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The victor of Teutoberger Wald, who preserved a Germany free of Roman rule, and in so doing dramatically altered the course of history. Arminus appears to have served in the Roman army, obtaining both citizenship and equestrian rank. This may well have given him an insight into the mind of his enemies, for he followed up his victory at Teutoberger Wald by fighting two other Roman assaults to a standstill over the next decade.

arminus (or: hermann the cherusk) played a big role in early german history. he was the first to unite the struggeling germanic tribes against the roman empire in year 9. before he worked - as many other german nobles with their troups for the rome. peacefully at least. we know today that he gained roman citizenship.in that time he had a deep look into mentality and militarian strategy of rome. when the roman troup-leader, varus, was sent to move the border of the empire deeper into germanic land and making the germany to a regular roman province, arminius saw the chance to finish the foreign rule completely. with much smaller troups he defeated 3 superior roman legions (20-30 000 men)in three days. before that they were considered as unbeatable. the key to this victory was a trick. he forced the romans to give up their favorite troup formation, the so called turtle when they had to cross a swamp. this defeat was so impressive and bloody that rome never tried again to colonize the german tribes. it was also the beginning of their unition. a circumstance that was the base for the important role the german nobles were playing later in roman society when the roman empire started to break down. its an interesting point to think how history would have been developed if the germans would have been colonized. as we know in german science today arminius has anything to do with siegfried from the nibelungen. that person seems to be a prince belonging to the tribe of the merowingers (another german tribe). they reigned much later. and it is like so often in legends: the person of siegfried, the hero, is almost the only one, who seems to be not a real historical person. but in my opinion this makes the meaning of the barbarian arminius not much less.

One of the most successful leaders ever to oppose the Roman empire, Arminius (also known as Herman Siegfried) MAY have been the Siegfried of German mythology, specifically of the Nibelungenlied, and the Wagner operas (therefore also the Aragorn of the Lord of the Rings, who was based on the Teutonic hero). I don't know if Viggo knew that he was playing Arminius, but he may have, because Viggo's a smart guy. Arminius destroyed three Roman legions in the Teutoberger Wald in 9 AD, effectively ending Rome's attempt to add Germany to the empire. Since this was Germany's greatest military victory for a thousand years, and the Teutons had an impressive oral tradition, I don't see any reason why Arminius would not morph into the Siegfried of mythology. Had that famous battle gone the other way, German would probably be another Romance language, and the subsequent history of Europe would be unimaginably different.