Aftermath

Upon hearing of the defeat, the Emperor Augustus, according to the Roman historian Suetonius in De vita Caesarum ("The Lives of the Caesars"), was so shaken that he stood butting his head against the walls of his palace, repeatedly shouting:

"Quintili Vare, legiones redde!“ ('Quintilius Varus, give me back my legions!')

The legion numbers XVII and XIX were not used again by the RomansThe Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterranean Sea in Europe, North Africa, and Western Asia, and was ruled by emperors. The first two centuries of the Roman Empire saw a period of unprecedented stability and prosperity known as the Pax Romana ('Roman Peace'). The Empire was later ruled by multiple emperors who shared control over the Western Roman Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire.Romans (Legio XVIII was raised again under Nero, but finally disbanded under Vespasian). This was in contrast to other legions that were reestablished after suffering defeat. Another example of permanent disbandment was the XXII Deiotariana legion, which may have ceased to exist after incurring heavy losses when deployed against Jewish rebels during the Bar Kokba revolt (132–136 CE) in Judea.

The battle abruptly ended the period of triumphant Roman expansion that followed the end of the Civil Wars forty years earlier. Augustus' stepson Tiberius took effective control, and prepared for the continuation of the war. Legio II Augusta, XX Valeria Victrix, and XIII Gemina were sent to the Rhine to replace the lost legions.

Arminius sent Varus' severed head to Maroboduus, king of the Marcomanni, the other most powerful Germanic ruler, with the offer of an anti-Roman alliance. Maroboduus declined, sending the head to Rome for burial, and remained neutral throughout the ensuing war. Only thereafter did a brief, inconclusive war break out between the two Germanic leaders.

• Outline of Battle of the Teutoburg Forest (9 AD)
  

  HISTORIC BATTLES

  Battle of the Teutoburg Forest (9 AD)

  The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, described as the Varian Disaster (Clades Variana) by Roman historians, took place in the Teutoburg Forest in 9 CE, when an alliance of Germanic tribes ambushed and decisively destroyed three Roman legions and their auxiliaries, led by Publius Quinctilius Varus. The alliance was led by Arminius, a Germanic officer of Varus' auxilia. Arminius had acquired Roman citizenship and had received a Roman military education, which enabled him to deceive the Roman commander methodically and anticipate the Roman army's tactical responses. View Historic Battle »

  Background: In 4 CE the Roman general Tiberius entered Germania and subjugated the Cananefates in Germania Inferior, the Chatti near the upper Weser River and the Bructeri south of the Teutoburg Forest.

  Battles: The Roman forces were not marching in combat formation, and were interspersed with large numbers of camp followers. As they entered the forest northeast of Osnabrück, they found the track narrow and muddy.

  Aftermath: The battle abruptly ended the period of triumphant Roman expansion that followed the end of the Civil Wars forty years earlier.

  Roman Retaliation: The next year was marked by two major campaigns and several smaller battles with a large army estimated at 55,000–70,000 men, backed by naval forces.

  Impact on Roman expansion: From the time of the rediscovery of Roman sources in the 15th century the Battles of the Teutoburg Forest have been seen as a pivotal event resulting in the end of Roman expansion into northern Europe.

RESOURCES
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Battle of the Teutoburg Forest (9 AD)", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.