So, you know about Hadrian's Wall right? The defenses 'meant to keep out the Picts' across northern England? Well, what if I told you they had a much bigger, badder brother stretching across what is now Germany? /1

While the history is far more complex (and constantly evolving), most of us are taught that the Roman Empire ceased their intusions into what is now Germany after the disastrous Battle of the Teutoburg Forest of 9AD, when their legions fell into a carefully-laid trap. /2

In reality, things were far more complex, but the upshot was, the Germanic tribes weren't worth the effort. Therefore, a frontier or 'Limes' was established to act as a border. Think a combination of hard defenses, series of forts and trading posts. /3

This border stretched hundreds of kilometres across what is now the Netherlands, Germany, and Austria - 770km all up. Around 550km of that lies within modern German borders. /4

The 'Limes' is broken into three distinct sections - the Lower Limes, in the Netherlands, the Upper Limes, across the Rhine & the state of Baden-Württemberg, and the Raetian Limes across eastern Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria and Austria. /5

The Limes took about 100 years to reach its full state, starting with the Emperor Augustus and mostly ending with Hadrian.

Unlike Hadrian's Wall, it was faster to build, utilising a series of ditches, wooden palisades and guard tower spaced equidistantly each mile. /6

These guard towers held a small number of troops and equipment. Their job was to monitor for any intrusion by Germanic tribes, and signal if there was a problem via trumpet or flaming torch. /7

There were a large number of forts along the wall too, such as the one at Aalen in Baden-Württemberg. It held auxiliary cavalry that could take on any intrusion. Kind of like parking a tank division on standby.

The Aalen fort is said to be the largest north of the Alps. /8

If you're near Stuttgart, I highly recommend a trip to the Limesmuseum there. They do an excellent job of explaining life on the frontier for soldiers and cavalry. /9 https://www.limesmuseum.de/limesmuseum-aalen.149518.149516.htm

Another impressive fort in Baden-Württeberg is at Ostaburken, a massive undertaking that survived right up to the retreat of Roman forces from the area in the Third Century. /10 https://www.roemermuseum-osterburken.de/index.php?id=769

Further north-west, a fort has been reconstructed at Saalburg, in the state of Hessen. It's a big tourist draw and it's where many kids in south-west Germany learn about the local occupiers, 1900 years ago. /11 https://www.saalburgmuseum.de/en/ 

While the Limes was a massive border fortification, don't think it was necessarily a place of constant fighting. Archaeological evidence suggests rather frequent trade and connections between the Romans and the Germans. /12

Don't think that the immediate area to the rear of the wall was an undesirable posting either. Evidence of Roman villas and baths have turned up across Baden-Württemberg & Bavaria. Some have impressive mosaics, like that at Rottweil. /13

In fact, my local state museum, @LMWStuttgart, holds a wealth of artefacts that suggest that life in Roman Germania was pretty manageable. /14 https://www.landesmuseum-stuttgart.de/ 

Of course, one of the major legacies of the Roman Limes in the region are the grapevines they introduced, and the production of wine - something southern Germans still do today. /15

The Limes didn't disappear all at once, but steadily drew back as tribes from the east advanced. By the late forth century, much of it was deserted and allowed to fall into ruin. /16

If you want to explore the Limes, today's modern Germans have handily created a road trail - they do this for everything! There's a comprehensive guide to travel along the 'Limesstrasse'. /17 https://www.limesstrasse.de/deutsche-limes-strasse/home/?L=1

Hope you enjoyed that. Please don't hesitate to ask any questions! /FIN