“ARMINIUS”
Synopsis

The year 2009 marks the 2,000th anniversary of a truly historic battle on a German mountain range, the Teutoburg Forest. Soaring Eagles Studios will produce an epic motion picture, “ARMINIUS”- known in Europe as Hermann the Cheruscan- based on a Germanic hero's extraordinary life ... and his untimely, tragic death. It is the true story of one man’s incredible quest to defy an empire and lead his people to freedom. It is also one of the most amazing love stories of all times.

Arminius, of noble blood, yet trained to serve the occupying Roman Empire, united the tribes of Germania in the year 9 AD to defeat three Roman legions, thereby forever changing the course of European history. Through this battle, rated by scholarly historians all over the world as having been the most important military confrontation ever, this Cheruscan prince not only liberated Germany from an oppressive alien yoke, but led to the Anglo-Saxonization of Northern Europe, rather than its Romanization. Its later cultural and social emanations would radiate to North America, Australia and other regions of the world.

Arminius was 27 years old when he revolted against Rome. Never was a victory more decisive, never the freeing of an oppressed people more spontaneous, more complete - and more enduring. With all the odds against him, Arminius succeeded brilliantly in liberating his homeland from an oppressive alien people. There are astounding historical parallels to our times and struggles against the New World Order.

In the entire known world of the time, there no longer existed a single nation independent of Imperial Rome. The Germanic peasant-warriors — brave, talented, but diluting their own strength with endless, petty quarrels — were easy prey for Roman legionaries whose trademark was the celebrated Roman unity of spirit. This made a successful resistance against the world power, Rome, appear to be pure fantasy. Arminius could rely upon no foreign help - or even sympathy.

Arminius was well aware of Rome’s enormous power, both spiritually and materialistically, its font of capabilities and all-but-unlimited material resources to win most any war. A revolt necessary for the liberation of his land could succeed only through tribal unity and superior military strategy until the decisive, merciless blow!

Few knew that the stature of Rome, seemingly so tremendous, no longer appeared built to endure. From the outside magnificent and powerful, domestically the Roman Empire – just like Western democracies of today - was marked by decline and corruption. The once noble and altruistic attitude of the civis romanus had given way to the coarsest and most selfish mores. A middle class had almost totally vanished. An oligarchy making a show of wealth had seized control of the republic. This epic illustrates amazing parallels to our situation today.

Background

Arminius and his brother Flavus spent a happy youth as sons of a Cheruscan prince, Segimar. But even in their otherwise unclouded play, the young Arminius had a keen sense for what was happening, for he had eyes to see and ears to hear. He knew instinctively that his beloved homeland was shot through by exploiters of an alien, parasitic nation that did not belong in the landscape of his forefathers.

Arminius was soon able to distinguish himself by helping to suppress a revolt in the Balkans against Rome. The Romans were impressed by the lanky young man of noble blood, by his intelligence and his gift for quick comprehension. They raised him to the knightly class. In 7 A.D., he returned home to succeed his dying father.

His brother Flavus, “the Blonde”, was happy to remain in Roman service in order to attain prestige and honors.

Arminius: A superb strategist

Only a born leader of superior intellect, equipped with an iron-hard will, and driven by passionate love for his people could set himself the goal of challenging Rome at the right time. But to reach this aim, the young Cheruscan prince had to ally himself with his neighbors and weld them into a potent fighting force. This was no easy task – there had been endless rivalries between the various Germanic tribes, while submission to Rome was practiced by all and hardly ever questioned. The Romans, for their part, made clever use of petty disputes among the chieftains and thus obtained the recognition of Roman sovereignty.

A charismatic leader

Riding from courtyard to courtyard, the young prince sought out old friends, recruiting them to a secret federation devoted to freeing the land. Despite his princely blood, at first he was met with mistrust due to his time spent in the Roman service. By sheer power of his personality and manly charisma, he succeeded in forging a secret resistance. Visiting tribe after tribe, he wooed and won their confidence, persuading not only his countrymen of the honesty of his intentions, but also those of the neighboring Germanic chieftains. He convinced precisely those men who were the best and most loyal. He circumvented those he couldn’t trust.

He knew, given the odds against a superior, well organized enemy occupation, that nimbleness, dissimulation, cunning and craftiness were indispensably necessary means for success. Furthermore, there had to be the factor of complete surprise. An open battle, according to the noble German custom of bravery and chivalry, would have been suicidal madness.

Arminius and Varus

A former Roman governor of Syria, Publius Quinctilius Varus, your typical lazy, corrupt politician, was entrusted with control over the occupied German lands.

“He entered wealthy Syria as a poor man,” the archives tell us. “As a wealthy man he left it impoverished.”

Like all Roman governors, Varus was highly educated, facile multilingually, a splendid theoretician, but inclined toward idle camp living — a garrison soldier. He believed he could deal with the freedom-loving Germans exactly as he had done with the subservient Syrians who had already been long accustomed to slavery. He was as mistrustful as he was severe to the point of cruelty against those governed by him. Varus thought the German tribes to be cowardly, venal and inferior, plow horses to be exploited and abused. He considered them to be stupid as well.

