The last thing on their mind
\his immediately forming up

into battle formation.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: In the midst
\hof his preparations,

Varus receives a visitor,
\hhis old friend Arminius,

\h\h\hnow in service to
Rome, has just returned

with news of a tribal
conflict to the west.

Arminius tells Varus
\hhis presence there

is needed to restore order.

[music playing]

\hThe supposed uprising is in
an unfamiliar territory called

Kalkriese.

\h\hBut it’s only a short detour
from the Roman Fort at Haltern,

Varus’s intended destination.

[music playing]

Varus mobilizes the entire
\h\hcamp for the journey.

THOMAS MARTIN: So here’s
Varus having been drawn

into German territory
through his own pride,

\hbut coming, he thinks, on a
civilizing law giving mission.

\hHe’s not ready to fight these
barbarians so skilled at ambush

and the kind of tactics
that could throw a Roman

army into complete disarray.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: The long line
of soldiers, civilians,

and provisions lumbers through
the woody German countryside.

Varus expects no trouble,
but this is foreign soil,

so he remains cautious.

\hHe moves his entourage
as quietly as possible.

THOMAS BURNS: Archaeologically,
one of the things

\hthat has been found in
these recent excavations

is a cow bell.

\hAnd the cow bell has
been packed with straw

\h\h\hand the straw is
still in the cow bell.

NARRATOR: With the
cow bell silenced,

\h\h\h\hthe line precedes,
keeping military formation

as the Romans head unknowingly
\htoward the camouflaged walls

of the trap.

[non-english speech]

\h\h\h\hThe Germanic
chieftain, Segestes,

still dreading the
deadly plan, tries

to warn Varus about the
\htreachery of Arminius.

But he is ridiculed
\h\hand driven away.

First century historian
\hVelleius Paterculus--

\h\hACTOR (AS VELLEIUS
PATERCULUS): Segestes

\h\h\h\h\h\hdemanded that the
conspirators be put in chains.

But fate now dominated the plans
of Varus and clouded his mind.

THOMAS MARTIN: Even
\h\hthough Varus had

been told by other barbarians,
\h\h\hdon’t trust those guys.

They’re going to betray you.

But Varus thought he was a judge
of character and he could tell

who was his friend
\hand who wasn’t.

[music playing]

[cries of battle]

NARRATOR: While Varus leads
\hhis legions into the trap,

\hGeneral Tiberius returns to
Rome from his hard won success

in Pannonia.

\hFor Emperor Augustus,
the victory of Tiberius

proves the supreme might
and power of his empire,

\han empire believed
to be invulnerable.

[music playing]

As the Roman governor-general,
\h\h\hVarus, moves his troops

\h\h\h\h\hwestward to their
fortress, he makes a detour

to settle an uprising his
friend, Arminius, reported

to him.

[music playing]

In truth, Varus is being
\h\hled into a trap deep

\hin the Teutoburg
Forest in an area

known as the Kalkriese Woods.

PETER WELLS: They had to stay
on a very narrow track of sand

bars with on either side of them
marshy forested environment.

\h\hVery difficult
places of passage.

\h\h\hIt seems that the Roman
column had to become narrower.

Roman soldiers were accustomed
\h\h\hto marching six or eight

abreast.

They probably had to change
in march, maybe four or two

abreast here.

NARRATOR: The soldiers
\hare further hindered

by the burdens of their
\h\hwives and families,

who are making the march with
\h\hthem to the new fortress.

PETER WELLS: They would’ve
had very difficult going.

\hAs the passageway became
muddier, it became wetter.

This landscape is penetrated
by a series of deep ravines,

streams flowing from the--
the Kalkriese [inaudible]

\h\h\hdown into the
swamp to the north.

\h\hTHOMAS BURNS: Varus
walked through the worst

possible territory a commander
\h\hcould have walked through.

On one side, he has a swamp.

On the other side, he has hills.

\hHe followed the road because
Romans didn’t-- couldn’t carry

all this armor they wore.

