Rome’s Forgotten Land Essay

Much of the Roman frontier followed the natural boundaries of the Rhine and Danube rivers across Europe. On the other side of these rivers were territories the Romans never brought under their control and tribal peoples such as the Goths, Franks, Vandals, and Huns. By the middle of the fourth century CE, many Roman governors had allowed these so-called “barbarians” to settle on the Roman side of the rivers, and Roman generals had even recruited many of the men as soldiers in their armies. However, the barbarians never assimilated fully into Roman culture. By the end of the century they started to wage a series of ferocious campaigns

Some Romans were happy about being conquered by the Huns because they thought the Roman Empire’s government was corrupt. In the Document E Priscus excerpt, it states, “The conditions of Roman subjects in time of peace is worse than war… taxes are very servere...the gonvernors... were ruining the state.” Some Roman citizens thought the justice system was unfair. While poor people who commited crimes were punished normally, rich criminals got off scot-free. The taxes were always too much.

The Huns were more hostile than most tribes from this time period. From early childhood they learn to adapt to freezing temperatures, hunger, and thirst. The Roman Empire became so large that there were not enough soldiers to protect every single area of it. The weak spots were easily attacked by tribes like the Huns. Since the empire’s land was so easy to invade, barbarians began to take over some parts. Some Roman citizens liked or didn’t mind being under the barbarians’ ruling. The Roman Empire needed a military that was able to keep their land away from people who wanted to conquer it, so that they could continue to expand their empire and conquer other

The Germania written by Tacitus served as an ethnography of Germans that lived in the lands beyond Roman control. Tacitus goes through every aspect of culture and in some cases compares Germans to Romans. He describes German culture as a whole in the first half of the reading, then moves on to discuss each individual tribe and their customs. Tacitus defines race in very broad sense, drawn from how he depicts Germans in contrast to Romans. We see that geography and culture play a large role, although they differ slightly from tribe to tribe, many maintain similar customs. Through the Germania, we see that Tacitus differentiates race on the basis of physical appearance, lifestyle, and regard for women.

The story of ancient Rome is a tale of how a small community of shepherds in the central Italy grew to become one of the greatest empires in history, and then collapsed. According to Roman legend. Rome was founded in 753 B.C. By 275 B.C., it controlled most of the Italian Peninsula. In the A.D. 100’s, the Roman Empire covered about half of Europe, much of the Middle East, and the northern coast of Africa. The empire then began to crumble, party because it was too big for Rome to govern.

The Huns were formidable opponents for Rome. The Huns invaded Rome’s regions. This is proven in document 8 where it states” and the Roman world was overwhelmed by a deluge of Barbarians.’’ This piece of evidence demonstrates that Rome was invaded. Before the invaders, the Roman empire was already starting to fall apart drastically and the Huns gave the nudge the empire needed to completely fall apart. In addition, another place where we see how invaders caused the fall of Rome is when The Huns started invading from the east. The Huns invading the east caused the Germanic and Goth tribes to push into Rome. This is apparent in document 5 where it shows a map of The germanic invasion between AD 378-439. This proves that Rome was under attack by not only the Huns but other enemies as well. in summary, invasions contributed to Rome’s

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,

The Huns were much more than reluctant to be conquered by the Romans and they fought hard to keep what was theirs, but in the end failed and were taken over (Document D). The fact that Rome conquered people who were unwilling was another factor for their

The Huns, a nomadic people group, were first known to exist in the central Asian steppes. They were also known as one of the greatest threats in the 5th century. The Huns were a significant part of the start of the downfall of Rome. From a small group of barbaric warriors to one of the most powerful kingdoms in the 5th century, the Huns devastated everything they attacked. But the question remains, how did they do it? The Huns were so successful in conquering Europe and Asia because of their great leader, unique fighting style, and the fear they struck into the hearts of their enemies.

    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

The customs of the Germans also differed from those of the Romans. Germany contained various people and was thought of by Tacitus as indigenous with little foreign blood. Their physical characteristics are all the same, they cannot endure hard work and tiring chores as the Romans can. Their only form of wealth was in numbered livestock, because their lands didn't have a lot of silver or gold. But after being exposed to the Romans, they began to value gold and silver.

The Visigoths were a part of the german barbaric tribe the Goths. They were settled in the western part of Germany near the black sea, this was their original origin. Their enemy were The Huns, a barbaric group from modern day central Asia. This is important information because The Huns were the reason why the Visigoths went to Rome. The Huns had started to invade and The Visigoths asked roman emperor Valen for shelter.

To begin with, the historical events that occurred within the movies were historically unrealistic and inaccurate. The movie begins the scene with the Roman army waging war against the Germanic tribes. There are several flaws of when comparing the battle to historical records. The first issue is the depiction of the Germanic people in the battle. They are presented with the extreme prejudice that they utterly barbaric. The attire of the Germanic tribes were composed of multitude of brown rags all patched up together. The Germanic tribes are not Neathandrals from the Neolithic period living in rags. They are a much more sophisticated group of people. This can also be supported by the geographical evidence of the Germanic tribes. They are located at the Northern section of Europe where the climate of the region is

These invasions resulted in multiple changes in the Empire that ultimately weakened it. As the various invading tribes moved into Roman territory, they destroyed the farmland and fields they passed through. This decreased agricultural production in the Empire (Spielvogel 186). Then, in the late fourth century, the Huns moved west out of Asia, forcing the German barbarian tribe of Visigoths, a sub-tribe of the Goths who had previously invaded Rome, to move south and west into Roman territories. They were allowed to remain on Roman land for a time, but when the Romans tried to force the tribe out, the Visigoths fought back, leading to a great military defeat for the Roman Army in 378 at Adrianople in Greece (Spielvogel 187). The Roman Empire was never able to recover the numbers

Rome became a powerful empire engulfing much of Europe, North Africa, and parts of Asia and what seemed like this great entity called the Romans were always in the search of more territory and land to conquer and assimilate into their ever growing vast empire. However, this was not always the case, before Rome became one of the greatest empires in all of history, Rome was a republic. They were government consisted of a Senate who much like our country today represented certain classes of the citizens of the Republic. During the growth and rise of the Roman republic conquering neighboring territories and competing for land grabs was not Romans primary objectives. Romans