Ancient Germanic History "Germania - Before Recorded History" Germania, Ancient I Part One [From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia] -and Other Sources- Ancient times Germanic peoples Migration Period Frankish Empire Medieval times East Francia Kingdom of Germany Holy Roman Empire East Colonisation Sectionalism Building a nation Confederation of the Rhine German Confederation German Revolutions of 1848 North German Confederation Unification of Germany The German Reich German Empire World War I Weimar Republic Nazi Germany World War II Post-war Germany since 1945 Occupation + Ostgebiete Expulsion of Germans FR Germany + GDR German reunification Present day Germany Federal Republic of Germany Topical Military history of Germany Territorial changes of Germany History of the German language This box: view • talk • edit Contents: Germania / Pre-History (Prologue) The Advent of Tacitus 1 BC 2 1 AD–800 AD 3 800–1000 4 1000–1500 5 1600–1800 6 1800s 7 1900s 8 Since 2000 BC Julius Caesar1000 BC - 500 BC, the Germanic tribes appear in northern Germany, see the Nordic Bronze Age and the Pre- Roman Iron Age. 600 - 300 BC (approximately) East Germanic tribes move from Scandinavia into the area between the Oder and Vistula rivers 113 BC - 439 AD Germanic Wars between Germanic tribes and the Romans 109 BC Confederation of the Cimbri, Teutoni and Helvetii formed 57 BC Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars; Caesar invades region which becomes Germania Inferior 53 BC Eburones, Nervii, Menapii and Morinii tribes revolt but are put down by Caesar. 50 BC (approximately) Ingvaeones become Frisians, Saxons, Jutes and Angles by about now 8 BC Marcomanni and Quadi drive the Boii out of Bohemia 10 BC (approximately) differentiation of localized Teutonic tribes (Alamanni, Hermunduri, Marcomanni, Quadi, Suebi) in area formerly occupied by 8 BC Confederation of Marcomanni,Semnones, Lombards of others 1 AD–800 AD Reconstructed Limes watch tower, near Rheinbrohl, Germany9 AD Battle of the Teutoburg Forest establishes the boundary between Romans and Germanic peoples. Upper Germanic Limes begun 16 AD Battle of the Weser River (Battle of Minden) between Romans (Germanicus) and Arminius, chief of the Cherusci 68 Year of the four emperors 69 Batavian rebellion of the Batavians led by Civilis against the Roman Empire 90 Germania Superior and Germania Inferior established as Imperial Roman provinces (Germania) 268 Battle of Lake Benacus between the Alamanni and Claudius II Battle of Naissus between the Goths and Gallienus 300 - 900 (approximately) Völkerwanderung 496 Battle of Tolbiac between the Franks and the Alamanni 530 Pope Boniface II consecrated 5th - 9th century High German consonant shift distinguishes High German languages from other West Germanic languages 715 Saint Boniface begins his work as a missionary 800–1000 Charlemagne, by Albrecht Dürer800 Charlemagne crowned Imperator Romanorum (Emperor of the Romans) 804 Saxons finally conquered by Charlemagne 843 Treaty of Verdun 870 Treaty of Mersen divides the Carolingian Empire 955 Otto I defeats Hungarians at Battle of Lechfeld 962 Otto I crowned Imperator Romanorum; Holy Roman Empire formed 996 Pope Gregory V consecrated 1000–1500 11th - 13th centuries Crusades 1046 Pope Clement II consecrated 1048 Pope Damasus II consecrated 1049 Pope Leo IX consecrated 1055 Pope Victor II consecrated 1057 Pope Stephen IX consecrated 1072 Agnes of Germany born 1075 start of Investiture Controversy 1077 Walk to Canossa 1096 German Crusade, 1096 1098 Hildegard of Bingen born 12th - 14th centuries Minnesänger singers 1122 Concordat of Worms 1147 - sixteenth century Northern Crusades (Baltic Crusades) against people of North Eastern Europe around the Baltic Sea 1152 Frederick I Barbarossa crowned 1190 Teutonic Knights formed after Third Crusade 1190 or 1200 Nibelungenlied written 1214 Battle of Bouvines 1273 Rudolph I crowned 14th to 16th centuries Meistersinger lyric poets 1356 Golden Bull of 1356 Martin Luther by Lucas Cranach the ElderHanseatic League officially founded 1370 Treaty of Stralsund ends war between Hanseatic League and the Danes 1392 Victual Brothers hired by the Dukes of Mecklenburg to fight against Denmark 1410 Battle of Grunwald 1455 Gutenberg Bible first printed by Johann Gutenberg 1471 Albrecht Dürer born 1495 Imperial Reform; Reichskammergericht formed 1517 Martin Luther's 95 Theses 1521 Diet of Worms addresses Martin Luther and the effects on the Protestant Reformation 1522 Pope Adrian VI consecrated 1524 - 1526 Peasants' War 1546 - 1547 Schmalkaldic War 1555 Peace of Augsburg 1600–1800 1618 - 1648 Thirty Years War 1629 Edict of Restitution 1646 Gottfried Leibniz born 1648 Peace of Westphalia - European countries recognised Switzerland's independence from the Holy Roman Empire 1685 Johann Sebastian Bach born 1686 Grand Alliance formed 1697 August of Saxony becomes king of Poland 1724 Immanuel Kant born 1740 - 1742; 1744 - 1745; 1756 - 1763 Silesian Wars War of the Austrian Succession Seven Years' War pits Great Britain, Prussia and Hanover against France, Austria, Russia, Sweden, and Saxony 1749 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe born 1756 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart