1. GERMANS Around 500 BC, Germanic people began to migrate out of Scandinavia and northeastern Russia and had occupied Germany by 100 BC –Formerly occupied by Celts They were primarily a pastoral people who lived off the products of their sheep and cattle –Augmented by hunting –Other favorite activity was fighting Some in organized campaigns to seize land More often in individual raids to steal cattle, capture slaves, etc.

2. BONDS OF PERSONAL LOYALTY No formal political organization –They were tied together by bonds of personal loyalty Kinship Lordship Kinship was based on the clan –Groups of clans would join together to form a tribe Maintained cohesion by making up myth of a common, heroic ancestor –Function was mutual protections Kin expected to get vengence if a fellow clan member was killed or injured by an outsider

3. LORDSHIP Relationship between a leader and his retinue of warriors –Voluntary relationship Leading man would call on any brave young man to go on raid with him –Those who answered call swore to serve leader faithfully in return for his protection and a share of the spoils –Transcended clan loyalty –Members form groups of companions, bond together and to their leader by oaths

4. CULTURAL DIVERSIFICATION Before 500 BC, all Germans had a similar language and culture –But after the migrations, different groups became isolated from one another and differences in language and culture developed Two distinct groups of Germans had emerged by the 4 th century AD –West Germans Franks, Saxons, and Alemanni Settled along Roman border on the Rhine River –East Germans Goths, Vandals, Lombards Modern-day Hungary and southern Russia

5. GOTHS Divided into two major sub- groups –Visigoths Lived along Danube River –Ostrogoths Lived in southern Russia Developed a more advanced form of political organization than other Germans –United under strong kings –In close contact with the Eastern Roman Empire Influenced by Greek/Roman culture First Germanic tribe to convert to Christianity First to become literate and assume a veneer of civilization Ostrogoth Chest

6. WEST GERMANS More primitive Large men with long red or blond hair and blue eyes Lived to hunt and fight –In times of peace they drank until they passed out No form of central government –War leader might be selected in an emergency but what little unity they possessed was provided by kinship and lordship

7. CONTACT Romans and Germans had influenced each other since beginning of the empire –Beginning in 3 rd century AD, Germans had enlisted in Roman army Joined in units known as foederati Given land in border regions when they retired –Trade also developed between the two Germans supplied slaves and cattle in exchange for jewelry, weapons, textiles, and potterty

8. CONFUSING SITUATION Peaceful trading alternated with warfare –Germans constantly pressed against borders of empire Confusing situation –Franks occupied both sides of Rhine River Those in Roman territory fought as foederati for Rome against their cousins across the river Same situation along Danube River By the end of the 4 th century, Roman army was nothing more than an army of barbarians fighting under Roman command –Even some high officers were German by this time

9. Until 400 AD, Germans had been satisfied with launching periodic raids into empire But around 400 AD, entire tribes and nations began to move into the empire at the same time Captured territory, settled there, and set up independent kingdoms under their own rulers and laws This massive migration caused collapse of western Roman Empire

10. HUNS Nomadic people from Mongolia –Expert horsemen –Tried to invade China in 370 AD Failed and then turned west –Moved across southern Russia into Europe where they terrorized German tribes »Germans migrated en masse in Roman Empire to escape Huns

11. THE END German invasions began in 375 AD when Visigoths crossed Danube River and permanently entered the empire –Followed by many others –Rome unable to effectively resist them In 476, the last Western Roman emperor, Romulus Augustulus, was deposed by Ostrogothic chieftain Odovocar and the Western Roman Empire ceased to exist

12. Numerous barbarian kingdoms established in old Western Empire Vandals Ostrogoths Burgundians Franks Visigoths Angles and Saxons Other tribes such as Lombards, Thuringians, Jutes, and Frisians still wandering around Denmark, Netherlands, and Eastern Europe Some of these new kingdoms would not last long Justinian would kick Ostrogoths out of Italy (555) and also conquer Vandal kingdom in North Africa (533) Franks would push Visigoths out of southern France (507) Arabs would overrun Visigothic Kingdom in Spain (711)

13. RESULTS I With establishment of barbarian kingdoms, Europe, as a single unified political unit, was finished forever –Replaced by a multitude of small, competing entities that would, in different shapes, dominate European history until today –Politically unified Europe, as it had been under Rome, remains an unfulfilled dream

