Editing Arminius (section)

===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]].