SummaryThe Germanic tribes importan

Summary

The Germanic tribes important to Roman downfall originated in Scandinavia, from which they moved south around 1000 BCE. By 100 BCE they had reached the Rhine area, and about two hundred years later, the Danube Basin, both Roman borders. The western German tribes consisted of the Marcomanni, Alamanni, Franks, Angles, and Saxons, while the Eastern tribes north of the Danube consisted of the Vandals, Gepids, Ostrogoths, and Visigoths. The Alans, Burgundians, and Lombards are less easy to define.

Caesar first observed the Germanic tribes in 51 BCE, and marked them as a possible threat. German tribes were clan-based, with blood-loyalty the basis for all bonds. Living intermittently in settled forest clearings called hamlets, they engaged in mixed subsistence cultivation of crops and animals. Cultivation was rudimentary given the hard clay soil and use of implements more suited to Mediterranean areas. There were no food surpluses, so population remained small, around one million. Without much occupational specialization, they were an iron-age culture emphasizing war.

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. 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.

The Roman historian Tacitus described the Germans again about 100 CE. After Caesar had conquered Gaul up to the Rhine, expansion space was curtailed for the nomadic tribes, causing demographic pressure on the borders. 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 German-Roman trade relations emerged involving cattle and slaves.

Gradually, changes occurred in the tribes over the next 250 years: A) Though kinship remained the primary bond, a new kind of political formation evolved: the Comitatus. Older, successful warrior chieftains took in younger aspirants, who then raided and shared the booty with each other. 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. B) At the same time, as inter-tribe conflict increased, spurred in part by the desire to partake of Roman material culture, tribes began electing fewer, longer serving war-chiefs. C) Eastern German tribes, Goths and Vandals, gradually migrated from North Poland to the Ukraine, pressuring the Danube frontier; they also settled north of the Black Sea, to the West of the Huns. D) Around 200, small tribes began to coalesce into supra-tribal groups. Southern Germans came together into the Alamanni, while middle Rhine groups incorporated into the Franks, and the North Germans coalesced as Saxons. By the 300s there was a continual belt of barbarian tribes all along the Roman limes from the North Sea to the Black Sea. E) 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. Some even underwent a process of partial Romanization. F) Some, the Visigoths in particular, were gradually converted to Christianity from the 340s by Ulfillias, son of a captured slave. Converting to the Arian form of Christianity soon to be branded heresy, the Visigoths slowly communicated it to the Ostrogoths, Vandals, and Burgundians.

Roman-Barbarian dynamics remained normal until 375. In the mid-360s the pagan back-sliding emperor Julian the Apostate undertook a large Sassanid campaign, taking elements of the Rhine and Danube armies with him. In the 370s, Alamanni thus raided in Gaul, but were stopped by the western Emperor Valentin. In 375, Valentin died while pushing the Sarmatians back over the Danube. He was succeeded by Gratian in the West and Valens in the East.

Kết quả (Việt) 1:

Tóm tắtCác bộ lạc Germanic quan trọng đến La Mã sụp đổ có nguồn gốc ở Scandinavia, từ đó họ di chuyển nam khoảng 1000 TCN. Bởi 100 TCN, họ đã đạt đến sông Rhine lá, và khoảng hai trăm năm sau đó, lưu vực sông Danube, cả hai biên giới La Mã. Các bộ lạc Đức phía tây bao gồm Marcomanni, Alamanni, Franks, Angles và Saxons, trong khi các bộ lạc Đông về phía bắc của sông Danube gồm Vandal, Gepids, Ostrogoths và Visigoth. Alan, Burgundy và Lombards ít dễ dàng để xác định.Caesar đầu tiên quan sát các bộ lạc Germanic năm 51 TCN, và đánh dấu chúng như là một mối đe dọa có thể. Bộ lạc Đức đã được gia tộc-dựa, với máu-lòng trung thành cơ sở cho tất cả các trái phiếu. Họ sống không liên tục trong định cư rừng bãi được gọi là làng, tham gia vào các sinh hoạt phí hỗn hợp trồng các cây trồng và động vật. Trồng trọt là thô sơ cho đất sét cứng đất và sử dụng thực hiện phù hợp hơn cho các khu vực địa Trung Hải. Đã có không có thặng dư thực phẩm, vì vậy dân vẫn nhỏ, khoảng một triệu. Mà không có nhiều chuyên ngành nghề nghiệp, họ đã là một nền văn hóa đồ sắt nhấn mạnh chiến tranh.Đối với thế kỷ trước CE, chúng không là một mối nguy hiểm thực sự đến Rome: 1) đảm bảo mức nghèo nghèo áo giáp và vũ khí; 2) họ đã giới hạn chiến thuật, bao gồm cuộc và một khoản phí hàng loạt; 3) đơn vị vào nhiều bộ lạc nhỏ có nghĩa là thiếu hợp tác chính trị; 4) có là không có chính phủ thực, liên tục vượt ra ngoài gia tộc. Trong thời bình, bộ lạc hội đồng tạo thành tất cả các người tự do và các chiến binh quyết định vấn đề của hòa bình và chiến tranh. Họ sẽ chọn tạm thời chiến tranh lãnh đạo có tính hợp pháp kết thúc sau khi tình trạng thù địch.Sử gia La Mã Tacitus miêu tả người Đức một lần nữa về 100 CE. Sau khi Caesar đã chinh phục Gaul đến sông Rhine, không gian mở rộng curtailed cho các bộ lạc du mục, gây áp lực nhân khẩu học trên biên giới. Một số người Đức bắt đầu tiếp xúc với nền văn minh La Mã ở biên giới đơn vị đồn trú. Họ rất ngưỡng mộ những khía cạnh vật chất của văn hoá La Mã, chẳng hạn như cánh tay, các sản phẩm trong nước, vv. Số lượng nhỏ được chấp nhận cho các dịch vụ với quân đoàn La Mã, và quan hệ thương mại quy mô nhỏ Đức-La Mã xuất hiện liên quan đến gia súc và nô lệ.Gradually, changes occurred in the tribes over the next 250 years: A) Though kinship remained the primary bond, a new kind of political formation evolved: the Comitatus. Older, successful warrior chieftains took in younger aspirants, who then raided and shared the booty with each other. 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. B) At the same time, as inter-tribe conflict increased, spurred in part by the desire to partake of Roman material culture, tribes began electing fewer, longer serving war-chiefs. C) Eastern German tribes, Goths and Vandals, gradually migrated from North Poland to the Ukraine, pressuring the Danube frontier; they also settled north of the Black Sea, to the West of the Huns. D) Around 200, small tribes began to coalesce into supra-tribal groups. Southern Germans came together into the Alamanni, while middle Rhine groups incorporated into the Franks, and the North Germans coalesced as Saxons. By the 300s there was a continual belt of barbarian tribes all along the Roman limes from the North Sea to the Black Sea. E) 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. Some even underwent a process of partial Romanization. F) Some, the Visigoths in particular, were gradually converted to Christianity from the 340s by Ulfillias, son of a captured slave. Converting to the Arian form of Christianity soon to be branded heresy, the Visigoths slowly communicated it to the Ostrogoths, Vandals, and Burgundians.Roman-Barbarian dynamics remained normal until 375. In the mid-360s the pagan back-sliding emperor Julian the Apostate undertook a large Sassanid campaign, taking elements of the Rhine and Danube armies with him. In the 370s, Alamanni thus raided in Gaul, but were stopped by the western Emperor Valentin. In 375, Valentin died while pushing the Sarmatians back over the Danube. He was succeeded by Gratian in the West and Valens in the East.