born 1759 Friedrich Schiller born 1770 Ludwig van Beethoven born Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel born 1777 Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss (Gauß) born 1788 Abitur examination introduced in Prussia 1789 - 1799 French revolution 1791 Declaration of Pillnitz 1792 Brunswick Proclamation; France declares war on Austria 1792 - 1802 French Revolutionary Wars 1800s 1803 Napoleon imposes the Convention of Artlenburg All of the Imperial Free Cities but six eliminated All ecclesiastic land holdings in Germany abolished Battle of the Nations monument, Leipzig1804 - 1815 Napoleonic Wars Austria joins the Third Coalition 1806 Collapse of Holy Roman Empire Confederation of the Rhine formed Prussia joins the Fourth Coalition 1807 Peace of Tilsit 1812 Brothers Grimm publish first collection of fairy tales 1812 - 1814 Sixth Coalition includes German states 1813 Wilhelm Richard Wagner born Battle of the Nations at Leipzig: Napoleon defeated 1815 Congress of Vienna German Confederation formed 1818 Karl Marx born 1832 Wilhelm Busch born 1834 Zollverein formed 1840 First kindergarten opened by Froebel 1844 Friedrich Nietzsche born 1848 - 1849 The Revolutions of 1848 in the German states Cheering revolutionaries, March 1848 in Berlin1848 Frankfurt Parliament convenes 1850 Punctation of Olmütz 1850 Dreiklassenwahlrecht introduced in Prussia 1856 Neanderthal remains found at the Neander valley 1858 Max Planck born 1863 Social Democratic Party of Germany formed 1864 Danish-Prussian War 1866 Austro-Prussian War; Battle of Königgrätz 1867 North German Confederation formed after collapse of German Confederation 1870 Franco-Prussian War 1871 German Empire proclaimed from North German Confederation. 1875 Thomas Mann born 1879 Albert Einstein born 1886 automobiles with gasoline-powered internal combustion engines produced independently by Carl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler 1888 Year of Three Emperors 1892 Rudolf Diesel invents Diesel engine 1900s 1900 Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch comes into effect 1914 Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand 1914 - 1918 World War I 1918 End of Dreiklassenwahlrecht; universal suffrage introduced (women get the vote for the first time) 1919 Treaty of Versailles 1919–1933 Weimar Republic 1920 Kapp Putsch 1923 Munich Putsch 1923 Ruhr Crisis 1923 Hyper-inflation 1923 Gustav Stresemann becomes Chancellor and introduces Rentenmark 1923 Dawes Plan 1925 - Joins the League of Nations 1929 Young Plan 1933 Adolf Hitler appointed Chancellor of Germany; Gleichschaltung 1933 - 1945 Nazi Germany (Third Reich) 1939 - 1945 World War II (see also Timeline of World War II) Causes of World War II Events preceding World War II in Europe European Theatre of World War II The Holocaust End of World War II in Europe German exodus from Eastern Europe History of Germany since 1945 Red Army atrocities Include the rape of up to 2,000,000 girls and women, affecting GDR society for many decades. 1941 Konrad Zuse builds the first computer, Z3 1945 Potsdam Conference 1946 First of the The industrial plans for Germany is signed 1946 U.S. Restatement of Policy on Germany 1946 Party of Democratic Socialism formed 1947 U.S. occupation directive JCS 1067 is rescinded. 1948 Deutsche Mark introduced Free Democratic Party formed 1948 - 1949 Berlin Blockade 1949 German Democratic Republic and Federal Republic of Germany formed (see History of East Germany, Constitution of the German Democratic Republic and Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany) Christian Democratic Union of Germany founded Konrad Adenauer becomes first post-war Chancellor of Germany 1949 Last of the The industrial plans for Germany is signed. 1950s Wirtschaftswunder 1952 Inner German border is fortified, except around Berlin 1953 Uprising of 1953 in East Germany The Berlin Wall1954 West Germany wins Football World Cup - The Miracle of Bern 1955 Federal Republic joins NATO; GDR joins Warsaw Pact 1958 - West Germany becomes 1 of the 6 founding members of the European Coal and Steel Community, later known as the European Union 1961 Berlin Wall is built 1963 Ludwig Erhard becomes Chancellor 1964 National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD) formed 1966 Kurt Georg Kiesinger becomes Chancellor 1967 - 1968 German student movement 1969 Willy Brandt becomes Chancellor 1970 Voting age lowered from 21 to 18 1970s - 1998 Red Army Faction operates 1972 West Germany hosts the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. Palestinian terrorists cause Munich Massacre 1973 East and West Germany join United Nations 1974 West Germany hosts and wins Football World Cup Helmut Schmidt becomes Chancellor 1982 Helmut Kohl becomes Chancellor 1987 First ever official visit by Erich Honecker to the Federal Republic of Germany 1989 Monday demonstrations in Leipzig Berlin Wall falls 1990 Treaty on the Final Settlement With Respect to Germany, West Germany wins Football World Cup German reunification 1991 Berlin named new capital 1993 Alliance '90/The Greens merge Germany signs Maastricht Treaty leading to the creation of the European Union 1994 Federal Constitutional Court says Bundeswehr can take part in UN peacekeeping outside NATO territory 1998 Gerhard Schröder becomes Chancellor 1999 The NATO war on Yugoslavia is the first non-defensive war the Bundeswehr actively takes part in Since 2000 2000 Hanover hosts Expo 2000 2001 Women join Bundeswehr for the first time 2002 Euro notes and coins introduced and replace Deutsche Mark as everyday currency 2005 Pope Benedict XVI consecrated 2005 Angela Merkel elected as the chancellor, marking the first woman chancellor of the government. 