The Quest For the Lost Roman Legions: Discovering the Varus Battlefield [Hardcover]

Tony Clunn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2005

In 9 A.D., the 17th, 18th and 19th Roman legions and their auxiliary troops under command of Publius Quinctilius Varus vanished in the boggy wilds of Germania. They died singly and by the hundreds over several days in a carefully planned ambush led by Arminius-a Roman-trained German warrior determined to stop Rome's advance east beyond the Rhine River. By the time it was over, some 25,000 men, women, and children were dead and the course of European history had been forever altered. "Quinctilius Varus, give me back my legions!" Emperor Augustus agonized aloud when he learned of the devastating loss. As the decades slipped past, the location of one of the western world's most important battlefields was lost to history for two millenia.

Fueled by an unshakeable curiosity and burning interest in the story, a British major named Tony Clunn delved into the nooks and crannies of times past. By sheer persistence and good luck, he turned the foundation of German national history on its ear. Convinced the running battle took place north of Osnabruck, Germany, Clunn set out to prove his point. His discovery of a handful of Roman coins in the late 1980s, followed by a flood of thousands of other artifacts (including weapons and human remains) ended the mystery once and for all. Today, a multi-million dollar state-of-the-art museum houses and interprets these priceless historical treasures on the very site Varus's legions were lost.

In Quest of the Lost Roman Legions is a masterful retelling of Clunn's search to discover the Varus battlefield. His well-placed, carefully conceived, and vivid writing style makes for a compelling read from the first page to the last, as he alternates between his incredible modern quest and the ancient tale of the Roman occupation of Germany that ultimately ended so tragically in the peat bogs of Kalkriese.

Tony Clunn joined the army at age 15 and served with the 3rd Royal Tank Regiment. He retired in the late 1990s after twenty-two years with the rank of major, an is currently employed by the British Army in Osnaburck and Kalkriese. He was presented with the Member of the Royal Order of the British Empire in 1996 by Queen Elizabeth II.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Savas Beatie; 1st HC trade ed. edition (April 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932714081
• ISBN-13: 978-1932714081
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #827,080 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars At Last - The Story of the Beginning of German History, August 2, 2005

By 

R. Saulpaugh "MCSE" (WI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Quest For the Lost Roman Legions: Discovering the Varus Battlefield (Hardcover)

HERMANN THE GERMAN
Most of us in the USA have little idea of the impact of Arminius (Hermann) on the soul of German history. Nor do many realize that up to 9AD the Romans were actively patrolling modern Germany as far as the River Elbe. In fact the Romans acted as if they already owned the land EAST of the R. Rhine as far as the River Weser using their very strong military, tax-gathering and commercial presence centered at Minden (on the Weser).

For whatever reason(s) the Germans were done with Romans however and its clear that Arminius grossly outclassed the politically reliable Varus on the field of battle that Summer. This is more noteworthy given Varus' previous military successes in Syria and the fact that Arminius destroyed not two, but three heavy infantry Legions in a running battle that lasted for 3 or 4 days. Major Clunn, MBE, using extraordinary determination and a military eye for lay of the land, rediscovered the final battle site of the 17th, 18th and 19th Legions, in a killing ground that's been lost to history for 1700 years.

VARUSSCHLACHT - FOUND AT LAST
The Kalkriese site is no lager, fortlet or commercial way station as was made amply clear in an personal interview with Major Clunn. Major Clunn neatly demonstrated how landscape descriptions in the Histories of Cassius Dio were used to locate Kalkriese. Kalkriese was a prepared ambush / battle site from which few Romans emerged alive. Even those who did left evidence of their denouement in a peculiar starburst pattern on the far side of the ambush that when mapped pointed back to the trap between the Kalkriese hillside palisades and the bog.

The Kalkreise site has yielded a thousand of as yet uncleaned artifacts that appear to mirror the composition of those military weapons, plate armor, shield bosses and iron handles, belt fittings, marked lead sling bullets, straw stuffed animal bells, Parade Mask, helmets, broken pila, entrenching tools and human bones already on display at the Varusschlacht Museum at Kalkriese, near Osnabruck. Even if ALL the thousands of remaining artifacts are merely hobnails, we know from previous excavations that soldiers shoes used nearly a 100 hobnails each. I am convinced that many, many Roman Legionaries died in battle at Kalkriese. And Major Clunn wraps the tedium of hard work with a dramatized account of the last days of the Legions. Altogether the "The Quest..." makes interesting reading.

One thing I missed was the outcome of Major Clunn's search for the place where Drusus died. This has not received a public accounting but through no fault of the Major's. The publisher decided to cut that story to keep the focus on the Legions. Since that is still Major Clunn's story, I'll leave to him to reveal the details.

Another interesting bit of history mentioned is the "Hermann (Arminius) the Cherusker Monument" in New Ulm, Minnesota. This monument to the man (now in the National Register) who so ably marked German History mirrors the one build in Germany at Detmold.

