Rome's Greatest Defeat: Massacre in the Teutoburg Forest

I found Adrian Murdoch's book to be pretty well researched and well written on the events that took place in and around Teutoburg Forest that resulted in the destruction of three Roman Legions and their support units. The author definitely didn't waste any pages relating to the events at hand and his background material prior to the massacre proves quite useful and interesting. I found this to be an interesting contrast to the previous book I read on this subject by Peter Wells. Unlike Wells who claims that the entire battle was over within a hour, Murdoch accurately traced a battle that took over several days. His take on the commander, Varus, proves to be insightful since it gave a good reasoning why Augustus may have choosen him as governor of Germany when he did. I believed the author used all the material available on this campaign to make this a readable and understandable book. His background material prior to the campaign proves to be useful and his efforts to explain what happened after the massacre and its consequences to Rome as well as toward European history also proves to be insightful and interesting. There is also a considerable effort by the author to explained the effect Arminius had on German history through out history to modern period. Its also nice that the author did give Major Tony Clunn his due credit for basically discovering and opening up the main area where the Romans met their doom. Most of the other authors only give lip service if any to Clunn and his efforts. On the down side, I thought as some of the previous reviewers thought, there should have more useful maps to this book and more photographs. Both were definitely lacking as visual aids in both would have enchance the reader's understanding. And I too, believed that the author's comparison of Rome and United States' effort in Iraq went beyond the scrope of the book and lent to the only part of the book (only one paragraph) where I thought the author inserted his personal biased of current events to affect what he wrote. But I can still recommended this book along with the book written by Tony Clunn (Search for the Lost Roman Legions) as two best books on the subject written on the subject matter as for now. I think it would be best if you read both books back to back.

Being a lover of ancient Germanic history, I had to get this book. It wasn't disappointing one bit. The title is a bit misleading though. The actual account of the Battle of Teutoberg Forest in this book is only about 10 pages long. The rest of the 200 pages are dedicated to a detailed description of Varus' political career, Arminius' life as a Roman officer, and the affects that the history of the battle had on later German nationalism. The amount of time and research spent on the archeological discoveries and the flow of the story-telling that Murdoch presents are what make this book well worth the read.

This is one of only a handful of books on the Teutobergerwald battle to appear since the discovery of the battlesite. While less detailed on the actual fighting compared with the book by Wells, to which those more interested in a blow-by-blow summary of the battle should turn, it gives a very good account of the background to the events of 9 AD, their significance and above all of how they have been exploited by German politicians and writers. Recommended for anyone interested in the subject. We still await a definitive book on the battle, which will probably have to wait till the archaeological work at Kalkriese is complete, but until then this is a good place to start.

This book does a good job of providing a perspective of what happened to the Roman legions in the Teutoburg forest in 9AD. Using different sources which the author does a good job of laying out in the first chapter, and some logical evaluation of the people and events, the author provides what happened leading up to the battle, what happened during the battle and what occurred afterwards. Some new ideas that I hadn't known before: the days of the battle were stormy, lots of rain and mud caused the Roman legions to get bogged down, Arminius was with the Romans until the first attack and then turned sides and that there were some survivors. The events that transpired after the battle were especially interesting, including the retreat of a Roman unit in the middle of Germany and the campaigns of Germanicus. This would be an excellent book except that at the end the author reaches to making an analogy between Rome in 9AD and the US in 2006 in Iraq. That attempt is feable without logic and may leave the reader with a bad last impression of a good book. However, all in all this is a good book and well worth the read for any Roman history buff.

When I was a child I remember reading about "Herman the German" and his victory over the evil Romans at Teutoburg Forest and I had hoped that I could someday become an Indiana Jones and find the actual battle site. Well, an intrepid English officer armed with a metal detector beat me to it before I even had the chance to start looking. I then figured I could find some talent and write a definitive book on the subject because so little had been written about this momentous battle. Guess what? Too late again. A book has been written that covers the battle so well that I won't even bother looking for that muse. Adrian Murdoch's book is simply wonderful. He reveals so many details and facts that I have never seen in print anywhere else. I gained a healthy respect for the Roman Varus because of Murdoch's lengthy history of the man's unknown career. History has not been kind to Varus but Murdoch gives a plausible explaination for Augustus's decision to let Varus command in the North. Augustus was no fool and he would not have risked 3 of his legions and his northern frontier with just anyone. Murdoch does a fine job of telling the story from start to finish and gives a nice ending to the mystery with much detail on recent excavations and finds. I found only a few minor mistakes-maybe typos? The battle of Cannae took place in 216BC not 218BC and the cover of the book could have been better- a shot from "Gladiator"? How about a photo of the battle sites? I was also suprised to see the author use the "BC" & "AD" with his dates. I applaud this. I will never accept the more politically correct "BCE" and "CE". I guess I just don't like changing what I grew up with. The only faults I can find with this book are minor. I wish that the book would have been a bit thicker- more photos, histories of the legions lost? I also did not like his comparison of Imperial Rome and the modern day United States. Rome was a brutal conqueror with a record of genocidal policies and culture destruction that even today is matched by none. I do not see the same course currently being followed by the US. Maybe the author is not too keen on the current situationin Iraq? I now have one accurate book with all the facts on the battle of Teutoburg Forest and about 50 books that got all/most of it wrong. Hindsight is indeed 20/20. Buy this book and learn how to rewrite history! Hannibal