\h\hOn the long haul, it
simply wore too heavily.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: The German tribesmen
\h\h\h\hhave lured the Romans

\h\hinto the perfect trap,
difficult to move forward,

impossible to move back.

THOMAS BURNS: Arminius knew
\hhe had Varus in his hands.

It was just how--

how and when.

It’s not if.

And it happened, and it happened
in a really complete fashion.

[music playing]

[man yells]

NARRATOR: Third century
chronicler, Cassius Dio,

describes the moment of ambush.

ACTOR (AS CASSIUS
DIO): The Germans

\h\hcame upon Varus in
the midst of forests,

by this time almost
\h\h\himpenetrable.

And there at the very moment
\h\hof revealing themselves

as enemies instead
of subjects, they

wrought great and dire havoc.

[cries of battle]

NARRATOR: The trap is sprung.

The Romans have no way out is
\hthe barbarians surround them

on all sides.

STEVEN RUTLEDGE: So
your bare out there.

You have just your
armor on, if that,

and you are going to
quickly be decimated

in terms of your ranks.

And the Romans had no
room because the path

was too narrow to deploy.

\h\hNARRATOR: The line of
troops and their entourage

could have stretched
\h\htwo miles long.

\hVarus hemmed in at the
middle of the formation

\h\h\h\his unaware of the
devastation at the front.

\h\hAll he knows is the line
has suddenly stopped moving

and there is no place to go.

STEVEN RUTLEDGE: The
\hfront of the line

is going to be the
\hfirst to get it.

\hAnd there isn’t
much communication

\has far as we can
tell on this path,

or there couldn’t be
\hmuch communication

between the front of the line
\h\hand the rear of the line.

So that’s going to render
\hthe army more vulnerable

and create a deadly
\hsituation as well.

\h\h\hNARRATOR: By the time
Varus learns of the attack,

it is far too late.

No time to prepare.

No place to escape.

The exact chain of events
\h\h\his lost to history.

THOMAS BURNS: My guess
\his this was a battle

that the main engagement
took less than an hour.

But the mopping up
operation probably

took the rest of the afternoon.

Each man had to reconcile
to the inevitable, and I--

I don’t know how a Roman would
\h\hhave done that any better

than--

than an American.

Very hard to watch
your friends die.

[cries of battle]

\h\hNARRATOR: As the Roman
soldiers die like animals,

\h\hmore German warriors join
the fray, writes Cassius Dio.

ACTOR (AS CASSIUS DIO):
\h\h\hThe enemy’s forces

\h\hgreatly increased as many of
those who had first wavered now

\h\hjoined them, largely
in the hope of plunder.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: In an indignity worse
than death, two of the legions

lose their eagle standards
\h\h\h\hto the barbarians.

[victory cries]

THOMAS MARTIN: The eagle was
\hseen as a religious symbol

by the soldiers.

\h\h\hIt was literally the
religious spirit and power

that kept them safe and
\hmade them victorious.

To have the eagle fall in battle
or to be taken by the enemy,

was literally like having
\hyour spirit ripped out.

And without your spirit, you
\hwere going to be defeated.

\hBut worst of all, was the
disgrace, the loss of honor.

\h\h\hTo have the symbol of your
fighting spirit literally taken

by the enemy was the ultimate
\h\hin dishonor and disgrace.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: Under Varus’s watch,
\hthe standards and the battle

are lost in the Kalkriese Woods.

\hThe dishonored general
knows what he has to do.

[yells]

\h\hTHOMAS MARTIN: Varus
had been fooled so badly

\hby the barbarians, he knew he
was responsible for this defeat

because he had marched a Roman
\harmy in and not prepared it.

So Rome was going to blame
\h\hVarus for this defeat.

Varus blamed Varus.

And for him, the only way out
was suicide, even though this

was a disgraceful suicide.

[victory cries]

\h\h\hNARRATOR: The Germans
under Arminius’s leadership

have recaptured their land.

\h\hAnd in the process, defeated
the mightiest army in the world.

[music playing]

\h\h\hNow, it’s time to
torment their captives.

