Editing Arminius (section)

==Legacy and influence==
Arminius' victory against the Roman legions in the Teutoburg Forest had a far-reaching effect on the subsequent history of both the ancient [[Germanic peoples]] and on the Roman Empire. The Romans made no further concerted efforts to conquer and permanently hold Germania beyond the Rhine and the ''[[Agri Decumates]]''. Numerous modern historians have regarded Arminius' victory as one of the most decisive battles in history,<ref name="Tucker"/><ref name="Cawthorne"/><ref name="Davis"/><ref name="Creasy"/><ref name="Spectator"/><ref name="Durschmied"/> with some calling it "Rome's greatest defeat".<ref name="Murdoch"/>

===Roman imperial expansion===
[[File:Arminius pushkin.jpg|right|thumb|A Roman sculpture of a young man which is sometimes identified as Arminius.<ref name=britannica>{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Arminius|title=Arminius|encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]|date= 2023 }}</ref>]]
In the accounts of his Roman enemies, Arminius is highly regarded for his military leadership and as a defender of the liberty of his people. Based on these records, the story of Arminius was revived in the 16th century with the recovery of the histories of Tacitus, who wrote in his ''Annales II, 88'':

{{blockquote|text=Arminius, without doubt Germania's liberator, who challenged the Roman people not in its beginnings like other kings and leaders, but in the peak of its empire; in battles with changing success, undefeated in the war.<ref>{{cite book|title=Arminius the Liberator: Myth and Ideology|first=Martin M.|last=Winkler|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|date=2016|isbn=9780190252915|page=30}}</ref>}}

Arminius was not the only reason for Rome's change of policy towards Germania. Politics also played a factor; emperors found they could rarely trust a large army to a potential rival, though Augustus had enough loyal family members to wage his wars. Also, Augustus, in his 40-year reign, had annexed many territories still at the beginning of the process of Romanization. Tiberius, who succeeded Augustus in AD 14, decided that Germania was a far less developed land, possessing few villages and only a small food surplus, and therefore was not currently important to Rome. Conquering Germania would require a commitment too burdensome for the imperial finances and an excessive expenditure of military force.

Modern scholars have pointed out that the Rhine was a more practical boundary for the Roman Empire than any other river in Germania. Armies on the Rhine could be supplied from the [[Mediterranean Sea]] via the [[Rhône]], [[Saône]], and [[Moselle (river)|Mosel]], with only a brief area of portage. Armies on the Elbe, however, would have to have been supplied by extensive overland routes or by ships travelling the hazardous Atlantic. Economically, the Rhine already had towns and sizable villages at the time of the Gallic conquest. The Rhine was significantly more accessible from Rome and better equipped to supply sizable garrisons than the regions beyond.<ref>[[Peter Heather]] (2006). ''The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians''.</ref>

Rome chose no longer to rule directly in Germania east of the Rhine and north of the [[Danube]], instead preferring to exert indirect influence through the tactics of using [[divide and rule]] and the appointing of [[client king]]s, which were cheaper than military campaigns. [[Italicus (chieftain)|Italicus]], nephew of Arminius, was appointed king of the Cherusci; [[Vangio and Sido]] became [[vassal]] princes of the powerful [[Suebi]], etc.<ref>[[Annals (Tacitus)|Tacitus]], Book 12 [verse 27 to 31]</ref> Only when indirect methods proved insufficient to control the Germanic tribes beyond the Rhine, did Roman emperors occasionally lead devastating punitive campaigns deep into Germania. One of them, led by the Roman emperor [[Maximinus Thrax]], resulted in a Roman victory in 235 at the [[Battle at the Harzhorn|Battle at the Harzhorn Hill]],<ref>Historia Augusta, ''The Two Maximini'' 12:1–4; Herodian, ''Roman History'', Book 7:2:3</ref> located in the modern German state of [[Lower Saxony]], east of the Weser river, between the towns of [[Kalefeld]] and [[Bad Gandersheim]].