14. RESULTS II Ancient civilization and culture had been in decline for a long time before the barbarian invasions –People had been frozen in their occupations, cities had been virtually abandoned, crime had been increasing, trade was falling off, population had been dropping, intellectual activity was stagnant, nothing new in art and literature had been produced, political corruption, irresponsibility, and disregard for civil rights had become normal part of Roman government The barbarian invasions accelerated this process of disintegration

15. RESULTS III Ancient civilization had exhausted itself by the Late Roman Empire –Nothing original left in it that could be used to build something new and better –Barbarians did western civilization a favor by putting the stagnant and dying ancient world out of its misery Barbarians held the key to the future –Though violent and primitive, their culture was alive and vital Their institutions contained the kernel for future development When barbarian institutions mixed with the intellectual vitality of Christianity (and the way in which barbarians would adapt old Roman institutions), the result was a new world

16. Emperor Constantine had built a new imperial capital on site of old Greek city-state named Byzantium—called it Constantinople Eastern half of Roman Empire with Constantinople as its capital would survive for almost 1000 years after fall of Western half

17. ADVANTAGES I Eastern empire survived because it was in better shape than the west –Had a larger population –Its civilization was older and better implanted –Cities were larger and more numerous –Small farmers were more prosperous –Commerce and industry were more healthy East was simply more structurally sound than the west and better able to resist barbarian invasions Library in Alexandria in Byzantine Empire

18. ADVANTAGES II East also possessed important strategic advantages –Key province of Asia Minor was protected from invasions by Black Sea to the north and by the virtually impregnable citadel of Constantinople to the south Asia Minor also became main source of workers, soldiers, and tax revenue –It held up the east –Loyal troops from region allowed Byzantine emperors to avoid dangerous policy of recruiting German mercenaries

19. SURVIVAL AND LEGACY Constantinople was attacked by Germans, Huns, Mongols, Persians, and Arabs –And repelled them all Byzantine empire would last until 1453 when Constantinople was finally conquered by Ottoman Turks But it would, before it gell spread Christianity to new regions, protect Western Europe, preserve a great deal of the ancient heritage, and create many religious, political, and social practices that remain in use today

20. BYZANTINE CIVILIZATION Made up three components –Roman government –Christian religion –Greek culture Byzantine government was a direct descendant of the Roman political system as modified by Diocletian and Constantine –Emperors were glorified as gods, they retained tight control of the church, and they kept the high taxes of the Late Roman Empire

21. IMPORTANT JOB Empire saw itself as an isolated and beleaguered outpost of civilization and Christianity –Surrounded by a swarming and hostile ocean of barbarians and pagans Chief duty of emperor was therefore to protect this island of civilization –Surrounded by majesty and elaborate rituals to illustrate the important job he had to perform

22. VIOLENCE Out of 88 Byzantine emperors total –13 resigned voluntarily or involuntarily –30 died violent deaths Starved, poisoned, strangled, stabbed, decapitated, beat to death, cut into little pieces, or had their eyes gouged out Emperors themselves were sometimes pretty bad –Constantine murdered his oldest son and drowned his daughter-in-law –Basil III gouged out the eyes of 15,000 Bulgar prisoners

23. BUREAUCRACY Huge bureaucracy provided continuity to imperial government –Gigantic even by modern standards –There was a bureaucrat for even the most trivial function of government –Even had intelligence service called “Bureau of Barbarians” –Generally efficient

24. ECONOMIC REGULATION Bureaucracy produced ever- growing number of laws and regulations in which it attempted to subordinate individual interests to those of the state –Economic activity strictly regulated Prices, rents, and wages were controlled Inspectors regulated product quality Government had monopolies in certain industries Interest rates frozen at 8%

25. POLICE STATE? Unemployed persons forced to work on state projects or not receive any aid Taverns closed at 8:00 pm Punishments for such crimes as treason, blasphemy, incest, arson, and even some economic crimes were brutal Foreigners visiting the empire were kept under constant surveillance Spies were everywhere –Forced the historian Precopius to lead an intellectual double life

26. SUMMARY Two factors must be kept in mind when considering Byzantine policies –Their political system was a direct descendant of the system originally established by Diocletian Merely fine-tuned a basically repressive system they inherited from the Romans –Empire saw itself as an isolated and besieged outpost of civilization in a fundamentally barbarian world Believed that any slip in security might open the door to their numerous enemies and cause the same sort of destruction as had happened in the west Believed that the very survival of their society and civilization required repression