The German tribes won by adroitly springing a surprise attack on the marching legions deep in the forest. The Romans were ill-prepared, being strung out in a long marching formation instead of a fighting formation, and they were overwhelmed and massacred. The Germanic people had many useful weapons at the time, including metal swords, axes, spears, arrows, and war dogs (large numbers of fierce hounds which could be released upon an enemy) (the Romans also employed war dogs in many battles). The Roman commander appears to have not handled the situation very well, and he paid for it by getting killed. The Romans seldom lost large battles against "barbarians", but they well and truly lost that one.