Second century Latin writer,
Florus, recounts the horror.

ACTOR (AS FLORUS): Never was
\htheir slaughter more cruel

than there in the
marshes and woods.

Never were more intolerable
\h\h\h\h\hinsults inflicted

by barbarians, especially those
directed against the lawyers.

\h\h\hThey put out the
eyes of some of them,

and cut off the hands of others.

\hThey sewed up the
mouth of one of them

after first cutting
\h\hout his tongue.

\h\h\h\h\hNARRATOR: As Germania
celebrates the defeat of Varus,

\h\ha victorious General
Tiberius returns to Rome

from his battles in Pannonia.

[music playing]

And in Rome, Emperor
\hAugustus joyfully

makes the final preparations to
celebrate Tiberius’s triumph.

But all that planning
\h\hwill go to waste.

[music playing]

\h\hPETER WELLS: When
news arrives in Rome,

Augustus is told of the loss of
his three legions in the north,

he is horrified.

And supposedly, he screams
\h\hrepeatedly after this,

\h"Varus, give me
back my legions."

\h\hThis was a shock because
Rome had had a whole series

of military successes.

Rome believed these
people in the north

could be easily defeated.

Yet, here comes this news that
three entire legions, 15,000,

20,000 men were destroyed in
one fell swoop in a totally

unexpected disaster.

[music playing]

[cries of battle]

\hNARRATOR: And now that the
Cherusci and other barbarian

tribes have slipped their
leash, what can stop them

from destroying Rome?

[music playing]

As Varus’s as Roman legions
are destroyed in the north,

\hGeneral Tiberius returns to
Rome to celebrate his victory

in Pannonia.

\h\hBut instead, he finds
Emperor Augustus shattered

\h\h\h\h\hat the news of the
terrible loss in the north.

[music playing]

Barbarians across the Rhine have
massacred three entire Roman

\h\h\h\h\hlegions under
Governor-General Varus.

\h\hTHOMAS MARTIN: Varus’s
disaster meant to Augustus

that Augustus’s plan to push the
northern frontier of the Roman

Empire further had failed,
and that they were always

going to have to deal with
\h\hthis ferocious peoples

on their frontiers
\hwho at any time

\h\hmight want to come
into the Roman Empire,

either to live or to raid.

[victory cries]

NARRATOR: The blow to Rome is
a severe one and it cannot go

unanswered.

THOMAS BURNS: Arminius had
struck a significant blow

to Roman morale, and Roman
\hpride, and Roman honor,

and that had to be avenged.

\hLosing 15,000 to 18,000 men
from an-- from a strike force

\h\hof legionnaires of
150,000 it’s similar,

I think, to the United States
Army today losing 60,000 men.

We have about 600,000
\h\h\hmen under arms.

\hIf we lost a tenth of them,
we lost 60,000 men in one day,

I think it’d make
the evening news.

[music playing]

\hNARRATOR: To restore
Rome, General Tiberius

mobilizes his exhausted troops.

[calling out drill commands]

Tiberius is sent along
\h\hwith eight legions

\h\hand auxiliary armies to
reinforce the Rhine frontier

and Gaul.

[music playing]

\h\hFortunately, Rome
appears safe for now.

The Germans show no sign of
\hhostility at the borders.

\hBut the Romans have learned
how crafty the Germans can be.

\h\h\hAnd so, they stay
vigilant, even at home.

Guards are stationed
throughout the city.

\h\hPETER WELLS: And it was a
severe blow to Rome as a city,

as a society, to know that these
peoples of the north whom it

\h\hhad regarded through
the writings of Caesar,

and Tacitus, and others as
being far inferior to Rome

militarily were able to deal
with this devastating blow.

[music playing]

\h\hNARRATOR: Mighty Rome, the
apex of western civilization,

suddenly feels vulnerable.

Every foreign citizen
\h\hor visitor is now

suspect, a potential terrorist.

Augustus, fearing a sympathetic
uprising among the Germans

in Rome, expels them.

