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Arminius Biography

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ARMINIUS (17 b.c.–c.21 a.d.). A chief of the Cherusci, a German tribe inhabiting parts of what is now Hanover and Brunswick. In his early years he served in the Roman army. The period of Arminius's youth was a time of great peril for Germany. To secure the frontiers of the Empire against the attacks of the Teutonic tribes, the Romans had advanced into the more turbulent districts and erected a series of strong fortresses. Between 9 b.c. and 4 a.d. Drusus and Tiberius penetrated into the north-west of Germany as far as the Elbe and reduced the various tribes to virtual subjection. With so much prudence and caution, however, had Tiberius proceeded, that the Germans continued to all appearance on the best terms with the Romans, gradually adopted Roman habits, and frequently took service in the Roman armies. Arminius and his brother Flavius enrolled themselves under the Roman standards, and as leaders of Cheruscan auxiliaries not only obtained Roman citizenship and the rank of knighthood, but likewise acquired a knowledge of the Latin language, and an insight into the arts of war and policy, as practiced by the Romans. On returning home, about 7 a.d., Arminius found his people oppressed by the Roman Viceroy, Quinctilius Varus, and conceived the plan of delivering his country from the Romans. All the tribes and leaders as far as the Elbe were secretly united; Varus was lulled into security and induced to scatter most of his forces, and with the remaining portion, over three legions, which was just on the point of leaving the territory of the Cherusci for the Rhine, to quit the highway for a shorter route across the country. He was thus lured into the impassable districts of the Teutoburg Forest, perhaps between the towns of Detmold and Wiederbruck, near the sources of the Ems and the Weser. Arminius, who commanded the rear guard of the Roman army, fell upon the legions unexpectedly, and annihilated the entire force, 9 a.d. When intelligence of the disaster reached Rome, it excited the greatest consternation; but the Germans carried their victory no farther, and for a few years both parties refrained from hostilities. In 15 a.d., however, the Romans pressed once more into Germany. In two successive campaigns, 15 and 16 a.d., Germanicus reduced Arminius to great straits and took his wife, Thusnelda, captive, but was recalled to Rome by the Emperor Tiberius, 17 a.d., and the results of his victories were lost. (See Germanicus Cæsár.) From this time no Roman army ever ventured to penetrate into the interior of Germany. After the expulsion of the Romans internal feuds broke out with great violence among the Teutonic tribes. In the course of these Arminius was slain by his own relatives about 21 a.d. Tacitus says of him (Annals, ii, 88): "Arminius fought with vicissitudes of fortune, and fell at last by the treachery of his own relations; a man of warlike genius, and beyond all question the deliverer of Germany." A colossal statue of Arminius by Bandel was erected on a hill near the town of Detmold in 1875.

Consult: Meyer, Untersuchungen über die Schlacht im Teutoburger Walde (1893), Kemmer, Arminius (Leipzig, 1893), and Fischer, Armin und die Römer (Halle, 1893).