2006 FIFA World Cup held in Germany; Italy wins over France. See also List of German presidents since 1919 for a list of presidents of the German Reich, heads of state of the German Democratic Republic and presidents of the Federal Republic of Germany (1949-present) Chancellor of Germany for a list of chancellors since 1871. About Wikipedia Contact Wikipedia Donate to Wikipedia Languages Bahasa Indonesia Română ========================================== Germanic peoples From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Prologue: The Germanic People originated in the continent of Asia, long before there was a Europe. These people were tribal, had Chieftains as their leaders, and were generally nomadic. They were excellent hunters and warriors, but the elements of the Germanic race consisted of hundreds of tribes, with a language with similar sounds, but which constituted many divisions of the race, with a language that sounded similar, but with quaint dialects that made each tribe's characteristics quite different from each other. The Germanic Race consisted of hundreds of tribes, all with their own distinct characteristics, but in many instances were far from being friends with each other. What is left of their ethnic makeup in the twenty-first century, is a far cry from their original beginnings. The Germanic Race today constitutes of a billion speakers, including their own distinct dialects, including English, which was formed through the invasions to Britain by the Angles and Saxons, which speak a Plattduetsch type language. The Vikings, who are also a part of the Germanic Race, originally spoke a language similar to Plattduetsche, and which today are only spoken freely in two areas of the world - the Saettersdal in Norway (not to far from Oslo), and Iceland (which is now called Icelandic). The purpose of this website is to instill into the minds of Germans and non -Germans alike the ancient, medieval, and modern culture of the Germanic Race, and other ethnic persuasions. Without a knowledge of this vast subject, no one can truly form an opinion on who the Germans are; or any other race, for that matter. This historical review will try to give you a full insight into the Germanic Race. We hope that you will take full advantage of the contents herein and the various Chapters that follow... Remember, you can not be judgemental about any other race, religion, culture, language, etc. unless you have taken the time to obsorb the information and lessons in these pages, the following chapters and impartial research. In The Beginning: The Tollund Man was buried in Jutland in the 4th Century BC, a historically important area inhabited by the Germanic peoples. His corpse is one of several well preserved bog bodies from the Pre-Roman Iron Age. Ancient Germanic culture Portal. The Germanic peoples are a historical group of Indo-European- speaking peoples, originating in Northern Europe and identified by their use of the Germanic languages which diversified out of Common Germanic in the course of the Pre-Roman Iron Age. The ancestors of these peoples became the eponymous ethnic groups of North Western Europe, such as the Danes, Swedes, Norwegians, Germans, Dutch, and English. Migrating Germanic peoples spread throughout Europe in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. Germanic languages became dominant along the Roman borders (Austria, Germany, Netherlands, and England), but in the rest of the (western) Roman provinces, the Germanic immigrants adopted Latin (Romance) dialects. Furthermore, all Germanic peoples were eventually Christianized to varying extents. The Germanic people played a large role in transforming the Roman empire into Medieval Europe, and they contributed in developing a common identity, history, and culture which transcended linguistic borders. The combination of German, Latin and a few inter-related languages transcended into what today is known as modern French, The West Franconian Kingdom of the Franks became French, which then also became the cultural language of Europe and the language of the aristocratic classes. The learned people of the various Germanic tribes spoke French and German, and many words in French have similar words and meanings in German. Baron Frederick von Steuben was a Prussian nobleman and an officer in the Prussian Army. When George Washington's advance people persuaded von Steuben into coming to the American colonies to train the raw recruits of the Colonial Army in Valley Forge, he was accompanied by his friend Lafayette who spoke both French and English. Baron von Steuben, of course, spoke both French and German fluently. When the Baron gave an order and direction in French to the colonial troops, Lafayette