[music playing]

While all of Rome
quakes with fear,

the Germans beyond the
\hRhine are jubilant.

\hArminius celebrates
his victory over Rome

by taking a bride, Thusnelda.

\h\hShe is the daughter of
rival chieftain, Segestes,

who had tried to warn various
\h\h\hof Arminius’s treachery.

\h\hTHOMAS MARTIN: Very much
against her father’s wishes,

\h\hshe allowed herself to
be kidnapped by Arminius.

\h\hBecause German
women were strong,

they would kill their men
\hif they were retreating

from battle.

They saw themselves
\h\h\has worthwhile.

\h\hThey wanted to be allied
with the best possible man.

\h\hThusnelda, that was
Arminius’s wife’s name,

\hsaw Arminius as the very
best man among the Germans

and she wanted nothing
\h\hless for herself.

\h\hNARRATOR: The victory
against the Roman legions

has earned Arminius
\htremendous clout.

Now, as King of the
\hCheruscian people,

he forms a coalition
\hof tribal leaders.

[music playing]

THOMAS MARTIN: Arminius thought
that this spectacular defeat

would give him the
purchase, the fame

\h\h\hto be what the Germans had
never had, a king over everyone.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: The site
\hof the massacre

becomes a holy place, left
\huntouched to commemorate

\h\hthe victory over the Romans
and to please the Germanic gods

that granted it.

STEVEN RUTLEDGE: The Germans
\h\h\hworshipped in groves,

as far as we know.

They kept images, and--
\h\hand various statues,

and animal totems
\hin their forest,

and actually, this
\hidea of totemism

\h\h\h\happears to have been
something fairly important,

for the Romans too, but more
so perhaps for the Germans.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: And so,
as Rome staggers,

\h\hthe Germans revel in
their barbaric success,

keeping the Roman weapons
\h\h\has a sacred reward.

PETER WELLS: Things like
swords, and spearheads,

and shields took a lot of time
and a lot of material to make.

\hEconomically they
were very precious.

\h\hBut it does seem that in
many of these circumstances

\htheir ritual value
was more important.

And for that reason, these
\hwere deposited sometimes

by the thousands.

And we even find weapons
\h\h\hwith ornamentation

in silver and gold on them
indicating officer status.

\h\hNARRATOR: Through
violence and cunning,

\h\h\h\hthe Germans have
snatched their land back

from the Roman intruders,
\h\h\h\hat least for now.

But Rome is not giving up.

[calling out drill commands]

\h\h\hTHOMAS MARTIN: The Romans
realized they had a big problem

along the Rhine.

And after they were
\h\hable to regroup,

which meant finding
\h\h\hmore soldiers,

trying to build new alliances
\h\h\h\h\hwith the barbarians,

\hthey began after some
time to send expeditions

across the Rhine, both to
\htry to pacify the area,

but also to regain
\htheir lost honor

because the defeat of Varus
\h\hhad been so disgraceful.

[music playing]

\h\h\h\hNARRATOR: And so, for
posterity and for the empire’s

self-esteem, Rome must somehow
\h\h\hturn this dire situation

around.

\h13 AD, four years
after the massacre,

\h\h\hEmperor Augustus sends the
aptly named general, Germanicus,

\hand his troops to engage
Arminius and the Cherusci

barbarians.

[music playing]

\hTHOMAS BURNS: It
takes a long time

to restore a strike force so
\hthat Germanicus has troops

to deal with this problem.

There was no question
\h\hit had to be done

or the whole idea of
the emperor’s honor

\h\hand perhaps even
the emperor himself

was-- was in harm’s way.

This was a disgrace
\h\h\hthat could not

be allowed to go unchallenged.

[music playing]

STEVEN RUTLEDGE: The
ethos for the Romans

is revenge, hatred, anger.

There’s no idea of compassion,
\h\hof overarching compassion

for humanity.

These are very, very
\h\hruthless people.

\h\hNARRATOR: Ordering
Germanicus to Germany

is one of Augustus’s final acts.

