Romans and the Rhine - Post Teutoburger

Monday 19 May 2014

It's long been believed that the Romans very rarely ventured across the Rhine river into modern-day Germany, especially after the disastrous battle of Teutoburger forest in 9 A.D.

However, in 2010, archaeologists discovered an ancient Roman military camp in the German Bundesland of Thüringen, deep in eastern Germany.

The site, found near Hachelbich, would have sheltered a Roman legion of up to 5,000 troops.

Its location in a broad valley with few impediments suggests it was a stopover on the way to invade territory further east.

After the battle of Teutoburger forest in 9 A.D., Rome largely abandoned hope of conquering the fractious German tribes north of the Rhine River.

Yet written sources suggest that the Romans occasionally campaigned in Germany, probably to punish German tribes for raids on Roman territory.

Until recently, the reports have been largely dismissed.

But this discovery, which was revealed to the general public only 6 days ago, along with evidence of a battlefield near modern Hannover, seem to show that these written sources had more truth to it than previously thought.

The archaeologists working on the site have said that the camp site they have uncovered is definitely NOT of Germanic origin, but Roman.

The camp site is dated to somewhere between the 1st and 2nd centuries A.D.

Pictured is the province of Thüringen on a modern-day map of Germany.

- Tobbe

Greece Vs Ottoman 1897 - Crete

18 April, 1897, Greece and the Ottoman Empire went to war over the island of Crete, starting the Greco-Turkish War.

Following the Greek Revolution in 1821, Greece was recreated as an independent kingdom. But it was very poor and had a tiny population.

Despite this, the Greeks had high ambitions, which seemed tantalisingly within reach due to continued Turkish decline.

Following the crisis of 1878 and the invasion of Thrace by the Russians, the Congress of Berlin was summoned to resolve the disputes.

Bulgaria was created as a vassal of the Turks, Serbia was awarded the valley of the Morava, and Greece was awarded Thessaly, somewhat late, in 1881.

Previously the Greek frontier had been delineated by the Phourka Pass and the coastal road around the Othrys mountain. The acquisition of Thessaly pushed the frontier northwards, to the Vale of Tempe and Mount Olympus.

But the ridge of Analypsis and the passes through it remained in Turkish hands. Melouna, Reveni, Kalambaki, the Skoumpa Defile, and Tempe itself were all controlled by the Turks, who could thus pour into Thessaly at their leisure. Farther north the passes of Katara, leading to Epirus, and Sarantaporo, leading to Macedonia, were also in Turkish hands, leaving the Greeks at a distinct disadvantage.

The Greeks nonetheless fancied themselves capable of challenging the Turks. As revolt exploded again on the island of Crete in 1895, Greece's irredentist pretensions resulted in the despatch of Greek forces to the island to protect, it was claimed, the Greek Orthodox living there in early 1897.

Naturally this resulted in war with the Ottoman Empire in the spring of 1897.

Though the Greeks were superior sailors and dominant at sea, which allowed them to quickly gain control of most of Crete, they were absolutely outmatched on land.

As a result the Greek plan was to stand on the defensive along the land frontier, capturing then holding the border passes. To assist with this task they also hoped to foment rebellion amongst the Greeks inhabiting Epirus and Macedonia. Meanwhile they would use their superior sea power to capture and annex Crete.

Ottoman forces, by contrast, had been reformed by German officers, had modern equipment, improved organisation, and had acquitted themselves well against Russia in 1877-1878. Though they had few sailors and were therefore outmatched at sea, their armies had been much improved on land.

They were able to rapidly mobilise and march to face the Greeks in the passes. The original plan of the Turks was to pin the Greeks from the Melouna Pass along the Analypsis ridge to Mount Olympus and the Vale of Tempe. This achieved, Turkish forces were to strike eastwards from the Reveni Pass to capture Tyrnavos and fall into the Greek rear.

This was anticipated by the Greeks, who fought desperately for the Reveni Pass, and brought forces up from the Skoumpa Defile. The Greeks won the pass and pushed as far as Domassi threatening to push into the Turkish rear.

But the Turks realised that the Greeks had fatally weakened their centre in order to achieve this. As a result the Turks smashed into the Greek centre with overwhelming force to seize the Melouna Pass and push south.

The Greeks in Reveni Pass feared being cut off and rapidly retreated. The retreat turned into a route as the panicked and ill-disciplined Greeks recoiled behind the River Peneus. Crown Prince Constantine, the Greek commander, attempted to hold the fortress of Larissa, the capital of Thessaly. But his troops were in such a bad state, and he unable to regain control of them, that he was compelled to withdraw even further south, to the line of Pharsalus, at the foot of a northern spur of the Othrys, where Julius Caesar famously defeated Pompey nearly two-thousand years before.

The Turks were quick to pursue, scarcely believing that Larissa was abandoned so easily, and again defeated the badly formed Greeks at Pharsalus.

