Teutoburg Forest

Teutoburg Forest
View over the Teutoburg Forest

The Teutoburg Forest (German: Teutoburger Wald) is a range of low, forested mountains in the German states of Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia which used to be believed to be the scene of a decisive battle in AD 9.[1] Until the 19th century the official name of the mountain ridge was Osning.

Contents

Geography

Donop's Pond (Donoperteich)
Autumn in Teutoburg Forest

The Teutoburger Wald is a far northern extension of the central European uplands, extending east toward the Weser river, south from the town of Osnabrück and southeast to Paderborn. A broad valley, the site of the city of Bielefeld, divides it into the two portions called Northern Teutoburg Forest and Southern Teutoburg Forest. Except for a short area south of Osnabrück, which belongs to the Bundesland of Lower-Saxony, the whole forest is part of North Rhine-Westphalia.

The highest elevation in the Southern Teutoburg Forest is the Velmerstot (468 m) (south of Horn-Bad Meinberg). In the Northern Teutoburg Forest the highest elevation is the Dörenberg (331 m) (north of Bad Iburg).

The river Ems has its source in the southernmost portion of the Teutoburg Forest.[2]

The geologically oldest is the northern ridge, which consists of limestone of the Triassic.

History

The forest was believed[by whom?] to have been the site of a battle between the Roman Empire and an alliance of Germanic tribes in AD 9. The Roman historian Gaius Cornelius Tacitus identified the location of the battle as saltus Teutoburgiensis (saltus meaning a forest valley in Latin), and the encounter was therefore called the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. However, recent excavations suggest that at least the final stages of the battle took place farther northwest, at Kalkriese, north of Osnabrück.[3]

As of 2011 the Teutoburg Forest comprises two separate National Parks:

  1. TERRA.vita Nature Park, northwest part between Bielefeld and Osnabrück
  2. Teutoburg Forest / Eggegebirge Nature Park between Bielefeld and Diemeltal

Hills

Hermann's Memorial and renaming of the Osning

Monument of Wilhelm I

Arminius (a.k.a. Hermann the Cherusker), leader of the Germanic tribes during the battle, became something of a legend for his overwhelming victory over the Romans. During the period of national renaissance in the wake of the Napoleonic wars, he was seen as an early protagonist of German resistance to foreign rule and a symbol of national unity. A monumental statue of Arminius commemorating the battle, known as the Hermannsdenkmal (the "Hermann monument"), was erected on the Grotenburg hill near Detmold, near the site where the most popular theory of the time placed the battle. The monument was dedicated in 1875 by Emperor Wilhelm I, first Kaiser of the unified German Empire. He got his own monumental statue at the north of the Osning, called Porta Westfalica, set up at the hill Wittekindsberge in the mountain range of the Wiehen Hills. In order to create a national landscape the Osning mountains came to be named today as the "Teutoburg Forest", see also Teutonic. However, the old name survived among the local population. Over the years, it has become a local tradition to kiss the lowest part of the memorial for good luck.

It is also the forest in which the composer Johannes Brahms liked to walk during his stay in Detmold.

Websites

References

  1. ^ Paul K. Davis, 100 Decisive Battles from Ancient Times to the Present: The World’s Major Battles and How They Shaped History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), 68.
  2. ^ Teutoburg Forest at Destination Germany
  3. ^ http://rambambashi.wordpress.com/2010/05/22/common-errors-32-teutoburg-forest/

Coordinates: 51°53′44″N 8°48′49″E / 51.89556°N 8.81361°E / 51.89556; 8.81361


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Teutoburg Forest — [toi΄tō̂ boor΄gər vält′to͞ot′ə bʉrg΄, tyo͞ot′ə bʉrg΄] region of low, forested mountains, mostly in North Rhine Westphalia, Germany: highest point, c. 1,500 ft (457 m): Ger. name Teutoburger Wald [toi΄tō̂ boor΄gər vält′] * * * German Teutoburger …   Universalium

  • Teutoburg Forest — [toi΄tō̂ boor΄gər vält′to͞ot′ə bʉrg΄, tyo͞ot′ə bʉrg΄] region of low, forested mountains, mostly in North Rhine Westphalia, Germany: highest point, c. 1,500 ft (457 m): Ger. name Teutoburger Wald [toi΄tō̂ boor΄gər vält′] …   English World dictionary

  • Teutoburg Forest, Battle of the — ▪ Roman history       (AD 9), battle fought in late summer in which three Roman legions and auxiliary troops under Publius Quinctilius Varus were ambushed and annihilated east of the Rhine by German tribes led by Arminius, a chief of the Cherusci …   Universalium

  • Teutoburg Forest — or German Teutoburger Wald geographical name range of forested hills W Germany in region between Ems & Weser rivers; highest point 1530 feet (466 meters) …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • Teutoburg Forest — Teu′to•burg For′est [[t]ˈtu təˌbɜrg, ˈtyu [/t]] n. geg anh a chain of wooded hills in NW Germany, in Westphalia, taken to be the site of a Roman defeat by Germanic tribes a.d. 9. German, Teu•to•bur•ger Wald [[t]ˈtɔɪ toʊˌbɜr gər ˈvɑlt, ˌbʊər [/t]] …   From formal English to slang

  • Battle of the Teutoburg Forest — Part of the Roman Germanic wars Cenotaph of Marcus Caelius, 1st …   Wikipedia

  • Teutoburg — may refer to:* The Teutoburg Forest, a range of low, forested mountains in the German states of Lower Saxony and North Rhine Westphalia. * The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest fought there in AD 9 between Germanic tribes and the Roman Empire …   Wikipedia

  • forest — forestal, forestial /feuh res cheuhl/, adj. forested, adj. forestless, adj. forestlike, adj. /fawr ist, for /, n. 1. a large tract of land covered with trees and underbrush; woodland. 2. the trees on such a tract: to cut down a forest …   Universalium

  • Massacre in the Black Forest — Directed by Ferdinando Baldi Rudolf Nussgruber Written by Ferdinando Baldi Adriano Bolzoni Starring Cameron Mitchell Antonella Lualdi Hans von Borsody …   Wikipedia

  • Bavarian Forest — Results of bark beetle in the Bayerischer Wald …   Wikipedia

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