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Facts About Germany German History German Recipes |
Early Military History of Germany The first Germans to win repute as fearsome adversaries in combat were
members of the various tribes who fought the encroachment of Roman legions
upon their territories. The Roman historian Tacitus praised the leadership
and military acumen of Arminius, a chief of the Cherusci who commanded
the German forces in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in A.D. 9. The
tribal warriors led by Arminius annihilated three Roman legions, effectively
preventing Roman expansion beyond the Danube and Rhine rivers. By the
fifth century, German tribes had entered the Italian peninsula and brought
about the collapse of the Roman Empire in the west. The empire created by Charlemagne (r. 768-814) in west-central Europe split up soon after his death, the eastern portion occupying much of the territory of modern Germany. These German lands gradually evolved into the Holy Roman Empire, with extensive territories in Italy. Many of the German kingdoms, principalities, and cities that were components of the empire were noted for the emphasis their leaders placed on military might. However, no imperial army or law held sway over the local princes and free cities. The absence of a strong central power, plus the emergence of Protestantism in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, resulted in a near-permanent state of civil conflict, wars of succession, and religious strife. The Thirty Years' War (1618-48), a series of conflicts between Protestant and Catholic forces, decimated Germany's population. - National
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