translated his commands into English. Later, as the founder of the present West Point, he wrote the book on commands that for many years became the book of rules for the Academy. After World War Two, in order to down play the good that the Germans had given to America and the World, certain, very stupid and callous individuals from New York City, had all of the text books in the United States and the world remove anything positive about the Germans and their contributions from the History Texts. Per Johannes Rammund De Balliel-Lawrora, he knew what was written here to be true as he was at the initial meetings in New Jersey where the decisions were being made to remove anything positive about the Germans from said texts, leaving the negative parts in, such as the holocaust, etc., but somehow leaving out the atrocities committed by the Communists in both world wars, who were responsible for the murder of 26,000,000 christians in world war one; and 100,000,000 million innocent people in Eastern Europe and beyond, in world war two. Hypocritical, don't you think? He walked out of the meeting and refused to sign anything. But, of course, this group probably found some ignorant lacky to be one of the signers of the affidavit. Contents: 1 Ethnonym 2 Classification 3 Mythical foundations 4 History 4.1 Origin 4.1.1 Genetic origin 4.1.2 Bronze Age 4.1.3 Early Iron Age 4.1.4 Roman Times 4.2 Collision with Rome 4.3 Migration Period 4.4 Role in the Fall of Rome 4.5 Conversion to Christianity 4.6 Assimilation 5 See also 6 Notes and references 7 Further reading 8 External links Ethnonym: Further information: Theodiscus and Teutonic Various etymologies for Latin Germani are possible. As an adjective, germani is simply the plural of the adjective germanus (from germen, "seed" or "offshoot"), which has the sense of "related" or "kindred"[1] or "authentic". According to Strabo, the Romans introduced the name Germani, because the Germanic tribes were the authentic Celts (γνησίους Γαλάτας; gnisíous Galátas).[2] Alternatively, it may refer from this use based on Roman experience of the Germanic tribes as allies of the Celts. The ethnonym seems to be attested in the Fasti Capitolini inscription for the year 222, DE GALLEIS INSVBRIBVS ET GERM (aneis), where it may simply refer to "related" peoples, viz. related to the Gauls. Furthermore, since the inscriptions were erected only in 18/17 BC, the word may be a later addition to the text. Another early mentioning of the name, this time by Poseidonios (writing ca. 80 BC), is also dubious, as it only survives in a quotation by Athenaios (writing ca. 190 AD); the mention of Germani in this context was more likely inserted by Athenaios rather than by Poseidonios himself.[3] The writer who apparently introduced the name "Germani" into the corpus of classical literature is Julius Caesar. He uses Germani in two slightly differing ways: one to describe any non-gaulic peoples of Germania, and one to denote the Germani Cisrhenani, a somewhat diffuse group of peoples in north-eastern Gaul, who cannot clearly be identified as either Celtic or Germanic. Odin riding on Sleipnir (Tängvide image stone, 8th century).In this sense, Germani may be a loan from a Celtic exonym applied to the Germanic tribes, based on a word for "neighbour". A third suggestion derives it directly from the name of the Hermunduri. Tacitus suggests that it might be from a tribe which changed its name after the Romans adapted it, but there is no evidence for this. The suggestion deriving the name from Gaulish term for "neighbour" invokes Old Irish gair, Welsh ger, "near",[4] Irish gearr, "cut, short" (a short distance), from a Proto-Celtic root *gerso-s, further related to ancient Greek chereion, "inferior" and English gash.[5] The Proto-Indo-European root could be of the form *khar-, *kher-, *ghar-, *gher-, "cut", from which also Hittite kar-, "cut", whence also Greek character. Apparently, the Germanic tribes did not have a self-designation ("endonym") that included all Germanic-speaking people but excluded all non-Germanic people. Non-Germanic peoples (primarily Celtic, Roman, Greek, the citizens of the Roman Empire), on the other hand, were called *walha- (this word lives forth in names such as Wales, Welsh, Cornwall, Walloons, Vlachs etc.). Yet, the name of the Suebi — which designated a larger group of tribes and was used almost indiscriminately with Germani in Caesar — was possibly a Germanic equivalent of the Latin name (*swē-ba- "authentic").