The main battle of the war was decided to the southwest, as the Greeks retreated upon Domokos, the last stronghold before the Phourka Pass leading over the Othrys to Lamia in Phthiotis, and thence by way of Thermopylae over Mount Parnassus to the plains of Boeotia where stands the city of Thebes, and thence over the Kithairon to the Thriasian Plain in Attica.

Since Domokos controlled the northern entrance to the Phourka Pass, the Greeks intended to stand there to prevent the Turks from breaking into their core lands to the south.

But unfortunately for them they were again defeated.

As they recoiled over the Phourka Pass, they naturally sought to reform to hold the ancient and legendary Pass of Thermopylae. The Turks were none too sure of their ability to force this, especially given their weakness at sea. The Greeks still held the city of Volos to the north, upon the Turkish rear, which they were able to reinforce by sea. Given the fall of Crete, the formidable defences of Themopylae, and the existence of the Greeks threatening their communications at Volos, the Turks were content to agree to peace, which was mediated by the Great Powers.

The Greeks were allowed to regain Thessaly, but were required to withdraw from Crete. In 1898 the autonomous Cretan State was created, denying the island to Greece while still forcing the Turks to grant some privileges to the Greek inhabitants on the island.

Greece's war with Turkey in 1897 was important for a number of reasons. It showed the weakness of Greece and the vitality of the Ottoman Empire. The Greeks failed to liberate Crete, or any other territory they entertained designs upon, and suffered a crushing defeat.

On the Turkish side, the rapid and effective defeat of the Greeks caused a great deal of confidence among themselves and disdain for their opponents. The Greeks had relied upon militia for the most part, having neglected their army. Laws were implemented in Greece immediately after the defeat to create a professional standing army, one which would not melt in panic from a setback as had the one which abandoned the superb position of Larissa without a fight.

This was to result in the much more serious Balkan Wars, which witnessed the Greeks obtain revenge, as the Ottoman Army suffered rapid and astonishing defeat at the hands of the small Balkan powers. Greece's defeat in 1897 was thus arguably necessary for her victory in 1912, for she learned from her mistakes while the Turks entered a false sense of security, imagining that the poor performance of the Greeks at Pharsalus and Domokos would be the norm in conflicts between the two nations.

The Greek Army that defeated the Turks at Sarantaporo and captured Salonica was an entirely different organisation to that which lost in 1897.

The painting is of the Turkish attack at Domokos by Fausto Zonaro. Both sides continued to use colourful and distinctive uniforms reflecting traditional Balkan attire.

- Kaiser

May 19th 1643 - French Crush the Spaniards at Rocroi

19 May, 1643, was the day the French under Louis de Condé defeated the Spaniards under Francisco de Melo during the Thirty Years' War at Rocroi.

France and Spain had been rivals for supremacy in Europe since the First Italian War in 1495, which Spain generally got the better of.

As Spain was inherited by the Austrian Habsburgs, this united the latter's possessions of Austria and Burgundy with the Spanish territories in Spain and Italy, which effectively encircled and contained France like a beast in a cage.

Since the French borders with Italy and Spain were for the most part rugged mountains, the Maritime Alps and the Pyrenees, Spain's greatest asset was its possession of Belgium as part of the Burgundian inheritance.

The Franco-Belgian border is open for the entire length from the North Sea to the Ardennes Forest, the easiest and most direct way to Paris. The Germans in two world wars would later adopt this route.

But prior to that Spain had exploited France's geographic weaknesses here too. Emperor Charles V had led Spanish armies over the French border, and when France fell into chaos with its religious wars, his son Philip II frequently sent the Army of Flanders into France, most famously under the Duke of Parma who threatened Paris.

So, unsurprisingly, when France entered the Thirty Years' War in 1635 on the side of the Protestants and against Spain and Austria, the Spanish intended to again enter France by way of Belgium and march directly on Paris.

By 1643 they felt sufficiently strong to undertake this operation, advancing up the Meuse towards Méziéres, a fortress Charles V had attempted to take in 1521, but had failed.

The Spanish were intercepted on the route up the Meuse near Rocroi by the French army under Louis de Condé, the Duke of Enghien, who was only twenty-one at the time.

Condé used his superiority in cavalry to good effect, striking the flanks of the Spanish, and putting their own cavalry to flight. Sweeping around the rear of the Spanish, he sought to encircle them.

Despite repeated assaults, the magnificent discipline of the Spanish was able to successfully repulse all the efforts of Condé to break them.

Tiring of their obstinance, Condé held back to blast the Spanish with cannons.

Though they suffered horrendously, the Spaniards still would not yield. They grimly stood their ground, but as it was obvious they could neither effectively reply to the French guns, since their own artillery had been captured and added to the French arsenal, nor could they escape for the French cavalry lay all around them ready to pounce, the Spanish proposed to surrender.

As reward for their astonishing bravery and remarkable ability to maintain cohesion in the face of almost guaranteed destruction, Condé allowed the remaining Spanish to march off the field honorably and return to Belgium.

