The Wargamer

Written By:  Peter S. Wells

Publisher:  W.W. Norton

Reviewing Author:  Jim Zabek

Exactly 2000 years ago last month a battle took place in northern Germany that stemmed the growth of nothing less than the Roman Empire itself.  The details of that battle have long been forgotten but the effects still linger today.  The battle that took place in the Teutoburger Forest happened some time during the month of September in the year 9 A.D.   Feared, forgotten, then rediscovered that battle effectively sealed further eastward expansion in Europe for the Romans at the Rhine River and witnessed the complete destruction of three legions of men.  That’s correct: three legions of men lost their lives during the battle.  It was a level of destruction that was as unprecedented as it was unexpected.

Precise details are impossible to discern after two millennia, but the broad lessons of history continue to be gathered.  Peter S. Wells has written an account that attempts to assemble as much collective knowledge as has been gathered and assimilate it in an approachable form.  The most recent discoveries in literature were made 500 years ago, but archaeological discoveries continue to be made; in fact the location of the battle was only learned in 1987 and much has been learned since then.

Readers hoping for a thorough study in military history will find all but the broadest of specifics here.  The names of the legionnaires have long vanished from memory; mostly what remains are a few trinkets from lovers – a comb or a broach – and the detritus of a Roman army – nails for shoes, some money, and the bones of two mules.

Lacking the material to fill 250-odd pages with a discussion of details of the battle, Wells has done the next best thing.  He has gathered as much information as can be learned across the various disciplines of learning that have looked at the battle and he has shaped a story that covers the social, historic, and political events that led up to the battle and its aftereffects. 

Well-written and easy to read, the book opens with a short chapter providing a historical narrative of what the afternoon might have looked like as 18,000 soldiers and their logistical train entered a bog from which they would never escape.  It sets the stage for the next several chapters which discuss the broader history, including the battle’s contribution to a German national consciousness, issues we would call the geo/political concerns of the Roman Empire both internally and externally, and the science which has helped us learn so much in the last few decades.  A chapter is then devoted to the author’s telling of the battle as a piece of historical fiction.  The closing chapters then discuss the short and long term impacts of the battle.

I found The Battle That Stopped Rome to be an excellent read.    Roman history is not my strongest interest; readers who are intimately familiar with Roman history and the biographies of Caesar and Augustus will likely find much of the book redundant to their earlier reading; however even for them the discussion of the battle itself is likely to be edifying.  I found the entire book fascinating, enjoyable, and informative.  The loss of three legions to Rome when it was in its prime came as a shock in ways that are difficult to appreciate.  Wells does a superb job of explaining the history, context, and shares as much detail as we have available to us.  He then takes an additional step to bring the reader into the battle itself in a story that, while not academically sound, does an excellent job of helping the reader imagine the conditions under which three legions were lost to history.  It’s a fine telling and well worth the read.