[6] The generic *þiuda- "people" (occurring in many personal names such as Thiud-reks and also in the ethnonym of the Swedes from a cognate of Old English Sweo-ðēod) is not a self- designation. However, the adjective derived from this noun, *þiudiskaz, "popular", was later used with reference to the language of the people in contrast to the Latin language (earliest recorded example 786). The word is continued in German Deutsch (meaning German), English "Dutch", Dutch Duits and Diets (the latter referring to Dutch, the former meaning German). Danish tysk (meaning German). Trying to identify a contemporary vernacular term and the associated nation with a classical name, Latin writers from the 10th century onwards used the learnèd adjective teutonicus (originally derived from the Teutones) to refer to East Francia ("Regnum Teutonicum") and its inhabitants. This usage is still partly present in modern English; hence the English use of "Teutons" in reference to the Germanic peoples in general besides the specific tribe of the Teutons defeated at the Battle of Aquae Sextiae in 102 BC. Classification: Detail of the Uppland Rune Inscription 871 (12th century)By the 1st century A.D., the writings of Caesar, Tacitus and other Roman era writers indicate a division of Germanic-speaking peoples into tribal groupings centred on: the rivers Oder and Vistula (Poland) (East Germanic tribes), the lower Rhine river (Istvaeones), the river Elbe (Irminones), Jutland and the Danish islands (Ingvaeones). The Sons of Mannus Istvaeones, Irminones, and Ingvaeones are collectively called West Germanic tribes. In addition, those Germanic people who remained in Scandinavia are referred to as North Germanic. These groups all developed separate dialects, the basis for the differences among Germanic languages down to the present day. The division of peoples into West Germanic, East Germanic, and North Germanic is a modern linguistic classification. Many Greek scholars only classified Celts and Scythians in the Northwest and Northeast of the Mediterranean and this classification was widely maintained in Greek literature until Late Antiquity. Latin-Greek ethnographers (Tacitus, Pliny the Elder, Ptolemy, and Strabo) mentioned in the first two centuries AD the names of peoples they classified as Germanic along the Elbe, the Rhine, and the Danube, the Vistula and on the Baltic Sea. Tacitus mentioned 40, Ptolemy 69 peoples. Classical ethnography applied the name Suebi to many tribes in the first century. It appeared that this native name had all but replaced the foreign name Germanic. After the Marcomannic wars the Gothic name steadily gained importance. Some of the ethnic names mentioned by the ethnographers of the first two centuries AD on the shores of the Oder and the Vistula (Gutones, Vandali) reappear from the 3rd century on in the area of the lower Danube and north of the Carpathian Mountains. For the end of the 5th century the Gothic name can be used - according to the historical sources - for such different peoples like the Goths in Gaul, Iberia and Italy, the Vandals in Africa, the Gepids along the Tisza and the Danube, the Rugians, Sciri and Burgundians, even the Iranian Alans. These peoples were classified as Scyths and often deducted from the ancient Getae (most important: Cassiodor/Jordanes, Getica approx. 550 AD). Mythical foundations: The preserved mythical founders and namesakes of some Germanic tribes: Angul — Angles (the Kings of Mercia, according to the Anglo- Saxon Chronicle, other Anglo-Saxon dynasties are derived from other descendants of Woden) Aurvandil — Vandals (uncertain) Burgundus — Burgundians Cibidus — Cibidi Dan — Danes Nór — Norwegians Gothus — Goths Ingve — Ynglings Irmin — Irminones Longobardus — Lombards Saxneat — Saxons Valagothus — Valagoths Suiones — Suiones (Svear) Thüringer — Thuringii History: Origin: Map of the Nordic Bronze Age culture, ca 1200 BC Genetic origin In human genetics, Haplogroup I1a is a Y-chromosome haplogroup occurring at greatest frequency in Scandinavia. It displays a very clear frequency gradient, with a peak frequency of approximately 35% among the populations of southern Norway, southwestern Sweden, and Denmark, and rapidly decreasing frequencies toward the edges of the historically Germanic peoples - influenced world. Its descendants are primarily found among the Germanic populations of Northern Europe and the bordering Uralic and Celtic populations. Although even in traditionally Germanic demographics, the carriers of I1a are often overshadowed by the more prevalent carriers of Haplogroup R.[7] Some scholarship has contested the existence of a distinct Germanic ethnicity.[8] Bronze Age: Regarding the question of ethnic origins, evidence developed by archaeologists and linguists suggests that a people or group of peoples sharing a common material culture dwelt in a region defined by the Northern Bronze Age culture between 1700 BC and 600 BC. The Germanic tribes then inhabited southern Scandinavia, Denmark and Schleswig,[9] but subsequent Iron Age cultures of the same region, like Wessenstedt (800-600 BC) and Jastorf, are also in consideration.[10] The change of Proto- Indo-European to Proto-Germanic has been defined by the first sound shift (or Grimm's law) and must have occurred when mutually intelligible dialects or languages in a Sprachbund were still able to convey such a change to the whole region. So far it has been impossible to date this event conclusively. The precise interaction between these peoples is not known, however, they are tied together and influenced by regional features and migration patterns linked to prehistoric cultures like Hügelgräber, Urnfield, and La Tene. A deteriorating climate in Scandinavia c. 850 BC-760 BC and a later and more rapid one c. 650 BC might have triggered migrations to the coast of Eastern Germany and further towards the Vistula. A contemporary northern expansion of Hallstatt drew part of this peoples into the