The battle resounded across Europe. The Spanish infantry, for over a century organised into Tercios, had been defeated. The Spanish had not been beaten in the open field in a very long time. Many considered them invincible, many ran from them rather than fight.

But Condé had shown that they could be defeated. Despite their professional ability not even the Tercios could survive the growing power of artillery and the resurgence of cavalry. The reforms of the Dutch under Maurice of Nassau and the Swedes under Gustavus Adolphus, stressing flexible formations and emphasis on firepower had proven superior to the dense formations of the Spanish, and soon Europe was to undergo a military revolution.

More immediately the victory signified that Paris would not fall and France would remain in the war. The inability of Spain to decisively eliminate France by a direct march on Paris was to result in the French successfully entering Germany under Turenne, where they defeated the Austrians.

By 1648 the Austrians had had enough, and agreed to peace. The Austrian desertion left Spain to face France alone until 1659, at which point the Spanish Empire was so exhausted that all Europe came to see that Spain was finished and France's time had come.

For so long imprisoned by Spain, France was to explode with energy in all directions, sending her sons to every corner of Europe and beyond.

Pictured are the Spanish Tercios stubbornly holding their ground despite the carnage.

- Kaiser19 May, 1643, was the day the French under Louis de Condé defeated the Spaniards under Francisco de Melo during the Thirty Years' War at Rocroi.

France and Spain had been rivals for supremacy in Europe since the First Italian War in 1495, which Spain generally got the better of.

As Spain was inherited by the Austrian Habsburgs, this united the latter's possessions of Austria and Burgundy with the Spanish territories in Spain and Italy, which effectively encircled and contained France like a beast in a cage.

Since the French borders with Italy and Spain were for the most part rugged mountains, the Maritime Alps and the Pyrenees, Spain's greatest asset was its possession of Belgium as part of the Burgundian inheritance.

The Franco-Belgian border is open for the entire length from the North Sea to the Ardennes Forest, the easiest and most direct way to Paris. The Germans in two world wars would later adopt this route.

But prior to that Spain had exploited France's geographic weaknesses here too. Emperor Charles V had led Spanish armies over the French border, and when France fell into chaos with its religious wars, his son Philip II frequently sent the Army of Flanders into France, most famously under the Duke of Parma who threatened Paris.

So, unsurprisingly, when France entered the Thirty Years' War in 1635 on the side of the Protestants and against Spain and Austria, the Spanish intended to again enter France by way of Belgium and march directly on Paris.

By 1643 they felt sufficiently strong to undertake this operation, advancing up the Meuse towards Méziéres, a fortress Charles V had attempted to take in 1521, but had failed.

The Spanish were intercepted on the route up the Meuse near Rocroi by the French army under Louis de Condé, the Duke of Enghien, who was only twenty-one at the time.

Condé used his superiority in cavalry to good effect, striking the flanks of the Spanish, and putting their own cavalry to flight. Sweeping around the rear of the Spanish, he sought to encircle them.

Despite repeated assaults, the magnificent discipline of the Spanish was able to successfully repulse all the efforts of Condé to break them.

Tiring of their obstinance, Condé held back to blast the Spanish with cannons.

Though they suffered horrendously, the Spaniards still would not yield. They grimly stood their ground, but as it was obvious they could neither effectively reply to the French guns, since their own artillery had been captured and added to the French arsenal, nor could they escape for the French cavalry lay all around them ready to pounce, the Spanish proposed to surrender.

As reward for their astonishing bravery and remarkable ability to maintain cohesion in the face of almost guaranteed destruction, Condé allowed the remaining Spanish to march off the field honorably and return to Belgium.

The battle resounded across Europe. The Spanish infantry, for over a century organised into Tercios, had been defeated. The Spanish had not been beaten in the open field in a very long time. Many considered them invincible, many ran from them rather than fight.

But Condé had shown that they could be defeated. Despite their professional ability not even the Tercios could survive the growing power of artillery and the resurgence of cavalry. The reforms of the Dutch under Maurice of Nassau and the Swedes under Gustavus Adolphus, stressing flexible formations and emphasis on firepower had proven superior to the dense formations of the Spanish, and soon Europe was to undergo a military revolution.

More immediately the victory signified that Paris would not fall and France would remain in the war. The inability of Spain to decisively eliminate France by a direct march on Paris was to result in the French successfully entering Germany under Turenne, where they defeated the Austrians.

By 1648 the Austrians had had enough, and agreed to peace. The Austrian desertion left Spain to face France alone until 1659, at which point the Spanish Empire was so exhausted that all Europe came to see that Spain was finished and France's time had come.

For so long imprisoned by Spain, France was to explode with energy in all directions, sending her sons to every corner of Europe and beyond.

Pictured are the Spanish Tercios stubbornly holding their ground despite the carnage.

- Kaiser