For Historians & Re-enactors - RECOMMENDED.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars one of the more amazing archeological journeys and detective work in modern times, October 3, 2005

By 

Irene Hahn - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Quest For the Lost Roman Legions: Discovering the Varus Battlefield (Hardcover)

I visited the Varus Battle site and museum in 2003 and came across an earlier version of this book and was fascinated then and now.

"The Quest for the Lost Roman Legions" relates one of the more amazing archeological journeys and detective work in modern times. It traces one man's tenacity, pursuing a theory in what the author calls "the long, exhilarating, and often frustrating journey to document where Varus and his men met their end".

Major Clunn, at the beginning of the events in 1987 stationed with the British Rhine Army in the Osnabrück area, is an amateur archaeologist and military historian, a combination well suited to the task he set himself. He had been intrigued by the assertion of the 19th century German historian Theodor Mommsen that coins found in the Kalkriese area indicated a specific topographic gap as the location of the Varus Battle. This assertion had always been met with deep skepticism by archaeologists and historians up to our era, whereas Clunn's military historian expertise led him to giving more credence to the claim. After he found several coins himself, pin-pointing the 9 AD time frame, he contacted the local archaeological authorities to gain official permission to continue his excavations. This was granted to him, although Wolfgang Schlüter, the man in charge, very much doubted that anything would come of it.

The results are now known to anyone interested in Roman and/or military history.

The two men eventually began to work closely together, even when Major Clunn was stationed in other parts of Germany and in London. Upon his retirement, Major Clunn settled in the Osnabrück area, and he continues to involve himself in Kalkriese and other archaeological research projects related to the subject. He received various awards in Germany, recognizing his work, as well the British OBE for his services to Anglo-British relations.

The book, based on his diaries and other records, tells a gripping tale! From early beginnings of just finding coins the story moves on to the exciting find of three pearl shaped stones which turned out to be sling shot pieces, to co-operation with Dr. Schlüter's team, to the famous silver battle mask and other military objects, and finally bones of slain soldiers, much of which can be seen now at the Kalkriese/Varusschlacht Museum. Along the way, the author made friends with local farmers and land-holders on whose properties he did his excavations, sometimes assisted by his children, as well as with other archaeologists and historians. The reader follows the story from day one and shares the author's "exhilaration and frustration" as it unfolds. There are a number of surprises here which I will not reveal, as it would spoil the suspense; therefore, this is not a lengthy review.

Interspersed in the narrative is an imaginative fictional re-telling of the events leading to the battle and the battle itself, based on ancient historians, various archaeological finds, and Major Clunn's knowledge of the topography, thereby fleshing out the story.

Visits to the archaeological site of Varus's winter camp near the town of Haltern and similar locations round out the picture.
To any aficionado of archaeology, let alone military history, this is a thoroughly entertaining read.

There are also excellent explanatory maps as well as photos and illustrations of archaeological objects.

The book would have profited from a German-speaking "reader" though: there are a number of misspellings of names and locations.

44 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good, but Somewhat Disappointing..., December 13, 2005

By 

Fernando Villegas (Santiago de Chile) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Quest For the Lost Roman Legions: Discovering the Varus Battlefield (Hardcover)

It is difficult to agree with other chaps here that have cheered without any reservation and with so much hoopla this book by Tony Clunn. I agree it is certainly an interesting book and the author could truly boast of having produced an original script, an history book with part of it about his actual labors searching for the lost legions of Varus and the other, mixed with the first, presented in cursive letters, as a fictional narrative where historical and/or not so historical dramatis personnae incarnate what investigation and accurate search know by now about the battle.
But there is a reservation I feel it must be mentioned: being, as it is, a book organically and esentially asociated with geography because the first and esential question is, after all, "where this happened?", it comes as a nasty surprise the almost absolute lack of maps and geographical references to follow the prose of Mr Clunn. There is not even ONE useful map or drawing about the supposed area of the battle, even less of its specifics, its hills, woods, ravines, etc; what's more, the many verbal citations of places, towns, areas etc, lack also of any material reference, so I can imagine that even german readers not familiar with the lanscape of that specific area of Germany have lot of problems to understand the march of Varus troops, the place of the ambushes and the shape and location of the final slaughter field.
The book does not lack photos. Many of them are of the coins and artifacts found, even of the people searching for them in the field. Why was not possible to add some maps? A drawing of the total area of the battle? Perhaps an aerial photography? Was the author compelled NOT to do so due to some german laws or prohibitions about the shape of his territory? At least by now any restriction existent in the time Clunn wrote, if they existed at all, should have been vanished. An edition as the one I have, published this year 2005, should have added something of the sort.
So, just three stars mainly because of that big hole and perhaps, also, due to some deep slackening of the prose and general interest when Clunn abandon his imaginative pen as racounteur and becomes again kind of an amateur archeologist.