Celtic hemisphere, including nordwestblock areas and the region of Elp culture[11] (1800 BC - 800 BC). At around this time, this culture became influenced by Hallstatt techniques of how to extract bog iron from the ore in peat bogs, ushering in the Pre-Roman Iron Age. Early Iron Age: Main article: Pre-Roman Iron Age The expansion of the Germanic tribes 750 BC – AD 1 (after the Penguin Atlas of World History 1988): Settlements before 750BC New settlements until 500BC New settlements until 250BC New settlements until AD 1Archeological evidence suggests a relatively uniform Germanic people were located at about 750 BC from the Netherlands to the Vistula and in Southern Scandinavia. In the west the coastal floodplains were populated for the first time, since in adjacent higher grounds the population had increased and the soil became exhausted.[12] At about 250 BC some expansion to the south had occurred and five general groups can be distinguished: North Germanic in southern Scandinavia, excluding Jutland; North Sea Germanic, along the North Sea and in Jutland; Rhine-Weser Germanic, along the middle Rhine and Weser; Elbe Germanic, along the middle Elbe; and East Germanic, between the middle Oder and the Vistula. This concurs with linguistic evidence pointing at the development of five linguistic groups, mutually linked into sets of two to four groups that shared linguistic innovations.[13] This period witnessed the advent of Celtic culture of Hallstatt and La Tene signature in previous Northern Bronze Age territory, especially to the western extends. However, some proposals[14] suggest this Celtic superstrate was weak, while the general view in the Netherlands holds that this Celtic influence did not involve intrusions at all and assume fashion and a local development from Bronze Age culture.[15] It is generally accepted such a Celtic superstratum was virtually absent to the East, featuring the Germanic Wessenstedt and Jastorf cultures. The Celtic influence and contacts between Gaulish and early Germanic culture along the Rhine is assumed as the source of a number of Celtic loanwords in Proto- Germanic. Frankenstein and Rowlands (1978) and Wells (1980) have suggested late Hallstatt trade contact to be a direct catalyst for the development of an elite class that came into existence around northeastern France, the Middle Rhine region, and adjacent Alpine regions (Collis 1984:41), culminating to new cultural developments and the advent of the classical Gaulish La Tene culture[16] The development of La Tene culture extended to the north around 200-150 BC, including the North German Plain, Denmark and Southern Scandinavia:[17] In certain cremation graves, situated at some distance from other graves, Celtic metalwork appears: brooches and swords, together with wagons, Roman cauldrons and drinking vessels. The area of these rich graves is the same as the places where later (first century AD) princely graves are found. A ruling class seems to have emerged, distinguished by the possession of large farms and rich gravegifts such as weapons for the men and silver objects for the women, imported earthenware and Celtic items.[18] The first Germani in Roman ethnography cannot be clearly identified as either Germanic or Celtic in the modern ethno- linguistic sense, and it has been generally held the traditional clear cut division along the Rhine between both ethnical groups was primarily motivated by Roman politics. Caesar described the Eburones as a Germanic tribe on the Gallic side of the Rhine, and held other tribes in the neighbourhood as merely calling themselves of Germanic stock. Even though names like Eburones and Ambiorix were Celtic and archeologically this area shows strong Celtic influences, the problem is difficult. Some 20th century writers consider the possibility of a separate "Nordwestblock" identity of the tribes settled along the Rhine at the time, assuming the arrival of a Germanic superstrate from the 1st century BC and a subsequent "Germanization" or language replacement through the "elite-dominance" model. [19] However, immigration of Germanic Batavians from Hessen in the northern extend of this same tribal region is archeologically spoken hardly noticeable and certainly did not populate an exterminated country, very unlike Tacitus suggested. Here, probably due to the local indigenous pastoral way of life, the acceptance of Roman culture turned out to be particularly slow and, contrary to expected, the indigenous culture of the previous Eburones rather seems to have absorbed the intruding (Batavian) element, thus making it very hard to define the real extends of the pre-Roman Germanic indigenous territories.[20] Roman Times: Main article: Roman Iron Age Germanic expansions during early Roman times are known only generally, but it is clear that the forebears of the Goths were settled on the southern Baltic shore by 100 AD. The early Germanic tribes are assumed to have spoken mutually intelligible dialects, in the sense that Germanic languages derive from a single earlier parent language. No written records of such a parent language exists.[21] From what we know of scanty early written material, by the fifth century AD the Germanic languages were already "sufficiently different to render communication between the various peoples impossible".