DBQ Barbarian Invasions

The barbarian tribes really had a big impact on the fall of Rome because they took over a lot of lands and by the end of Rome, they were the ones who took over. The barbarians at first just came into the empire without any harm. “They had settled on the borderlands just within the Roman frontiers” (Mills 442). In 378 A.D., The Romans treated them badly and robbed the Goths, and heavily taxed them which turned them into “deadly enemies” (444). The Goths had enough and started a war in Adrianople where the Goths not only defeated the Roman army but violently killed the Roman Emperor. Right after that event, the Valens were

Crucial to protecting the empire, the borders the Romans had surrounding them were excellent; whether they be manmade or natural. Hadrian’s Wall was a good example of a manmade border. Issued by Emperor Hadrian in around 122AD, the wall was located in Northern England and was the most fortified wall built by the empire. Hadrian decided that they had conquered enough land, and was afraid that he wouldn’t have full control of the empire if he conquered more land, so this wall was built to keep out the Scottish people and to discontinue further growth of the empire. The Rhine River proved to be an exceptional natural border for the Romans, as

By the fifth century, the “powerhouse of the Mediterranean” was struggling to protect itself with its decreased population, apathetic military, and leaders with debauched morals. Outside of the Roman Empire, Germanic tribes took notice of the internal chaos and began invading the empire’s borders. Many of the tribes were cruel and combative, such as the Huns. The Huns “exceed any definition of savagery” and were “fired with an overwhelming desire for seizing the property of others, these swift-moving and ungovernable people make their destructive way amid the pillage and slaughter of those who live around them.” (Document D, excerpts about an Asian tribe called the Huns from Roman History by Ammianus Marcellinus). Roman soldiers would have had a challenge ahead of them if they had to deal with the Huns at the height of the Roman military, let alone having to fight them when their numbers were depleted and motivation running low. The Huns played a large part in minimizing what little hope Rome had of reviving itself into the Mediterranean-dominating empire it once was. Many other tribes followed the Huns example and invaded Rome at its borders. Document C, a map created from various sources,

1.The word “barbarian” that we use today was a way of categorizing humans back in the Roman Empire ages.

From the year 476AD, after the last Emperor Romulus Augustulus (as displayed in source 2) of the Western Roman Empire was overthrown by European barbarians, the Roman World was greatly affected, as it was now Medieval Rome. The reason of the collapse was due to civil wars breaking out among the greedy rich competing to become emperor. Many people were killed fighting against each other with various weapons, one of them being the bullets depicted in source 3. Eventually the population began to decline and the taxes increase. Various barbarian clans (as listed in source 4) were conquering many cities and the political, financial and social structure problems led to the complete collapse after a long complicated process as represented all together

Based on what I’ve read I don’t believe that there is an honest yes or no answer to the question, “Can these nomads be called barbarians?” According to Salvian, a Christian priest, he says, “.. almost all barbarians, at least those who are of one race and kin, love each other, while the Romans persecute each other.” However, many of these reads go into detail about the nomadic people never sparing the people of which they conquered or went to war with, and killing them all off one by one. As for the change over time; there was one. After the fall of Rome when the nomadic people took over around 476 CE they kept the same Roman customs, but began introducing nomadic ways of life that, over time, turned out to not be barbaric at all. Over the course of many years you will see the Romans perspective of the nomads and their culture began to change over the course of many years, and after the Fall of Rome.

When they were forced to fight in close combat, they often fought without regard to their own safety. They often fought with swords, and they threw a net over their enemy as to entangle his limbs so that he could no longer walk or ride or horse. This is how they earned the title of Barbarians. The Romans initial impression of the Huns was fear. But after awhile, the Huns settled on the coast of Danube, the great Hungarian Plain, and became allies of the Romans, instead of attacking them as enemies. In return, the Roman Empire paid them a sum of money to not attack them Roman Empire.

