The Battle of the Angrivarian Wall was fought near Porta Westfalica,

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

in 16 AD between the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

general

Germanicus Germanicus Julius Caesar (24 May 15 BC – 10 October AD 19) was a Roman people, Roman general and politician most famously known for his campaigns against Arminius in Germania. The son of Nero Claudius Drusus and Antonia the Younger, Germanicu ...

and an alliance of Germanic tribes commanded by

Arminius Arminius (; 18/17 BC–AD 21) was a chieftain of the Germanic peoples, Germanic Cherusci tribe who is best known for commanding an alliance of Germanic tribes at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in AD 9, in which three Roman legions under th ...

. This battle followed immediately after the

Battle of Idistaviso A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

, and was sparked by Germanic outrage over the trophy erected on that prior battlefield by the Romans. It was the final battle of a three-year series of campaigns by Germanicus in

Germania Germania ( ; ), also more specifically called Magna Germania (English: ''Great Germania''), Germania Libera (English: ''Free Germania''), or Germanic Barbaricum to distinguish it from the Roman provinces of Germania Inferior and Germania Superio ...

. According to

Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. Tacitus’ two major historical works, ''Annals'' ( ...

, the battle was a victory for the Romans. Germanicus, now in winter quarters across the Rhine, wanted to renew the conquest in the Spring, but was recalled to Rome by

Tiberius Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus ( ; 16 November 42 BC – 16 March AD 37) was Roman emperor from AD 14 until 37. He succeeded his stepfather Augustus, the first Roman emperor. Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC to Roman politician Tiberius Cl ...

, now Rome's Emperor.Tacitus, ''The Annals'' 2.41 In fact this final action led to a withdrawal of the Roman troops from territories of Germania east of the

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

river effectively until the collapse of the Roman Empire.

Background

The Germanic chief,

, had been instrumental in the organising of the

Battle of the Teutoburg Forest The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, also called the Varus Disaster or Varian Disaster () by Ancient Rome, Roman historians, was a major battle fought between an alliance of Germanic peoples and the Roman Empire between September 8 and 11, 9&nbs ...

, in which three Roman legions moving west to winter quarters were ambushed and annihilated by allied Germanic forces in the deep forests of western Germania. That defeat plagued the Roman psyche, and revenge and the neutralisation of the threat of Arminius were the impetus for Germanicus' campaign. In the year before the battle, 15 AD, Germanicus had marched against the

Chatti The Chatti (also Chatthi or Catti) were an ancient Germanic tribe whose homeland was near the upper Weser (''Visurgis'') river. They lived in central and northern Hesse and southern Lower Saxony, along the upper reaches of that river and in ...

and then against the

Cherusci The Cherusci were a Germanic tribe that inhabited parts of the plains and forests of northwestern Germania in the area of the Weser River and present-day Hanover during the first centuries BC and AD. Roman sources reported they considered thems ...

under Arminius. During that campaign, the Romans advanced along the region of the Teutoburg Forest, where the legions had been massacred and buried the bones of the Roman soldiers that still lay there. The

eagle Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus ''Aquila ( ...

of the annihilated nineteenth legion was also recovered. The Germanic tribes generally avoided open large-scale combat, but by repeated Roman incursions deep into Germanic territory, Germanicus was able to force Arminius, at the head of a large but fractious coalition, into response. The Romans, along with the

Chauci The Chauci were an ancient Germanic tribe living in the low-lying region between the Rivers Ems and Elbe, on both sides of the Weser and ranging as far inland as the upper Weser. Along the coast they lived on artificial mounds called '' terpen'' ...

, who fought for Romans as

auxiliaries Auxiliaries are combat support, support personnel that assist the military or police but are organised differently from regular army, regular forces. Auxiliary may be military volunteers undertaking support functions or performing certain duties ...