[22] Some evidence point to a common pantheon made up of several different chronological layers. However, as for mythology only the Scandinavian one (see Germanic mythology) is sufficiently known.[22] Some traces of common traditions between various tribes are indicated by Beowulf and the Volsunga saga. One indication of their shared identity is their common Germanic name for non-Germanic peoples, *walhaz (plural of *walhoz), from which the local names Welsh, Wallis, etc. were derived. An indication of an ethnic unity is the fact that the Romans knew them as one and gave them a common name, Germani (this is the source of our German and Germanic, see Etymology above), although it was well known for the Romans to give geographical rather than cultural names to peoples. The very extensive practice of cremation deprives us of anthropological comparative material for the earliest periods to support claims of a longstanding ethnic isolation of a common (Nordic) strain. In the absence of large-scale political unification, such as that imposed forcibly by the Romans upon the peoples of Italy, the various tribes remained free, led by their own hereditary or chosen leaders. Collision with Rome: Map showing the pre-Migration Age distribution of the Germanic tribes in Proto-Germanic times, and stages of their expansion up to 50 BC, AD 100 and AD 300. The extent of the Roman Empire in 68 BC and AD 117 is also shown.By the late 2nd century, B.C., Roman authors recount, Gaul, Italy and Hispania were invaded by migrating Germanic tribes, culminating in military conflict with the armies of the Roman Empire.[citation needed] Six decades later, Julius Caesar invoked the threat of such attacks as one justification for his annexation of Gaul to Rome. As Rome expanded to the Rhine and Danube rivers, it incorporated many Celtic societies into the Empire. The tribal homelands to the north and east emerged collectively in the records as Germania. The peoples of this area were sometimes at war with Rome, but also engaged in complex and long-term trade relations, military alliances, and cultural exchanges with Rome as well. The Cimbri and Teutoni incursions into Roman Italy were thrust back in 101 BC. These invasions were written up by Caesar and others as presaging of a Northern danger for the Empire, a danger that should be controlled. In the Augustean period there was — as a result of Roman activity as far as the Elbe River — a first definition of the "Germania magna": from Rhine and Danube in the West and South to the Vistula and the Baltic Sea in the East and North. Caesar's wars helped establish the term Germania. The initial purpose of the Roman campaigns was to protect Transalpine Gaul by controlling the area between the Rhine and the Elbe. In 9 AD a revolt of their Germanic subjects headed by the supposed Roman ally, Arminius, (along with his decisive defeat of Publius Quinctilius Varus in the surprise attack on unprepared Romans at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest) ended in the withdrawal of the Roman frontier to the Rhine. At the end of the 1st century two provinces west of the Rhine called Germania inferior and Germania superior were established. Important medieval cities like Aachen, Cologne, Trier, Mainz, Worms and Speyer were part of these Roman provinces. The Germania by Gaius Cornelius Tacitus, an ethnographic work on the diverse group of Germanic tribes outside of the Roman Empire, is our most important source on the Germanic peoples of the 1st century. Migration Period: Main article: Migration Period 2nd to 5th century simplified migrations. Europe in AD 400, before the Germanic tribes overran the Western Roman Empire.During the 5th century, as the Western Roman Empire lost military strength and political cohesion, numerous Germanic peoples, under pressure from population growth and invading Asian groups, began migrating en masse in far and diverse directions, taking them to England and as far south through present day Continental Europe to the Mediterranean and northern Africa. Over time, this wandering meant intrusions into other tribal territories, and the ensuing wars for land escalated with the dwindling amount of unoccupied territory. Wandering tribes then began staking out permanent homes as a means of protection. Much of this resulted in fixed settlements from which many, under a powerful leader, expanded outwards. A defeat meant either scattering or merging with the dominant tribe, and this continual process of assimilation was how nations were formed. In Denmark the Jutes merged with the Danes, in Sweden the Geats merged with the Swedes. In England, the Angles merged with the Saxons and other groups as well as a large number of natives to form the Anglo-Saxons. A direct result of the Roman retreat was the disappearance of imported products like ceramics and coins, and a return to virtually unchanged local Iron Age production methods. According to recent views this has caused confusion for decades, and theories assuming the total abandonment of the coastal regions to account for an archaeological time gap that never existed have been renounced. Instead, it has been confirmed that the Frisian graves has been used without interruption between the 4th and 9th century and that inhabited areas show continuity with the Roman period in revealing coins, jewellery and ceramics of the 5th century. Also, people continued to live in the same three-aisled farmhouse, while to the east completely new types of buildings arose. More to the south, in Belgium, archeological results of this period point to immigration from the north.