Soon, Varus made himself odious not only by his relentless tax collections but by the substitution of the alien Roman law permitting abductions into slavery, molestation and rape of German women - and the most mortifying of all acts of shame: public whipping to punish disobedience.

Against that backdrop, it is no surprise that a great political figure like Arminius knew how to stoke the hatred of his countrymen against the exploiters to a white-hot heat.

Luring the enemy into the trap

Arminius’s homeland was covered by a dense network of Roman garrisons. These Roman troops on foreign soil were lavishly equipped, armed with up-to-date weapons, strictly disciplined, used to fighting, accustomed to winning. The resources of their enormous empire seemed to underline and fortify their power. However, they misjudged the lay of the land.

Romance

Yet there was a soft and loving side to Arminius. He was captivated by Thusnelda, the stunningly beautiful daughter of Segestes, a dedicated creature of Rome. Since he couldn’t count on Segestes’ approval for the union, Arminius kidnapped Thusnelda and married her against her father’s will. The two were very much in love. Thusnelda was alarmed by Arminius’s thoughts of implacable vengeance, but she supported the need for insurrection. She would nobly remain loyal to her husband - and for this she would pay an enormous price.

On the eve of the decisive battle in the Teutoburg Forest, Varus invited Arminius, who was very much valued by him due to his education and manners learned in Rome, to a banquet together with other submissive German nobles. In the presence of everyone there, Segestes betrayed Arminius and accused him before Varus of high treason.

So well had Arminius played the role of subservient docility that Varus did not believe the accusation of Segestes. Varus saw in this charge an act of revenge by Segestes for Arminius’s kidnapping of his daughter. Varus believed he could feel absolutely secure in the territory of his new rule. He was well fortified. He had at his disposal three elite legions with at least 18,000 infantry troops, 900 cavalry troops, and 10,000 allied soldiers, foot soldiers and cavalrymen. His whole mobile fighting force, not taking into account the garrison forces of the forts scattered across the land, was estimated to be 25-30 thousand men.

Arminius planned his campaign of revenge down to the smallest detail

His only chance against Rome’s powerful army consisted of the principle of surprise and the correct choice of the terrain for the decisive battle he desired - a terrain that was alien to the legionaries drilled in fighting battles in the open.

The trackless, densely wooded area in the Teutoburg Forest, permeated by gorges and swamps, offered itself as ideal. Arminius merely needed to wait for a favorable opportunity. He unleashed a rumor that a local revolt against Rome had broken out in the north, in order to lure Varus out of his safe camp at Aliso. Varus took the bait. He believed he could acquire glory cheaply by putting down the supposed uprising while demonstrating the omnipotence of his rule. He even took Arminius along in his retinue as adviser.

It was autumn, and heavy rains had soaked the woods. Narrow roads, cold winds, and grounds softened by further rainfall hindered the advance. Furthermore, Varus committed the error of carrying along an unusually large baggage train for such an undertaking. His troops were dangerously stretched along the narrow ravines. Confusion began to spread among the Roman soldiers working hard in the rain and straining to move forward.

In this situation of disorder and exhaustion, stunning news reached Varus that his rear-guard was under attack from the revolting Cheruscans. Unable to turn back, he resolved to force his way farther forward. But disaster now befell him here too. From all sides the projectiles of the German warriors hidden in the woods whizzed into his ever thinning lines. To Varus’s horror, in unbounded profusion, his foreign legion auxiliaries deserted him now to join their tribal comrades. The march came to a halt.

In the early general chaos, Arminius left Varus and took over leadership of the attackers. Because of the far-stretched, thin Roman lines, the Cheruscans were able to employ their own tactics. They broke into the Roman ranks in a wedge formation and cleaved it into several parts. The Roman officers lost all control. It was as though the German gods discharged their anger upon the vile invaders. With the heaviness of the rainfall ever increasing, it was soon every Roman for himself.

Spurred on by Arminius’s spirited exhortations and his aggressive example, his men fell upon the hated foreigners in a fierce torrent. Varus finally ordered a retreat; but too late. The wounded Roman governor, totally encircled, recognized the hopelessness of his situation and threw himself on his sword.

Rome’s Counter-Strike

The news of the defeat spread fear and horror in Rome. When Caesar Augustus received the news of the lost battle, he tore his garments and called out:

Varus, Varus, give me back my legions!

Arminius’s triumph appeared total. Yet his tribesmen neglected to exploit their great victory. Arminius needed an important ally in the rear, Marbod, the King of the Marcomanni, who had been resettled in Bohemia and Moravia by Caesar. Arminius needed Marbod to make up a force equal to the task of meeting Rome - for Rome still had some staying power. The Roman she-wolf never forgot an injury done her.

Caesar Augustus considered by every means drawing up a suitable fighting force for the punishment of the rebellious Germanic tribes. By feigning acceptance of the status quo, a campaign of revenge was to be prepared and planned in secrecy and to be executed with overwhelming force.