===Germanic sagas===
In the early 19th century, attempts were made to show that the story of Arminius and his victory may have lived on in the [[Old Norse]] [[saga]]s,<ref>{{cite journal|title=Ueber den Ursprung der Siegfriedsage|author=A. Giesebrecht|journal=Germania|issue=2|year=1837|url=https://archive.org/details/UeberDenUrsprungDerSiegfriedsage/}}</ref> in the form of the dragon slayer [[Sigurd]] of the [[Völsunga saga]] and the [[Nibelungenlied]]. An Icelandic account<ref>{{citation |title= Nikulas Bergsson, Arnamagnæan Collection manuscript 194, 8yo |author=unknown | year=1387}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title= Altnordische Kosmographie: Studien und Quellen zu Weltbild und Weltbeschreibung in Norwegen und in Island vom 12. bis zum 14. Jahrhundert |author= Simek, R. |journal= Berlin/New York | year=1990}}</ref> states that Sigurd "slew the dragon" in the Gnitaheidr—today the suburb Knetterheide of the city of [[Bad Salzuflen]], located at a strategic site on the [[Werre]] river which could very well have been the point of departure of Varus' legions on their way to their doom in the Teutoburg Forest. One of the foremost Scandinavian scholars of the 19th century, [[Guðbrandur Vigfússon]],<ref>{{cite book|title=Grimm centenary; Sigfred-Arminivs, and other papers
|author= G. Vigfusson, F. York Powell|publisher=Oxford Clarendon Press|year=1886|url=https://archive.org/details/grimmcentenarysi00gudb}}</ref> identified Sigurd as Arminius. This educated guess was also picked up by [[Otto Höfler]], who was a prominent [[Nazi]] academic during [[World War II]].<ref>O. Höfler, "Siegfried Arminius und die Symbolik," ''Heidelberg'' (1961), 60–64, and also in ''Siegfried, Arminius und der Nibelungenhort'' (Vienna 1978); F.G. Gentry, W. McConnell, W. Wunderlich (eds.), ''The Nibelungen Tradition. An Encyclopedia'' (New York–London 2002), article "Sigurd".</ref>

===German nationalism===
After Tacitus' [[Annals (Tacitus)|''Annals'']] were rediscovered by [[Renaissance humanist]]s and [[editio princeps|first published]] during the [[Gutenberg Revolution]] of the 15th century, Arminius became an important symbol of German [[national identity]], as a figure who successfully opposed [[colonialism]] and prevented the [[Romanization]] of his people by outgeneraling and defeating one of the world's first superpowers. Indeed, learning of his victory over the Roman army was especially important to [[Renaissance humanism in Northern Europe|German Renaissance humanist]]s, as the Renaissance only reached the [[Holy Roman Empire]] much later than southern Europe and German humanists were widely looked down upon by their Italian colleagues.{{Sfn|Doyé|2002|p=587}} The first literary adaptation of the Arminius story came in 1520 with [[Ulrich von Hutten]]'s Latin dialogue [[Arminius (dialogue)|''Arminius'']], which inserts the Germanic leader into a reimagining of the twelfth chapter of [[Lucian]]'s satirical ''Dialogues of the Dead''; a debate between [[Alexander the Great]], [[Hannibal]], and [[Scipio Africanus]] before the underworld judgment seat of [[Minos]] over who most deserves the position of history's greatest general and military strategist. Arminius argues his own claim and calls upon [[Tacitus]] to bear witness, and ultimately wins the case and the eloquent praise of Minos.<ref> {{Cite journal |last=Benario |first=Herbert W. |date=April 2004 |title=Arminius into Hermann: History into Legend |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3567880 |journal=Greece & Rome |volume=51 |issue=1 |pages=83–94 |jstor=3567880 }}</ref>

This version influenced later adaptations of the story, and reflected a wide interest in Arminius during the years of the [[German Reformation]]; the name ''Arminius'' was interpreted as reflecting the name ''Hermann'' by [[Martin Luther]], who saw Arminius as a symbol of his religious followers among the German people and their resistance to the [[Papacy]] and the [[Roman Catholic Church]].<ref>{{cite journal|title=German Pagan Antiquity in Lutheran Historical Thought|author=W. Bradford Smith|journal=The Journal of the Historical Society|volume=4|issue=3|year=2004|pages=351–374 | doi = 10.1111/j.1529-921X.2004.00104.x}}</ref> 

During the military occupation of the German States, first by the [[French Revolutionary Army]] and then by the [[French Imperial Army]] of [[Napoleon Bonaparte]], ''Hermann der Cheruskerfürst'' once again became a national icon and a martyr within both [[German Romanticism]] and the [[anti-colonialism|anti-Colonialist]] [[romantic nationalism]] fueled by the [[Napoleonic Wars]], which are still termed in Germany the [[Wars of Liberation]]. This may particularly be seen as in [[Caspar David Friedrich]]'s 1812 painting ''[[The Tombs of the Old Heroes]]''.<ref name="Klein/Käppel">Dorothea Klein (ed.), Lutz Käppel (ed.): ''Das diskursive Erbe Europas: Antike und Antikerezeption''. Peter Lang, 2008, {{ISBN|9783631560136}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=yvfqcAjU9wsC&pg=PA329 p. 329]</ref> During the [[unification of Germany]] in the 19th century, Arminius was hailed as a symbol of German unity and liberation.<ref name="Spiegel" /> 

