The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest

A Metaphor for Our Moment in History

I have been thinking of the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest lately. It is a battle where the Barbarians beat a well-trained, highly-organized, and established Roman army, with extreme ramifications, because the latter did not bother to learn about the forest.

In 9 B.C.E., half of Rome’s Western army was ambushed in the dense, fog-drenched forest of Germania. Some 20,000 men, under Roman General Publius Varus, were wiped out by an army of Germanic tribes led by Arminius. Previously, no other battle had so stopped the Roman Empire in its tracks. That even the mightiest Empire could be defeated, if it were led into unfamiliar territory, is a metaphor for our time—and that unfamiliar territory in our day is the disordered mind.

In the years leading up to the Battle, the Roman Empire had been expanding rapidly under Emperor Augustus. At the turn of the Common Era, Rome was continuing its expansion, having successfully conquered large parts of Europe, including modern-day France and parts of Britain. However, the forested, rugged Germania east of the Rhine remained largely wild, yet-unknown territory.

In 6 C.E., Varus, a competent but somewhat complacent administrator, came to govern the Roman province of Germania. Varus had a reputation as a capable bureaucrat and military officer, but his lack of experience in dealing with the hostile terrain of Germania would prove to be fatal. Furthermore, his complacency did not lead to much motivation to try to understand.

The tribes would view Varus’ rule with increasing resentment, which Arminius, a Germanic chieftain, personified. Arminius had actually been raised as a hostage in Rome, where he was even admitted to the rank of a Roman officer, but his feelings of hostility toward Rome only grew.

By 9 C.E., Arminius had garnered support from several Germanic tribes and hatched a plan to destroy the Roman legions so as to seize control of the region. Having knowledge of Roman tactics, he deceived Varus into believing that a revolt had broken out in the far-flung parts of Germania and convinced the gullible governor to march his legions deeper into the forest to suppress the supposed rebellion. What Varus did not know was that he was marching into a well-laid trap.

The terrain of the Teutoburg Forest, with dense, tangled woods and narrow paths, was perfect for an ambush. Arminius and his Germanic warriors understood that the superior tactics of the Roman legions would be rendered useless, once they entered the forest.

As the Roman columns advanced through the forest on the morning of September 9, 9 C.E., the Germanic tribes launched their attack. From the cover of the trees and high ridges, they descended with terrifying speed. The Roman legions, accustomed to open battlefields where their orderly formations could dominate, were caught off guard by the reckless and chaotic nature of the assault. The dense forest made it impossible for the Romans to form their usual battle lines, leaving them vulnerable to the swift and savage Germans.

The Roman soldiers, weighed down by their heavy armor and shields, struggled to maneuver in the thick undergrowth. Arrows rained down from above, while Germanic warriors, armed with swords, spears, and axes, launched frenzied assaults below. The Romans fought back with the discipline they had been trained to uphold, but the surprise, brutal attack made it nearly impossible to mount an effective defense.

Varus, realizing the trap he had fallen into, tried to rally his troops and to organize a retreat, but it was too late. The attacking Germans surrounded them on all sides, and their disciplined lines shattered under the relentless assault. The mud, the trees, and the unpreparedness hindered any meaningful retreat. Many soldiers became trapped in the forest, isolated from their comrades, and hunted down by their adversaries. By the end of the third day, the Roman legions had been decimated. Varus, realizing the extent of the disaster, committed suicide in despair.

The Germanic tribes, with Arminius as their leader, celebrated their stunning victory. The cost was considerable, and their triumph would not last, but they had dealt a crushing blow to Roman prestige and military morale.

The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest would have far-reaching psychological consequences for the Roman Empire. The defeat shattered Rome’s image of invincibility for the world.

For Arminius, the battle was a monumental triumph. He was hailed as a hero among the Germanic tribes, and his success in outwitting the Romans raised him to a mythological status. Unfortunately, political instability among the Germanic tribes marked Arminius’ later years, and he ultimately died a broken man. Nevertheless, his legacy lived on in Germanic folklore.

The battle also had long-term consequences for the relationship between Rome and the Germanic tribes. Although the Roman army would eventually recover, the defeat in Teutoburg forced Rome to abandon its plans for the conquest of Germania, and the Empire would never again attempt to push eastward beyond the Rhine River. The Rhine would thus remain the boundary for Roman-controlled territories for centuries to come, while fierce, Germanic tribes inhabited the wild forested regions to the east.

The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest was thus a pivotal moment in world history. Rome’s broader geopolitical trajectory was forever changed, preventing its extension of control into Northern Europe. The Battle reshaped the geopolitical landscape of Europe, by showing that even the mightiest empire could be defeated, with reverberations that would be felt for centuries. For the Romans, the memory of the defeat haunted their ambitions forever, while for the Germanic tribes, it became a rallying cry for their continued coexistence.

Today, we are living through the onslaught on another Empire that began, not by war or conquest, but through our voluntary entry into a forest, without any estimation of what it entails, based on gullible acceptance of trickery and deceit. We are discovering that, despite our advanced civilization and information technology, we are utterly helpless when it comes to the unfamiliar terrain of the disordered mind. We have allowed into our ranks a wrecking ball for national security and global stability—as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the chief of Naval Operations, the vice chief of staff of the Air Force, and the U.S. Coast Guard commandant, not to mention the military’s most senior legal advisers, are all eliminated, at once. And what all the armies of the world could not do, one man did, by removing all intelligence, the FBI, the employees at the National Nuclear Security Administration, and the Department of Justice. Complacency and overconfidence got us here, but treacherous will be the struggle to get us out.

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Dr. Lee is a forensic and social psychiatrist who became known to the public through her 2017 Yale conference and book that emphasized the importance of fit leadership. In 2019, she organized a major National Press Club Conference on the theme of, “The Dangerous State of the World and the Need for Fit Leadership.” In 2024, she followed up with another major Conference, “The More Dangerous State of the World and the Need for Fit Leadership.” She published another book on fit leadership (now privately expanded), in addition to a volume on how unfitness in a leader spreads and two critical statements on fit leadership. Dr. Lee warned that journalists and intellectuals are the first to be suppressed in times of unfit leadership, and it is happening here; she continues, however, to be interviewed or covered abroad, such as in France, Germany, Norway, Brazil, and Argentina (with articles translated into Czech and Romanian). Dr. Lee authored the internationally-acclaimed textbook, Violence; over 100 peer-reviewed articles and chapters; and 17 scholarly books and journal special issues, in addition to over 300 opinion editorials. She is currently developing a new curriculum of public education on “One World or None.”