Tag: Teutoburg Forest

1,963 words

A new book aims to rescue the ancient Germanic tribes of the past from a pernicious, Nazi-era myth: that they were in any way German at all. The True History of the Germanic Peoples: Beyond Myth and Völkisch Ideology by prehistorian Karl Banghard, hopes to show how the ancient Germanic tribes who famously defeated the legions of Rome in the Teutoburg Forest in 9AD were not really the warrior hordes of the popular imagination but a bunch of peaceful, communistic “ragbag hippies.” Anyone prejudiced enough to believe otherwise, the text explains, has just fallen for a racist, Nazi-era fable. (more…)

4,647 words

Part 1 of 2 (Part 2 here)

There is a wonderful Ridley Scott film from 1977 called The Duellists, based on a Joseph Conrad short story, “The Duel.” It follows the exploits of two hussars in Napoleon’s Grande Armée as they traveled from 1800 Strasbourg, to 1812 Russia, and back again to France after Napoleon’s final defeat at Waterloo. Were their enemies the Prussians, or the Russians, or the British? No, their true enemies were one another — (more…)