The great migration of Germanic peoples

This is a large-scale ethnic change, which originated from the Xiongnu's westward migration. Under the constant attack of Xiongnu, many nationalities in the whole Germanic country were forced to migrate as a whole and forcibly enter the Roman Empire.

Great changes have taken place in European society, starting with the change of geographical map, and then earth-shaking changes have taken place in all aspects of political, economic and cultural life. It can be said that everything in modern Europe is related to this great national change, and its influence is both profound and far-reaching.

Xiongnu is an ancient nomadic people who originated from the Mongolian Plateau in northern China. Xun Yu in the summer, Gui Fang in the Shang Dynasty, Xiongnu in the Western Zhou Dynasty, Rongdi in the Spring and Autumn Period, and Xiongnu in the Qin and Han Dynasties.

In 209 BC, modu chanyu killed his father and set himself up as "Fu Li painting Khan alone" (Xiongnu called heaven "Fu Li" and his son "Fu Li painting alone".

"Painting alone with a plow" means the emperor, Hun means "single", and Wang means "Yu", which means the king. Since then, the Huns have established a kingdom of military slavery and completed the transition to a class society.

In order to plunder population and wealth, Xiongnu plundered everywhere, which has always been a great disaster in the Central Plains.

Qin built the Great Wall to defend it, and Liu Bang, the Emperor Gaozu, fought back against the Huns and was trapped in Dengbai Mountain for seven days. Helpless, he turned to kiss.

By the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Wei Qing and Huo Qubing had defeated the Xiongnu, so they were relieved for the time being.

In 48 AD, Xiongnu was divided into two parts, the south was attached to the Han Dynasty, and the north continued to be an enemy of the Han Dynasty.

When Emperor Hanming marched eastward, Dou Xian and Geng Bing led the army to defeat the Xiongnu, and Khan led his troops to flee westward, thus starting a long historical journey of "Xiongnu moving westward".

From 9 1 to 160, the northern Xiongnu fled westward to Wusun in Yili River and Issyk-Kul Lake, "dominating the western regions and invading Hexi", and was repeatedly attacked by the Eastern Han army.

During this period, the Xianbei nationality in northern China has risen. In the 2nd century, Xianbei Tanshihuai "took all the land of Xiongnu". In this way, under the serious threat of Xianbei, the northern Xiongnu had to go west again.

160 ~ 290, the northern Xiongnu invaded the Kangju area of the Syr Darya River basin.

From 290 to 374, the Huns continued to invade Alan to the west, the Don River to the east and the Black Sea to the north.

In 374, under the leadership of Attila Balambur, the Huns crossed the Don River and invaded the territory of ostrogoths.

This touched the dominoes of European ethnic migration.

In the northern part of the Roman Empire, the so-called "barbarian" tribes lived for a long time.

Among them, the Germans had a great influence on Rome.

Most Germans come from Scandinavia in northern Europe, and then gradually immigrate to central and southeastern Europe. Their life ranges from the Baltic Sea in the north, the Danube River in the south, the Rhine River in the west and the Russian plain in the east.

The communication between Rome and barbarians has a long history. In BC 1 century, Caesar led an army to explore Gaul. His masterpiece "The Battle of Gaul" recorded that the social system of the Germans at that time was clan commune system, but it was not completely stereotyped. The main production type is animal husbandry, and agriculture does not occupy an important position.

150 years later, by the end of 1 A.D., when Tacitus, a Roman historian, wrote Germania, the social life of the Germans had changed greatly, and some people had become agricultural residents and began to settle down, such as Franks along the Rhine River.

On the contrary, the visigoths distributed in the lower reaches of the Danube still focus on animal husbandry.

According to Tacitus and others' records, at this time, the social system of the Germans was in the stage of military democracy at the end of primitive society, and many tribal alliances were formed, such as East Goths, Visigoths, Franks and Vandals. At that time, there were already military nobles and Qin Bing.

It is called military democracy because wars and organizations that wage wars have now become a part of tribal life.

In their view, it is more noble to gain wealth by bleeding than by sweating.

In order to plunder land and wealth, the Germans often attacked the northern provinces of Rome, which put the Roman Empire in trouble.

So the contradiction between Rome and barbarians is very sharp.

In the history of communication between the Romans and the Germans, the Romans took the offensive and conquered by force for a long time, but they did not always win.

Since Emperor Trajan, the Roman Empire has been unable to expand outward, so it can only take defensive measures against the Germans, that is, build fortress walls along the Rhine and Danube, which is called "Trajan Side Wall" in history.

In the 2nd and 3rd centuries, in order to make up for the shortage of imperial soldiers, Rome allowed some Germanic tribes to settle in the empire and act as mercenaries.

In this way, by the 4th century, the Germans had become an important part of the Roman army.

Germans migrated to the territory of the Roman Empire for a long time. In the 2nd century BC, kimball and Teutonic crossed the Alps and entered Rome, but they were turned back.

300 years later, during the period of Malcus Horrillo, the Germanic tribes invaded again, and the Roman Empire, which was already a spent force, had to allow some Germans to settle in the imperial territory south of the Danube.