The next year at age
\h77 he lies dying,

broken by the consequences
\h\h\h\hof Rome’s defeat,

his dream of empire unfulfilled.

With no sons of his
own, Augustus names

Tiberius as his successor.

\hTiberius will take
his place as emperor

and try to win back honor
\h\hfor Rome and Augustus.

\h\h\h\hPETER WELLS:
Augustus had gloried

\h\h\h\h\hin a whole series of
successful military campaigns.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hHe never recovered
psychologically from this blow.

He died a few years later.

And this, in many ways,
seems to have destroyed

what he felt was his legacy.

\h\h\hNARRATOR: Augustus, who
devoted his life to Romanizing

the world, dies a failure.

What was lost in Germania
\hcan never be recaptured.

But still, the Germans must
\hpay for this humiliation.

[music playing]

[yells]

A bloody and humiliating
defeat beyond the Rhine

\h\h\hhas brought glory to the
Germanic chieftain, Arminius,

and his barbarians, and has
undermined Roman confidence.

But Rome is not finished yet.

Roman general, Germanicus,
\h\h\h\hmarches to Germany

in a mission of vengeance,
\h\h\hattacking any tribe

sympathetic to Arminius.

[music playing]

In defiance, these tribes
\hburn their own villages

to deprive the Romans
\hof anything useful.

THOMAS MARTIN: These
northern barbarians,

at least across the Rhine,
\h\hdidn’t have big cities

to plunder.

They had increasingly
\hgrowing settlements,

but they could just fade away
and come to fight another day,

and leave you having
spent a lot of money

on a campaign that didn’t
\hreturn anything to you.

\h\hSo war was becoming a
negative cash flow instead

of a positive cash flow.

[cries of battle]

NARRATOR: First century
\h\hhistorian, Tacitus--

ACTOR (AS TACITUS): Germanicus
dispatched one of his generals

to route the Bructeri
\h\h\h\htribe as they

were burning their possessions,
and amid the carnage

\hand plunder found the eagle of
the 19th Legion, which had been

lost with Varus.

The troops within months to the
furthest frontier of Bructeri,

\h\hravaging all the
country in between.

[cries of battle]

\h\h\h\h\hNARRATOR: On their
campaign, the Romans rescue

Segestes, the rival chieftain
\h\h\himprisoned by Arminius.

But the humiliation
doesn’t stop there.

Most devastating, the Romans
\hseize Segestes’s daughter,

Thusnelda, now pregnant
\hwith Arminius’s child.

THOMAS MARTIN: She was
captured by the Romans

\hand taken to the capital
as proof of how successful

\h\h\h\hthe Romans had been at
defeating Arminius and making

his life miserable,
\h\h\heven though he

\h\h\hhad been the one who had
destroyed Varus and his three

legions.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: In 15 AD, six
years after the ambush,

the Roman army comes to the
\h\hKalkriese Woods massacre

site, now a sacred Germanic
\hmonument to their victory.

THOMAS MARTIN: They found the
actual site of Varus’s defeat,

at least the ultimate moment,
because they were still broken

weapons scattered around.

\hThere were skulls
nailed to the trees.

STEVEN RUTLEDGE: Oh,
the scene was awful.

It was virtually a plane
\h\hfull of white bones

\hexcept for, most likely, the
officers who would have been,

\h\h\h\hif they were captured,
sacrificed by the Germans, who

did practice human sacrifice by,
you know, hanging or slitting

the throat.

\h\h\hNARRATOR: First century
historian, Tacitus, describes

what the Romans encounter.

ACTOR (AS TACITUS): In the field
were whitening bones scattered

\h\hwhere the men had fled and
heaped in piles where they had

stood.

\hLying nearby where broken
weapons and limbs of horses,

\h\hwhile the skulls of men
were nailed to tree trunks.

\hNot far away as to
the barbarian altars

\hwhere they had sacrificed the
tribunes, or senior centurions.

\h\hSTEVEN RUTLEDGE: So the
scene was pretty emotional.

Certainly for Germanicus’s men,
some realized that these could

be relatives, these
\hcould be friends,

\hthese could be comrades
in arms that I’m burying.

