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Teutoburger Wald

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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A mountain range of Germany, stretching N.W. to S.E., along the borders of the Prussian provinces of Hanover and Westphalia and through the principality of Lippe, for a .distance of 70 m., with a width of 2 to 6 m. It consists of a well-marked main chain, accompanied in its central part by subsidiary ridges. It slopes up gradually towards the E., where it culminates in the Vdlmerstod (1536 ft.). The greater part of the range is densely wooded. The main chain is pierced by several deep gaps or "doors," through some of which important railways have been carried; e.g., the line connecting Paderborn and Hanover, and that connecting Herford and Hamm. The chief geological formations belong to the Cretaceous system, backed towards the north and east by Jurassic and Triassic formations. The Teutoburger Wald was the scene of a famous battle in which Arminius at the head of the Cherusci destroyed three Roman legions under Quintilius Varus (A.D. 9). Mommsen has located the battle near the source of the Hunte, north of Osnabruck, and outside the range of hills; but most scholars prefer some site in the central part of the mountain-chain. In accordance with these latter views the Grotenburg (1263 ft.), 22 m. S.W. from Detmold, has been crowned with a gigantic monument to Arminius Hermann, erected in 1838 -41 and 1871-75, at a cost of £13,500. The work, which was designed by E. von Bandel, consists of a gigantic statue of the chieftain, 562 ft. high, standing on an arched pediment 98 ft. high.

See H. Thorbecke, Fiihrer durch den Teutoburger Wald (15th ed., Detmold, 1905); Wilisch, Der Kampf urn das Schlachtfeld im Teutoburger Walde (Neue Jahrbiicher fiir das klassische Altertum, May 1909).