, defeated the allied Germanic forces and inflicted heavy losses on them.Tacitus, ''The Annals'' 2.17

Opposing forces

Before the

battle of Idistaviso A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

, which took place a few days or weeks earlier, Germanicus had eight legions with auxiliary troops: among these, according to Tacitus, are the Germanic allies such as the Batavi (mainly as cavalry), Germanic contingents such as the

, and Celtic contingents such as Raeti,

Vindelici The Vindelici (Gaulish: ) were a Gallic people dwelling around present-day Augsburg (Bavaria) during the Iron Age and the Roman period. Name They are mentioned as by Horace (1st c. BC), as (; var. ) by Strabo (early 1st c. AD), as and (var ...

and

Gauls The Gauls (; , ''Galátai'') were a group of Celts, Celtic peoples of mainland Europe in the Iron Age Europe, Iron Age and the Roman Gaul, Roman period (roughly 5th century BC to 5th century AD). Their homeland was known as Gaul (''Gallia''). Th ...

, fought on the Roman side. In addition, archers and horse archers have been mentioned. The size of the allied contingents is unknown, but may have been significant. For the total number of troops of the campaign army in the year 16, Hans Delbrück assumes "no less than 50,000". Klaus-Peter Johne cites 80,000. Wolfgang Jungandreas explicitly placed 100,000 men too high for the battle of the Angrivarian Wall. Even more difficult is to establish the number of troops at the disposal of the

under Arminius. Overall, the coalition appears to have been stronger than the previous year. In essence, the Cheruschi allies would have been the tribes involved in the

in 9 AD. Germanicus' military operations were directed against them in particular. It can therefore be assumed that the

Bructeri The Bructeri were a Germanic people, who lived in present-day North Rhine-Westphalia, just outside what was then the Roman Empire. The Romans originally reported them living east of the lower Rhine river, in a large area centred around present day ...

and

Marsi The Marsi were an Italic people of ancient Italy, whose chief centre was Marruvium, on the eastern shore of Lake Fucinus (which was drained in the time of Claudius). The area in which they lived is now called Marsica. They originally spoke a l ...

belonged to the coalition. In addition,

Usipetes The Usipetes or Usipii (in Plutarch's Greek, Ousipai, and possibly the same as the Ouispoi of Ptolemy) were an ancient Germanic people who entered the written record when they encountered Julius Caesar in 56/55 BC when they attempted to find a new ...

Tencteri The Tencteri or Tenchteri or Tenctheri (in Plutarch's Greek, Tenteritē and possibly the same as the Tenkeroi mentioned by Claudius Ptolemy if these were not the Tungri) were an ancient tribe, who moved into the area on the right bank (the nort ...

and Tubantes are counted among the allies. Together with the Cherusci and the Angrivari, the

belong to the three tribes that Tacitus particularly emphasizes in his account of the triumphal march of Germanicus in 17 AD: It is not clear if and how the Chatti joined the Arminius alliance in the summer of 16 AD. Due to their rivalry with the Cherusci, they may have taken part in the fighting by operating independently. If one calculates the number of warriors in the coalition using the data provided by Günter Stangl for the individual tribes, one gets from 40,000 to about 75,000..

Aftermath

The two battles of Idistaviso ended positively for the Roman army; the legions of Varus destroyed in Teutoburg were avenged and Germanicus also managed to recover two of the three eagles lost by the Romans in the defeat, but in reality Germanicus' campaign did not obtain decisive results. Tacitus asserts bitterly that a jealous Tiberius recalled Germanicus due to feeling threatened by a potential rise in his political appeal due to successes in avenging Teutoburg. According to other opinions, Germanicus was unable to remain permanently, despite his victories, east of the Rhine; in addition, his fleet had suffered heavy losses in a storm.. Tiberius considered that it was useless and wasteful to try again to conquer Germany as far as the Elbe river and therefore he recalled Germanicus; the emperor also believed that internal discords between the Germanic peoples would safeguard the integrity of the imperial borders on the Rhine better than a long and costly war of conquest.

References

Bibliography

Primary sources

Secondary sources

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Battle of the Angrivarian Wall 16 1st-century battles Angrivarian Wall Angrivarian Wall Angivarian Wall Military history of Germany 10s in the Roman Empire Arminius Cherusci 10s conflicts Germanicus Roman campaigns in Germania (12 BC – AD 16)