by Adrian Murdoch
So writes the author in the introduction to his book, and he is out to correct this failure. Mr. Murdoch, a Scottish journalist and historian, has packed an enormous amount of research and analysis into a mere 200 pages.[Although] Arminius and Varus are, naturally enough, part of Germany's national consciousness, their names often warrant barely a flicker of recognition in the English-speaking world. It is fair to say that Roman Germany as a whole, specifically the country's early history under the first emperors, has been conspicuously ignored outside Germany. Even in the academic field, only a handful of critical book-length studies have appeared in the last thirty years. The sheer volume and variety of discoveries in the last decade alone - archaeological, historical, epigraphic - make this nothing short of a scandal.
Murdoch looks at the political situation in Rome and Germania leading up to the fateful battle in 9 A.D., the geopolitical aims of Augustus and their collapse after the defeat - he believes that before the event, there was a definite plan to create an new province east of the Rhine - the battle itself, the protagonists of the battle, its aftermath, and finally the role which the battle story in general and Arminius in particular played in 19th century nationalism in Germany and in the Third Reich.
A chapter each is devoted to the lives of Varus and Arminius, cutting through the myths that were created around them and presenting more balanced profiles. This is an easier task of Varus, as his extensive career can be charted fairly easily. He certainly appears not to have been the inept bungler he is usually portrayed as, and Mr. Murdoch points out that in view of the revolts adjacent to the region, Augustus would hardly have appointed a man without "military experience, bravery, prestige and luck".
Recent archaeological finds in Germany give a more rounded picture of what the country east of the Rhine looked like; for instance less forest and more cultivated land, and larger settlements than had been previously assumed. This fact would have been a cogent argument for more extensive Roman plans for the region and would also likely have contributed to the reasons for Arminius' revolt, amongst others: definite Roman masters, and the specter of taxation. Less of course is known about Arminius than Varus, but Mr. Murdoch gives us a picture of a complex personality, grown up in area of political conflict, educated by the Romans, ambitious among his own Cheruscan tribe, and by no means universally welcomed back into the fold.
