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The Romans saw
themselves as having
a highly advanced
civilization, and they
looked down on the
cultures of the people
who lived beyond the
borders of their
empire.
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The people who lived
northeast of the Roman
Empire spoke languages
similar to modern
German.
 These “Germanic tribes”
included the Vandals,
Lombards, Alamanni,
Goths, Franks, and
Burgundians.
 Most of the tribesmen did
not know how to read,
but unlike the Huns, they
tended to farms and were
not nomadic.
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War and Peace
By 100 CE, some Germans began
to come into contact with
Roman civilization at border
garrisons.
They greatly admired the material
aspects of Roman culture, such
as arms, domestic wares, etc.
Small numbers were accepted for
service with Roman legions,
and small scale GermanRoman trade relations emerged
involving cattle and slaves.
For the first century CE, they were
not a real danger to Rome:
1)Poverty ensured poor armor and weapons;
2) they had limited tactics, consisting of
ambushes and a mass charge;
 3) Divisions into numerous small tribes meant a
lack of political cooperation;
 4) There was no real, continual government
beyond the clan.
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– In peacetime, tribal assemblies made up of all free
men and warriors decided issues of peace and war.
They would elect temporary war chiefs, whose
legitimacy ended after hostilities.
Gradually, changes occurred in the
tribes over the next 250 years:
Though kinship remained the primary bond,
a new kind of political formation evolved
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Older, successful warrior chieftains took in
younger aspirants,
– who then raided and shared the booty with
each other.
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This arrangement produced a professional,
more lethal warrior group,
– where bonds were now between man and
lord,
– the latter signaling the beginning of a small
aristocracy.
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At the same time, as
inter-tribe conflict
increased,
– spurred in part by the
desire to partake of
Roman material
culture,
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tribes began electing
fewer, longer serving
war-chiefs.
Romans recruit more Germans
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Increasing numbers of Germans began to
serve as Roman auxiliary forces just beyond
the Roman borders, learning new tactics,
acquiring better materials, coming to admire
Roman society even more.
Here come the Huns!
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In 376, the Huns forced the Visigoths (western Goths) to leave their homeland near the Danube
River in modern Austria.
The Visigoths asked Emperor Valens permission to settle inside the Roman Empire.
Valens agreed, but charged the Visigoths unfair prices for food and other supplies.
When the Visigoths protested, Valens ordered them to leave.
The Visigoths refused, and formed an army.
Whatever Valens' reasons, he acted alone and engaged a massive Gothic force of an estimated
200'000 warriors near Adrianople.
The result was a catastrophe.
Valens army was completely
annihilated.
Valens himself perished in the
battle (9 August AD 378). His
body was never found.
The Visigoths pushed their way
into the Roman Empire and
settled down,
and the Romans gave
them refugee status and let
them stay.
Theodosius

Theodosius, a young Christian
general of Spanish origin, was
chosen to succeed Valens.
– He ruled along with Gratian and
Valentinian II,
 By 388 both were killed by a
rebellious general
– Theodosius became the last
emperor to rule both halves of the
Roman Empire
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Theodosius was able to regain the
upper hand militarily,
–
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by making treaties with both the
Visigoths and the Sassanids.
In 391 AD Theodosius made it
illegal to practice pagan religious
rituals even in your own house.
– Only Christianity (and to some
extent Judaism) were now legal in
the Roman Empire. By the time he
died in 395 AD, he left a firmly
Christian empire.
Weak Succession
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En Theodosius died, he left the empire
to his 2 sons
–
–
Honorius took the West
Arcadius the East
–
which sent the two on separate ways.
–
One of the two emperors had always
enjoyed seniority over the other.
However, the accession of Arcadius and
Honorius is widely seen as the division
of the Roman empire into two
completely separate parts.
This division of the empire into eastern
and western parts was the decisive
one,
When split in the past, the empire still
functioned as a unit.
–
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But like other Emperors brought up in
a royal court, neither of them was very
good at ruling
–
Or even very interested
Step I to Disaster: Stilicho
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Most of Honorius' work was
done by a Vandal named
Stilicho. He had joined the
Roman army and risen through
the ranks to become and
important general.
After three years of everincreasing destruction of the
West's imperial infrastructure,
Honorius was persuaded to the
arrest and execution of
Stilicho, who despite his failure
to stem the tide, had been an
effective and skillful general of
the legions....
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The effect of Stilicho's downfall
was disastrous. Stilicho's many
German soldiers thereafter all
went over to Alaric, King of the
Visigoths, in order to avoid
persecution by the Romans.
This left Honorius without any
effective force to stand off the
attack of Alaric in 410.
Back in Italy, the Visigoths were
attacking.
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The Visigoths had been living inside the Roman Empire
since the battle of Adrianople in 378 AD.
But they had not been treated very well
– the Romans had kept them from getting food or building decent
houses.
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Under their new king, Alaric (AL-arr-ick), the Visigoths
demanded gold from Honorius.
– When he said no, the Visigoths marched on Rome.
– Alaric’s soldiers formed a siege around Rome. When the city was
close to starvation, the Roman citizens opened the gates and
allowed the conquering army to enter.
– in 410 AD they took the city and sacked it (break stuff, take
stuff, kill people and leave).
– The Visigoths did not stay, but eventually settled in the south of
France
Step II to Disaster: Revolt
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Roman generals also saw that the new young
emperors were weak and so this was a good
time to attack.
– First, Constantine III, a general in
England, declared himself emperor
at York in 405 AD.
– He took all the Roman troops out of
England, across the English Channel to
France, and he marched his army
through France, collecting the French
troops so they could all march on Rome.
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Constantine III next tried to take over
Spain.
– He sent his general Gerontius to Spain,
 but then Gerontius decided to make himself
Emperor instead of working for Constantine III.
– In order to get a good-sized army together,
Gerontius seems to have agreed to let the
Alans, Vandals, and Sueves into Spain, and
they promised to help him out.
Step III to disaster: Occupation
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But while Constantine III was doing this, nobody was watching the
border.
Many Alans, Vandals, and Sueves crossed the Rhine (which was
frozen solid) and came into the Roman Empire.
There were no troops
there to stop them, so
they just travelled
around France taking
whatever they wanted.
• Both women and men
came, and they
brought their children,
so they seem to have
meant to stay.
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Then the Roman government sent out a
general to stop Constantine III.
Constantine III was killed, and so was
Gerontius.
 All of their soldiers (the ones from England
and the ones from France, and maybe the
ones from Spain too) were taken back to
Italy to deal with the Visigoths.
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This left England, France,
and Spain pretty much
open for Germans to take over.
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While the empire continued in the East, Rome
was attacked again
 In 476 AD a Visigoth warrior named Odoacer
Forced the emperor, Romulus Augustus, to
abdicate his throne.
 Odoacer chose not to
be Augustus himself,
nor to serve another
western Augustus, but
to be the viceroy of one
Roman emperor in
Constantinople.
 The western Roman empire had ceased to be.
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