The double-dealing Marbod was not a reliable ally to the Cheruscan tribe and its victorious leader. Marbod believed in realpolitik and sided with the Romans “for reasons of security,” although Arminius had sent him the head of Varus as a sign of his triumph over Rome. This selfish stance of Marbod, whether stemming from jealousy or fear of Rome’s power, merely confirmed the belief held by the Romans that because of their proven disunity alone, one could successfully deal with the German opponents merely by diplomatic cunning. But in order to preserve his legacy and rebuild the empire’s forces, Caesar Augustus never ordered a reoccupation behind the Rhine and the Germanic tribes were to live in relative peace for several years.

Tiberius and Germanicus

After the death of Augustus in 14 A.D., Tiberius became his successor; and his nephew, the ambitious Germanicus was tasked with resurrecting the campaign against Germania. Thereby no fewer than eight legions became available to Germanicus for the campaign against Arminius.

Germanicus’s conduct in warfare was dirty and marked by atrocity. Wherever Germanicus surfaced, the land was laid to waste. For instance, he surprised and slaughtered the Marsan tribe with their families after a religious festival. All life within a radius of 80 km was destroyed: women, children, buildings, shrines, fields, and crops.

Next, a Roman task force invaded the territory of the Cheruscans. With the assistance of the traitor Segestes, his daughter Thusnelda – pregnant with Arminius’s child - was taken prisoner and dragged off to Rome, where she, together with her small son Thumelicus, was paraded in Germanicus’s triumphal procession two years later. This proud and beautiful woman bore her fate with dignity. Not a sound of complaint passed her lips. Her father looked down upon his daughter from the grandstand of dignitaries.

Understandably, Arminius’s hatred for the Roman invaders after this painful personal loss only strengthened the further course of his campaign for liberation.

Two worlds in confrontation

16 A.D. was the year of decision. Tiberius became conservative in his Germanic policy. Nevertheless, he insisted on one last chance to still subdue the tribes beyond the Rhine. Two days before the start of battle, an historically significant confrontation of the two brothers, Arminius and Flavus, took place.

The brothers hadn’t seen each other since their common time in service of Rome. Now Arminius tried to get his brother to return to the community of the Cheruscans. He reminded Flavus of his ethnic roots, of their father, of the mother they had in common, of the gods of Germany, of the sacred duty owed to Germania.

In reply, Flavus, who had lost an eye in battle under Tiberius, pointed out to Arminius the magnanimity and liberality of the Romans toward those who willingly submitted to them. He proudly made reference to his collar-of-order and his wreath of honors. Armin ridiculed this as worthless rewards for slavery. The drama of this symbolic confrontation has been preserved in the annals of their time.

This verbal duel with his disloyal brother must have distressed and disoriented the otherwise so self-controlled Arminius and affected his judgment. He allowed himself to be misled into risking open battle with the superior opponent. It came down to a powerful collision with 80,000 Roman legionaries,

“ ... a concentrated fighting force, in deep echelons and as a phalanx rolling down everything that got in its way.”

The battle ended with heavy losses for the German tribes. Arminius himself was wounded. But bursting through the enemy ranks on his white horse, one more time he was able to escape. This was partially due to the Frisians, Roman auxilaries, who recognized Arminius and with great respect allowed him to escape and even saluted him as he passed.

Meanwhile, Germanicus ordered his soldiers to take no prisoners. The slaughter raged on for the entire day - the defenders of their homes against eight proven legions! The losses on the German side were substantial. Despite all of their bravery, in man-to-man combat, the short swords of the Romans, with helmet, shield, breastplate and greaves, proved to be superior to the Germanic tribes armed for the most part merely with long swords and spears.

When all was seemingly lost, the annals tell us, the gods of Germania ostensibly took charge. On the return journey of their fleet, the North Sea turned into the “Murder Sea” for the Romans. A hurricane-like storm took them by surprise, and a large percentage of the ships were lost.

The Roman emperor, Tiberius, possessed the wisdom to see when a war was no longer winnable. The inconceivable happened: the Romans did not return!

Conclusion

The name of Arminius shines brilliantly in the writings of Tacitus, a Roman himself and the most respected intellectual of his times. He tells us that Arminius lived only 12 more years after his great victory. At the age of 39 he was murdered by an assassin from his own tribe because he allegedly aspired to the title of king. Dissent and jealousy of his superior standing within the Germanic tribes was his downfall.

In our troubled time so short of genuine heroes, Arminius the Cheruscan stands before us as a towering personality of leadership, rarely seen since in history. Perhaps only George Washington with the aid of America’s Founding Fathers would similarly set forth in an all-but-hopeless situation against the superpower of a giant empire, to win the struggle of freeing an oppressed land and its people.

That success became possible at all was due to Arminius’s passionate love for his homeland and his loyalty to the mores of his forebears, as well as to his military talent. The personal qualities that allowed him to succeed in his great mission were, first and foremost, his political skills: his cold, exact assessment of the qualities of his opponent, his sharp power of judgment, unclouded by fanaticism or ideological chimeras, his waiting for the right moment, and his ability, so painfully missed in the Western world today, to observe moderation when needed, but striking when striking was just.

Arminius’s victory is a lesson to be learned for our times, that unity among one's kin is crucial to understand, confront and somehow overcome tyranny.