[[File:Gehrts Armin verabschiedet sich von Thusnelda 1884.jpg|thumb|Arminius says goodbye to [[Thusnelda]], [[Johannes Gehrts]] (1884)]]
In 1808, [[Heinrich von Kleist]] wrote the play ''[[Die Hermannsschlacht (Kleist)|Die Hermannsschlacht]]'',<ref>Heinrich von Kleist: Die Herrmannsschlacht. Ein Drama [1808] (Frankfurt am Main and Basel: Stroemfeld-Roter Stern, 2001).</ref> but with Napoleon's [[Battle of Wagram|victory at Wagram]] it remained in manuscript, being published in 1821 and not staged until 1860. The play has been revived repeatedly at moments of national crisis and was especially used as [[propaganda in Nazi Germany]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia| encyclopedia=The Literary Encyclopedia | title=Die Hermannsschlacht | first=William C | last=Reeve | year=2004 | url= http://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=13117 | publisher=The Literary Dictionary Company | access-date=6 September 2006}}</ref>

In 1838, construction was started on a massive statue of Arminius, known as the ''[[Hermannsdenkmal]]'', on a hill near [[Detmold]] in the Teutoburg Forest; it was finally completed and dedicated during the early years of the Second [[German Empire]] in the wake of the German victory over France in the [[Franco-Prussian War]] of 1870–1871. The monument has been a major tourist attraction ever since, as has the [[Hermann Heights Monument]], a similar statue erected in [[New Ulm, Minnesota]], in the United States in 1897. The Hermann Heights monument was erected by the [[Sons of Hermann]], a fraternal organization formed in [[New York City]] by [[German American]]s as a means of self protection against [[anti-German sentiment]] and discrimination in 1840; and that flourished during the 19th century in American cities and rural areas with large populations speaking the [[German language in the United States]]. [[Hermann, Missouri]], a town on the [[Missouri River]] founded in the 1830s and incorporated in 1845, was also named for Arminius.

Following the defeat of [[Nazi Germany]] in 1945, Arminius became lesser-known among [[West Germany|West Germans]] and the educational system shied away from teaching about his life due to a sense of guilt and shame, rooted in both [[the Holocaust]] and [[Nazi war crimes]], related to any form of [[German nationalism]].<ref name="Spiegel"/> There was, however, a radically different practice in [[East Germany]]. Particularly during the [[Cold War]], Arminius and his warriors were [[anachronism|anachronistically]] reinterpreted quite similarly to the [[Third Servile War|slave revolt]] led by [[Spartacus]] in the [[Marxist-Leninism|Marxist-Leninist]] [[official history]] promoted by the State; as an early [[socialist revolution]] and as [[revolutionary terror]] against the "Roman slaveholder society" (''Sklavenhaltergesellschaft''). The legacy of Arminius and his followers was further reinterpreted as symbolic of the allegedly "peace-loving" [[Warsaw Pact]] countries, while Imperial Rome was made into a symbol of the [[capitalism|capitalist]] and allegedly [[Fascist]]ic [[United States]] and the [[NATO]] [[military alliance]], which were cast as the new evil empire needing to be resisted.<ref name=zeit>Tillmann Bendikowski: [http://www.zeit.de/2008/45/DOS-varus-schlacht ''Deutsche Geschichte – Mythos einer Schlacht'']. Zeit Online, 4 November 2008 (German)</ref>

According to journalist David Crossland: "The old nationalism has been replaced by an easy-going [[patriotism]] that mainly manifests itself at sporting events like the soccer<!-- Do not change this to "football". This is a direct quote. --> [[FIFA World Cup|World Cup]]."<ref name="Spiegel"/> The German Bundesliga football club [[DSC Arminia Bielefeld]] is named after Arminius. In the [[German diaspora]], on the other hand, the 2,000-year anniversary of the battle was celebrated in [[New Ulm, Minnesota]], proudly and without restraint. There were mock battles between Romans and club-wielding barbarians and also a lecture series in an auditorium.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.twincities.com/2009/09/20/new-ulm-celebrates-2000th-anniversary-of-battle/|title=New Ulm celebrates 2,000th anniversary of battle|date=20 September 2009|website=Twin Cities|language=en-US|access-date=19 April 2020}}</ref>