Dictionary of Battles / From the Earliest Date to the Present Time

by Thomas Benfield Harbottle

Varus. Defeat of (Germanic Wars).

The site of this famous battle is supposed to be between the rivers Ems and Lippe, not far from the modern Detmoldt. In A.D. 9 the Roman army, under Quintilius Varus, was attacked while on the march and encumbered by a heavy baggage-train, by the Germans, under Arminius or Hermann. The country was thickly wooded and marshy, and the Romans could make but little defence, with the result that they were almost annihilated. Varus committed suicide on the field to avoid falling into the hands of the victors.