When the weather changes here, it does so dramatically, it would seem. Up till yesterday, we had been sweating away with mid 80s, but yesterday evening, from a dark, ominous cloud and a wailing of wind, hail and rain, relief has come. It started out this morning murky, but the sun is now peaking out, the breeze is cool, and we are again back to the perfect weather of the Allgäu.
The year 2009 is not only an anniversary for the constitution of current-day Germany, it is not only the anniversary of the wall coming down, but it is also 2000 years after another important moment in Germanic history - the defeat of the Roman Empire (this is Rome as in the Romans of Greek and Roman history that you learn about in school.) This was accomplished by none other than Hermann the German, or better known to historians as Arminius - Armin (or sometimes Irmin) for short or Hermann if you add a German twist to it.
Arminius was born around 17 BC in the area known as Cherusci near current day Hanover. He was the son of the tribal chief. He obtained Roman citizenship as a young man and enlisted in the Roman military. Something went wrong, however, and Arminius eventually switched sides. His tribe was a divided tribe with some on his side and some on the side of Segestes, Arminius's father-in-law. Segestes was loyal to the Romans coming to conquer central and northern Europe, but Arminius resisted.
There was one battle, though, that changed the direction of history for the region - the Battle of Teutoburg Forest. In this battle, Arminius had gained the support of other regional tribes and ambushed the Roman governor and his men. They were all killed, and ruling government, for a moment, was returned to the Germanic tribes. Segestes had tried to warn the governor, but they failed to believe him. The battle took three days and completely destroyed the three Roman armies that fought in the battle and also resulted in the death of the Roman governor.
This began a 7 year war with the Romans in which Arminius fought alongside other resisters of Rome. Some of the battles went their way, but over time some did not. Arminius, as their leader, had tried in vain to unite the Germanic tribes into one group, which would allow them to continue to push back the Roman legions, but he was unsuccessful in his attempts. Rome exploited this weakness in the resistance and eventually overcame Arminius and his army. In time, the bitterness of the divided tribesmen, even within his own family, took its toll. Arminius was killed by his own tribesmen in 21 AD.
Although he was no longer able to protect his homeland after his death, his legacy did live on to help protect Germany in years to come. His quest to unite the people of Germany did sow some seeds. Rome, finally seeing that Germany was not always an easy victory, chose to appoint leaders that would both cooperate with Rome but that also maintained the German people's heritage and traditions as a client state.
In time, though, Arminius was also used as a symbol of German nationality. Some accounts link the use of his namesake by none other than Martin Luther himself during the 16th century as a call to rise up and defend the Germanic peoples from Roman (Catholic) influences. He was also a national symbol during the Napoleonic wars of the 19th century. An enormous statue built between the years of 1839 - 1871 in the Teutoburg Forest called "Hermannsdenkmal" to commemorate the victories of the Germans over the French has been and still is a popular tourist attraction. Today, there is even a soccer club that bares his name - the DSC Arminian Bielefeld.
The word for the day is hero: der Held (pronounced as we would).
The question for the day is "Who's coming to see us in June?"
Auf Wiedersehen,
Frau Spitzer