And burial of the dead in
antiquity and doing rites

by them is extremely
\himportant to keep

\hthe dead in their place, to
make sure they don’t come back

to haunt you.

NARRATOR: First century
\h\hhistorian, Tacitus--

ACTOR (AS TACITUS):
\h\h\hThe Roman army

\h\h\hburied the bones of the
three legions, no man knowing

\hwhether he laid to rest
the remains of a stranger

or a kinsman.

But with anger rising
\h\hagainst the enemy,

all simultaneously
mourned and hated.

THOMAS MARTIN: Symbolically, it
was really important for Rome

to show that it remembered
\h\h\hits fallen veterans

and that it was never going
to give up trying to reclaim

the honor that had been taken
from them by the incompetence

and arrogance of
their commander.

NARRATOR: To the Germans
\h\hwho see the killing

\hfield as a holy memorial,
the burial is a desecration.

As soon as the soldiers
\h\h\hleave, the Germans

\hexhume the Roman bones
and resanctify the site

of the massacre.

[music playing]

\h\h\hArminius, believing he had
soundly defeated Rome six years

ago, is livid that the Romans
have come back and confounded

by the sudden turn of events.

Tacitus recounts his rage.

ACTOR (AS TACITUS): Arminius,
\h\hwith his naturally furious

temper, was driven to frenzy
\hby the seizure of his wife

\h\h\hand the fordooming to
slavery of his unborn child.

He flew into a rage demanding
\h\h\h\hwar against Augustus,

war against the empire.

[music playing]

And war did come.

Once again, Arminius’s
\h\h\hstealthy forces,

familiar with the landscape
\h\hexploit their advantage

over the unwieldy Roman troops.

[cries of battle]

THOMAS BURNS: A legion
is overwhelming where

you can choose the battlefield.

\hFlat and expansive,
room to maneuver in--

in tightly packed units.

This was none of those things.

\hIt wasn’t flat, there
was no room to maneuver,

and you couldn’t even assemble
\hyour units in full strength.

\h\h\h\h\hNARRATOR: But
Germanicus sets a trap,

luring the enemy into the
\hopen and then pouncing.

\h\h\hThe Romans win the
battle, but not the war.

The incompatible fighting
\h\h\hstyles, the expense

of the campaigns, and the
\htenacity of the Germanic

barbarians rob Rome of any
\hhope of lasting victory.

[cries of battle]

\h\h\hTHOMAS MARTIN: There were
several years of punitive raids

\hby the Romans east of the
Rhine in which they actually

tried to capture Arminius, they
tried to defeat his people.

These were not successful.

[cries of battle]

\h\h\hNARRATOR: Neither
Arminius nor Germanicus

will live long enough to see
where their historic efforts

would lead.

3 years later in 19 AD,
\hboth die unheroically.

[music playing]

Germanicus succumbs to
\hillness, though some

say he is poisoned by a rival
in the bitter political jungle

Rome has become.

\h\hThat same year, Arminius
is killed by his own people

when he overstepped
\h\h\hhis authority.

\h\h\hTHOMAS MARTIN:
Arminius was really

devoted to both German liberty
and his own self advancement.

Arminius who wanted to be the
king of the Germanic barbarian

tribes.

[music playing]

They didn’t want a king.

NARRATOR: They wanted autonomy
\hand Arminius had given them

that.

\h\h\hAnd in the process,
changed the shape of Rome.

[cries of battle]

PETER WELLS: We could
\hthink of this battle

\h\h\has being the battle that
truly stopped Roman expansion

at that point.

\h\hHad the battle not happened,
who knows how far eastward Rome

might have conquered.

\hThrough all of Germany, into
Poland, possibly even eastward

into Russia, we just don’t know.

NARRATOR: After Teutoburg, Rome
deems the risks of expansion

too high, the benefits
\h\h\hhardly worth it,

\h\hbut soon enough the
lure of foreign conquest

becomes too seductive to ignore.

[cries of battle]