The migration movement of the German National People's Congress, which influenced European history, began in the second half of the 4th century.

In 374, hundreds of thousands of people in the Xiongnu Grand League went to the West under the leadership of military leader Balambur, and the East Gothic king Hale Manlik was old and weak, and lost the first battle.

He couldn't bear to witness the destruction of the country and committed suicide immediately.

Ostrogoths was conquered by the Huns, and some people continued to run west to the Visigoths.

King Ashanak of Visigoth heard of the Xiongnu attack and was busy waiting for him on the left bank of Transnistria.

Unexpectedly, the Huns did not attack directly, but secretly crossed the river from the upper reaches on a moonlit night to attack its rear. The visigoths fled after defeat, retreated to the north bank of the Danube, asked to cross the river to the Roman Empire, and expressed their willingness to provide soldiers for the Roman border guards.

The Roman emperor Vallance had no choice but to agree to allow visigoths to enter the territory of the Roman Empire, provided that the visigoths guarded the borders for the Romans and Rome provided them with materials.

In the spring of 376, the mighty Visigoths crossed the Danube, and the great migration of Germanic peoples began.

In 376, the visigoths crossed the river to the eastern province of Mercia (now Bulgaria) to defend the frontier for Rome, but Rome was treacherous, refused to fulfill its promise to supply food, extorted taxes, and even kidnapped the visigoths as slaves, causing strong resistance from the visigoths.

In 378, the Visigoths led by Fridin fought the Roman Emperor Vallance near the Adriatic Fort. As a result, the Roman army was wiped out, the emperor Vallance was killed and the Roman Empire suffered heavy losses.

In 395, the Roman Empire was divided into two parts, which greatly weakened the power of the empire to resist the Germans.

In 406, facing the fierce attack of Visigoths, the Romans were empty and stretched, but they had no choice but to withdraw their troops from the important Rhine defense line. Unexpectedly, Vandal and other Germanic tribes took the opportunity to break through the Rhine defence and enter Gaul.

In order to ensure the central position of Rome, in 407, West Rome withdrew from Britain, which provided an excellent opportunity for the Angles and Saxons to enter Britain.

In 4 10, the visigoths, led by their shrewd leader Yararic, broke through the "eternal city"-Rome, and then established the visigoth kingdom with Toulouse as its capital. This was the first Germanic kingdom established by the Roman Empire, and Visigoths settled in Gaul and Spain.

At the same time, under the continuous large-scale attack of Xiongnu, other Germanic peoples followed the footsteps of Visigoths, embarked on the journey of national migration, poured into the Roman Empire, and established their own kingdom here.

In 406, under the threat of Xiongnu, Wanda and Su Weihui were forced to move westward.

They swept Gaul and Spain, crossed the Strait of Gibraltar into North Africa, established the Kingdom of Vandal centered on ancient Carthage, and then began to advance to the sea, successively occupying Corsica and Sicily, further weakening the declining business of the empire. They also captured Carthage in the north in 439, established the Kingdom of Vandal (439-534), and invaded Rome in 455.

The kingdom of Vandal was later destroyed by Byzantium.

In 45 1 year, the Huns, led by Attila, their leader, called "God Whip", marched westward from Hungary and arrived at the gates of Rome. After the coolies of Pope Leo I, the Huns withdrew from Italy after obtaining the money.

The migration of Romans not only accelerated the demise of Roman classical slavery, but also injected new vitality into western Europe, which produced new institutional feudalism.

Of course, the Germanic migration is not only manifested in the war, but also in the infiltration of peace. It was a real national migration, which eventually established a huge Germanic empire.

Germanic people

Germans are a very unique nation.

They are simple and honest, simple and strong, but fierce, brave and desperate. Based on these characteristics, the Germans rarely run away in the war, and even never abandon their companions and weapons.

Therefore, in the process of migration, they stood on the historical stage with absolute advantage, which finally had a great influence on European history.

Then Burgundy and Franks also entered Rome, and Burgundy established the Burgundy Kingdom in the southeast of Gaul in the middle of the 5th century. The Franks also established the Frankish Kingdom in northern Gaul in 486.

By the beginning of the 6th century, the Frankish Kingdom had become the most powerful Germanic nation in Rome.

At this point, the Western Roman Empire has existed in name only under the double blow of Germanic and domestic slave uprisings.

Finally, Lombardy moved to the Roman Empire too late and established Lombardy Kingdom in northern Italy, ending the great migration of Germanic peoples.

The great migration of Germanic peoples has gone through two centuries, destroying the once prosperous Roman Empire and establishing various Germanic kingdoms. In addition, in the process of conquering Rome, influenced by its slave economy, the Germanic state system directly transitioned to feudalism.

More importantly, the migration of Germans not only accelerated the demise of Roman classical slavery, but also injected new vitality into Western Europe, resulting in a new system-Western European feudalism.

Of course, the Germanic migration is not only manifested in the war, but also in the infiltration of peace. It was a real national migration, which eventually established a huge Germanic empire.