1. Europe after the Fall of Rome
Instructor Pacas

2. Collapse of the Hun Khanate
After the death of Attila in 453 AD/CE his empire quickly began to fragment and the last crucial blow came in 454 AD/CE when the Ostrogoth under the leadership of three brothers, Thiudimir, Vithimir, and Valamir joined forces with the Gepids and destroyed the Huns at the Battle of Nedao River.

3. Defeat of the Huns
Attila’s generals (right hand men) sought their fortunes elsewhere and would eventually play a major role in the history of the later Roman Empire.
Onogesius – Scririan Goth was father to Odoacer
Orestes- Roman- was father to Romulus Augustulus-last Roman emperor of the West.

4. The West 476 AD

5. Theodoric the Great 454-526 CE
Theodoric the Great became king of Italy, also titled King of Goths and Romans from CE.
He was an extremely tolerant king allowing diverse religions to worship freely (Catholics, Arians, and Jews)
He refurbished the aqueducts and was a patron of schools and arts.
He codified laws for both Ostrogoths and Romans.
He was regent of Visigothic Spain after the death of Alaric II at the battle of Vouille in 507 CE against the Franks of Clodovech.

6. Visigoth and Ostrogothic Kingdoms

7. Theodoric’s Palace and San Apollinaire Nuovo

8. King Theodoric’s Palace

9. King Theodoric’s Mausoleum

10. The Arian Baptistery

11. The Adriatic Sea

13. Theodoric the Great
Many of the Romans conspired against the Ostrogoths and Theodoric hoping to usurp the throne.
Powerful Romans including the Pope John I conspired against Theodoric with the Byzantine Emperor Justinian.
In his later years, Theodoric persecuted ruthlessly anyone he thought was conspiring against him- arresting Pope John I and Boethius.

14. Ostrogothic Italy CE
After Theodoric’s death, Emperor Justinian felt it was time to mount an invasion of Italy in the hopes of bringing it back into the sphere of the remnants of the Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire).
He mounted a long fought campaign from 540 – 552 CE eventually destroying the Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy.
The victory was short lived as in 568 CE most of Italy was overrun by other groups of German tribes- the Lombards, Gepids, Heruls as well as Turkic Bulgars.

15. Lombard Italy

16. Byzantium Conquers Vandal North Africa
Although in 455 CE the Vandals under their king Gaiseric had successfully sacked Rome, by the early 6th century they had engaged in long civil wars that zapped the strength of their kingdom.
They also lacked effective kings such as Gaiseric in later years and they saw their power slipping until finally in a Byzantine campaign of the Vandal Kingdom of North Africa was destroyed by the Byzantine general Belisarius who would also go on to enjoy great success against the Ostrogoths in the campaigns of Italy from CE.

17. Vandals

18. The Franks of Clodovech
Clodovech (Clovis) King of the Franks was the first Germanic barbarian king to be baptized Catholic (500 CE) and thus drew an alliance between the defunct Western Roman Empire and his Franks against the rest of the emerging Germanic Kingdoms of Europe.
He moved against the Burgundians in present day Switzerland and the Visigoths of Southern France.
Only the threat of getting into a war with Theodoric the Great stopped him from continuing his expansion.

19. Clovis the Frank
Clodovech/Clovis was a ruthless king that had initially destroyed any contender to the crown by killing all his relatives and family.
However, he was able to transform the disparate Frankish tribes into a confederacy that extended their authority throughout present day France and Germany and would eventually play a vital role in the medieval history of Europe.

20. Catholic Franks
Because of Clovis’s conversion to Catholicism, the Romans particularly the Papacy often called on the Franks to serve as their army.
This in turn extended Frankish power over Europe.
Slow at first but by the late 8th century CE most of France and Germany as well as parts of Hungary and Italy were dominated by the Franks.

21. The Merovings
The original blood line of kings of the Franks came from the Merovings but by the late 600’s their power had grown ineffectual.
The Mayors of the Palace exercising more control.
By the end of the 7th century one of these mayors called Pepin II overthrew the last Merovingian King Theuderic III and became the new king of the Franks in 687 CE.

22. The Arnulfings
From 687 – 876 the Frankish Empire was ruled by members of the Arnulfing clan who would later be known as Carolingians taking the name of their greatest king and emperor- Charlemagne or Charles the Great who reigned as Holy Roman Emperor from CE.
As King of the Franks from CE.

23. The Saxon Campaigns 771-794 CE
Although the Arnulfings did not practice primogeniture, the death of Charlemagne’s brother in 771 CE allowed him to become sole ruler of the Frankish kingdom.
In 773 CE Charlemagne moved to cut down the sacred tree of Irminsul in Saxon territory thus firing a huge rebellion of the Saxons in what is present day Germany against the Franks.
This war was a sort of genocide against the Saxon people carried out by the Franks with thousands of them beheaded by Frankish axes.

24. The Avar Campaign
The Avars who had migrated to Europe from Mongolia in the 6th century were the next people to feel the wrath of Charlemagne as he mounted ruthless campaigns against them in present day Hungary.
Eventually the Avars capitulated going to Aachen to be baptized and became Carolingian vassals until destroyed by Khan Krum of the Bulgarians and their kingdom absorbed into this growing state’s jurisdiction.

25. Slavic Campaigns CE
Along with the Avar campaigns Charlemagne subjugated many of the Slavic tribes in present day Czech Republic, Serbia, Croatia, and other portions of former Yugoslavia.
The Bulgarians agreed to a truce since Khan Krum was dealing with Byzantine incursions a two front war would have been disastrous for the Bulgarians.

26. Spanish Campaign CE
The most popular campaign of Charlemagne was the campaign of 778 in Roncevaux were Count Roland lost his life against the Basques.
These were campaigns against the Ummayad Caliphate of Spain to establish a Frankish limes or march between Frankish Aquitaine and Al Andalus (Muslim Spain). Charlemagne successfully conquered Barcelona for some time until eventually lost in 806 CE because he had to concentrate his forces to deal with the growing Viking threat.

27. Campaign Against the Lombards 790’s
At the request of the Papacy, Charlemagne engaged in wars against the Lombard kings of Italy.
He eventually was able to conquer much territory and force the Lombards to become Carolingian vassals and divided the Lombard kingdom into duchies as vassal administrative regions.