- For the Protestant theologian, see Jacobus Arminius.
Arminius (17 BC - 19 AD), in Germany called Hermann der Cherusker, was a war chief of the Germanic tribe of the Cherusci.
Arminius (a Latinized variant of the German name Armin, not "Hermann". The name "Hermann" as such is created by the reformer Martin Luther, because he wanted to take a figure from old times as a symbol of fighting against Rome. Hermann does mean "A man in an army/warrior".) was the son of a Cherusci war chief named Segimer. As a young man, he was trained as a military leader and served as an auxiliary in the Roman army, probably fighting other barbarian tribes in the Balkan peninsula.
He eventually returned to Germany, where the Roman Empire had established control of the territories west of the Rhine and sought to extend its hegemony eastward towards the Elbe river, under the military governor Publius Quinctilius Varus. Arminius soon began plotting to unite various German tribes and to thwart Roman efforts to incorporate their territories into the empire.
In the fall of 9 CE, in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, Arminius -- then 25 years old -- and a his alliance of German tribes ambushed and annihilated three Roman legions totalling about 30,000 men commanded by Varus. The precise location of the three-day battle remains to be established with certainty, but may have been near the hill called Kalkriese near Osnabruck. Varus committed suicide by plunging himself into his own sword, and the Romans never again attempted permanent conquest of any territory on the right bank of the Rhine.
After his great victory, Arminius tried for several years to bring about a more permanent union of the north German tribes so as to resist more effectively future Roman efforts at conquest, but did not succeed in the face of tribal jealousies. He also met the Romans in other battles, as they sought revenge for Teutoburg Forest. In 16, at Idistaviso (Angrivarierwall), a Roman army commanded by Germanicus managed a victory over Arminius, raided the German settlements and even captured his wife Thusnelda who was delivered to the Romans by her own father Segestes and her brother as an act of revenge on Arminius. Thusnelda had been promised by Segestes to another noble before Arminius eloped with her and married her. Segestes and his clan were Roman clients and opposed the policy of Arminius, as did Arminius' own brother. Thusnelda was taken to Rome, displayed in Germanicus' victory parade, and eventually vanished from history. The son she bore Arminius while in captivity was trained by the Romans as a gladiator in Ravenna and died before reaching the age of 30 in a gladiator bout. However, Germanicus gained no lasting benefit from his victory, as Arminius defeated another Roman force near the Weser River and compelled the Romans to withdraw.
At age 37, Arminius was murdered by members of his wife's family.
Largely forgotten for centuries except in the accounts of his Roman enemies, some of whom highly respected him for his military leadership skills and as a defender of the liberty of his people, the story of Arminius was revived in the late 19th century as part of the revival of German patriotism. In 1875, during the early years of the second German Empire and in the wake of the German victory over France in the war of 1870/71, a massive statue of Arminius known as the "Hermannsdenkmal" was built on a hill near Detmold, about 75 miles from the presumable battle site, where it is a major tourist attraction.
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