Arminius

Born a Cherusci prince in a Roman-friendly faction, Arminius learned Latin, served in the Roman military, earned citizenship and equestrian rank, and distinguished himself in the Great Illyrian Revolt. Sent to Germania to help governor Publius Quinctilius Varus finish the conquest, he instead secretly organized a revolt and in AD 9 led the ambush that destroyed Varus and his three legions in the Teutoburg Forest. He spent the next years fighting off Roman retaliatory invasions under Germanicus at Pontes Longi, Idistaviso, and the Angrivarian Wall, and defeated the Marcomanni king Maroboduus. Ambition for kingship made him enemies; he was assassinated in 21. Tacitus called him liberator of the Germanic tribes, and nineteenth-century German nationalists made him a symbol of unity and freedom - a claim that faded after 1945.