A few thousand spectators gathered in a southern Minnesota city this weekend to see the calendar turned back 2,000 years to a battle that helped shape Europe for centuries to come.

They saw a ragtag army of re-enactors led by Arminius — also known as “Hermann the German” — lead his fighters to victory over the Roman legions of Quintilus Varus. Only this time, the “fighting” took place Saturday on a hill just below New Ulm’s landmark monument to Hermann.

The battle reenactment in New Ulm, about 70 miles southwest of Minneapolis, was one of the highlights of the Hermann Victory Celebration this weekend in this city, which has long celebrated its German heritage.

In 9 A.D., Varus’ soldiers were ambushed and annihilated by Hermann’s tribal forces in the three-day Battle of the Teutoberg Forest. Rome eventually settled for making the Rhine River its frontier, instead of the Elbe. Hermann, or Arminius as the Romans called him, is credited in Germany with allowing German history and culture to develop on its own.

The Roman re-enactors wore authentic, colorful military clothing. Some of Hermann’s fighters wore face paint and furs. A Roman military camp and a German camp set up in the park showed how the Romans and Germans lived back 2,000 years ago.

“I thought the turnout was excellent. Not only an excellent turnout, but also there was a sincere interest amongst the visitors … and the public,” said Tony Rajer, of Madison, Wis., who narrated the reenactment and served as its “voice of history.”

Re-enactors traveled from Connecticut, Kentucky, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Texas, California, Pennsylvania and Ontario to participate. They played about 40 Romans and around 60 barbarians, Rajer said.

A symposium at Martin Luther College on Saturday examined the historical impact of the battle.

Hans Otto-Friedrich Mueller, a professor of classics at Union College in Schenectady, N.Y., said the Romans concluded that a campaign to subjugate the Germanic territory controlled by Arminius would be too expensive. There was no real return to be gained. The land was considered unsuited for much cultivation, the cattle too small, there was no gold or silver, nor was there much commerce to be taxed.

Ultimately, Mueller said, “their poverty helped preserve their liberty.”

Mueller said it was easier for the Romans to play the Germanic tribes’ animosities off against each other rather than trying to control them with Roman troops.

“For the Germans, the victory gave them freedom from paying taxes to Rome and the freedom to engage in bloody battles with each other. Who’s to say they wouldn’t have been better off under Roman control?” he asked.

Delegations from Ulm, New Ulm and Detmold in Germany came to Minnesota for the weekend’s festivities, including a banquet Friday night. New Ulm’s Hermann statute is modeled after one in Detmold.

Roland Hermann, Germany’s deputy consul general in Chicago, said the celebration served to further strengthen and deepen the peaceful relationship between Americans and Germans.

Klaus Schafmeister of the Hermann Monument Foundation in Detmold said the 2,000th anniversary of the battle has young people in Detmold discussing Germany’s role in the world, their freedom and a peaceful future.

“If we are to celebrate a battle that happened 2,000 years ago, it should be with the philosophy that we can come together, be together and party together,” he said.