The Roman force was led by Publius Quinctilius Varus, a noble from an old family, who had become the governor of Germania in AD 7. The battle is thus also known as the Varusschlacht in German (Battle of Varus). His force was made up of three legions (Legio XVII, Legio XVIII, and Legio XIX), six cohorts and three squadrons of allied cavalry.

His opponent Arminius had lived in Rome as a hostage in his youth, where he had received a military education and had even been given the rank of Equestrian. After his return, he was expected to be an ally of Rome, and behaved accordingly towards Varus. In secret, he forged an alliance of Germanic tribes that had traditionally been enemies (the Cherusci, Marsi, Chatti, and Bructeri), but which he was able to unite due to outrage over Varus' arrogant style of governing the province.

While Varus was on his way from his summer camp to the winter headquarters near the Rhine, he heard reports of a local rebellion, fabricated by Arminius. Varus decided to quell this uprising immediately and take a detour through territory unknown to the Romans. Arminius, who accompanied Varus, most likely directed him deliberately to a route that would faciliate an ambush and then left under some pretext or other, to meet his troops who must have been waiting in the vicinity.

The Roman force appears to have been poorly organised during the march, and as they passed into a forest they found the track narrow and marshy; according to Dio Cassius a violent storm had also arisen. In passing through the forest the Roman forces had lost their structure, and they were ambushed by the Germans repeatedly over two or three days. Arminius knew Roman tactics very well and could direct his troops to counter them effectively, using local superior numbers against the spread-out Roman legions. Finally the remaining Romans stood their ground, and as the rains continued in the ensuing assault they were slaughtered to the last man. Around 20,000 Roman soldiers died; Varus is said to have taken his own life. Upon hearing of the defeat, the emperor Augustus, according to Roman author and historian Suetonius, shouted "Quintili Vare, legiones redde!" ('Quintilius Varus, give me back my legions!')

The shock of the slaughter was magnified by the realisation that the German tribes would not be pacified. The Battle brought an end to any serious attempts by the Romans to extend their territories eastward from the Rhine across Germany. These attempts had dragged on since around 20 BC with variable success. This had long term historical consequences as it set the boundary between Romance languages and Germanic languages and hence the borders between the future France and Germany near the Rhine.