    Though Rome was a great empire that conquered countless territories, it was not immune to the numerous attacks from barbarians such as the Huns, the Visigoths, the Vandals, and others. The barbarians would raid and sack the capital and other cities in ancient Rome, leaving them without money or tradable items. The Vandals did so much damage to the cities that their name is associated with the crime of extensive damage to property. The Huns were another destructive group of barbarians that were led by Attila. They raided Rome in 451 AD, leaving an immense trail of destruction. Other barbarians attacked Rome at different times, each leaving Rome weaker and helpless. Each attack destroyed their economy and left them desperate for a solution. The Ostrogoths finally caused the Western Empire to fall when Odoacer chased Romulus Augustus, the last of the Roman emperors, off the

As Rome increased in supremacy around the expanse of the Mediterranean Sea, various enemies were made that caused numerous invasions, increasing Rome’s vulnerability. The archeological record shows that the population on the outskirts of the Roman empire was increasing and this might have led to a scarcity of resources (Goldsworthy 2009). Due to the increased population and decrease in resources the barbarians attacked the empire frequently (Goldsworthy 2009). The first of these more devastating attacks were conducted by the Huns in central and eastern Europe in the years 376 A.D. and 405 A.D. (Heather 2005). Damages from these attacks as well as from other invaders caused massive amounts of revenue lost to

While these changes certainly would have impacted Romans, they do not indicate that the barbarians completely altered life within these areas. For instance, small landholders were likely to have retained their lands because barbarian populations were small enough that they did not need to take lands from the peasantry for themselves (Ward-Perkins, 67). In the case of the people, life would have remained relatively stable; they would just have to pay their taxes to a different group of people. Even some Romans in the government, or other positions of power, were able to retain their office. This was especially true in institutions such as city governments or the Church where it was important for authority to continue as if the region was still a part of the empire (Ward-Perkins, 68). Not only was there stability in who was performing these functions, but it also shows that many activities, both religious and secular, were able to continue to under barbarian rule. In these cases, Roman identity did have its own

After reading over your DQ I just wanted to say I liked the way you approached this question. Also, I liked the way you used direct quotes to support your response. I decided to answer this DQ and I agree with all of the points you have made throughout your response. I agree with you and when you said that the"mass mirgation" was called the "Barbarian Invasion" because they did not value no another. You did a good job explaining how the "mass migration"affected the empire. I really liked your last sentence because you gave the reasons why the empire began to fall. Thank you for explaining the question in the way you did. Your answer gave me a better understanding to the question.

On the year of 370, the Huns arrived in what is now called Eastern Europe, they pushed the tribes called The Vandals and The Visigoths out of Eastern Europe, therefore these two tribes needed a new home. In 376 the Visigoths crossed the Danube river, a boundary of the Roman empire, and moved southward. The Visigoths then beat the Romans at the battle of Adrianople, two years later. Which effected Rome a lot, because Rome already had a lot of enemies waiting to bring them down, the Visigoths made a path for that. At the west, the Vandals crossed the Rhine river, another boundary of Rome in 406. The Vandals were known for fighting every city they stumbled upon, even if they won or lost, they kept going, that is what made them successful in their

From the east, the Sassanid Persians made in-roads into Roman territory and began attacking Rome’s borders from their lands farther into Asia (Spielvogel 186). The Sassanids were Mesopotamian Persians, and were always an enemy and threat to Rome since their first appearance as a prominent power in the third century C.E. (Sassanid). Beginning around 230, the Goths, a Germanic tribe, also began raiding the northern border provinces of Rome (Nardo-2004 24). It was this group that would turn out to be one of Rome’s greatest problems from the barbarian tribes.

Essay 1: Barbarian influence on Rome The Barbarians and Romans had distinct differences in religious notions between each other. The Romans believed that Germanic people were barbarians. The Romans did not believe in the Germanic tribe’s primitive religion. Whether the religion was Roman-Catholic, Pagan, or Aryan, it played a paramount part in each of the Germanic tribe’s identity. Religion was additionally the root of the formation of coalitions between tribes and other groups.

At last, the Roman set the Danube River as the empire’s limit or natural divisor from the northern European unconquered territories by building limes or fortified borders.