[23] Europe in 500ad, after the Germanic tribes overran the Western Roman Empire. Role in the Fall of Rome Some of the Germanic tribes are frequently blamed in popular depictions of the decline of the Roman Empire in the late 5th century. Professional historians and archaeologists have since the 1950s shifted their interpretations in such a way that the Germanic peoples are no longer seen as invading a decaying empire but as being co-opted into helping defend territory the central government could no longer adequately administer. Individuals and small groups from Germanic tribes had long been recruited from the territories beyond the limes (i.e., the regions just outside the Roman Empire), and some of them had risen high in the command structure of the army. Then the Empire recruited entire tribal groups under their native leaders as officers. Assisting with defense eventually shifted into administration and then outright rule, as Roman government passed into the hands of Germanic leaders. Odoacer, who deposed Romulus Augustulus, is the ultimate example. The presence of successor states controlled by a nobility from one of the Germanic tribes is evident in the 6th century - even in Italy, the former heart of the Empire, where Odoacer was followed by Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths, who was regarded by Roman citizens and Gothic settlers alike as legitimate successor to the rule of Rome and Italy. Conversion to Christianity: Main article: Germanic Christianity While the Germanic peoples were slowly converted to Christianity by varying means, many elements of the pre- Christian culture and indigenous beliefs remained firmly in place after the conversion process, particularly in the more rural and distant regions. The Ostrogoths, Visigoths, and Vandals were Christianized while they were still outside the bounds of the Empire; however, they converted to Arianism rather than to orthodox Catholicism, and were soon regarded as heretics. The one great written remnant of the Gothic language is a translation of portions of the Bible made by Ulfilas, the missionary who converted them. The Lombards were not converted until after their entrance into the Empire, but received Christianity from Arian Germanic groups. The Franks were converted directly from paganism to Catholicism without an intervening time as Arians. Several centuries later, Anglo-Saxon and Frankish missionaries and warriors undertook the conversion of their Saxon neighbours. A key event was the felling of Thor's Oak near Fritzlar by Boniface, apostle of the Germans, in 723. Eventually, the conversion was forced by armed force, successfully completed by Charlemagne, in a series of campaigns (the Saxon Wars), that also brought Saxon lands into the Frankish empire. Massacres, such as the Bloody Verdict of Verden were a direct result of this policy. In Scandinavia, the Germanic religion continued to dominate until the 11th century, when it was gradually replaced by Christianity. Assimilation: Further information: Romanization (cultural) This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims. Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (September 2007) The various Germanic Peoples of the Migrations period eventually spread out over a vast expanse stretching from contemporary European Russia to Iceland and from Norway to North Africa. The migrants had varying impacts in different regions. In many cases, the newcomers set themselves up as over-lords of the pre-existing population. Over time, such groups underwent ethnogenesis, resulting in the creation of new cultural and ethnic identities (such as the Franks and Galloromans becoming French). Thus many of the descendants of the ancient Germanic Peoples do not speak Germanic languages, as they were to a greater or lesser degree assimilated into the cosmopolitan, literate culture of the Roman world. Even where the descendants of Germanic Peoples maintained greater continuity with their common ancestors, significant cultural and linguistic differences arose over time; as is strikingly illustrated by the different identities of Christianized Saxon subjects of the Carolingian Empire and Pagan Scandinavian Vikings. More broadly, early Medieval Germanic peoples were often assimilated into the walha substrate cultures of their subject populations. Thus, the Burgundians of Burgundy, the Vandals of Andalusia and the Visigoths of western France and eastern Iberia all lost their Germanic identity and became part of Latin Europe. Likewise, the Franks of Western Francia form part of the ancestry of the French people. Examples of assimilation during the Viking Age include the Norsemen in Normandy, and the societal elite in medieval Russia among whom many were the descendants of Slavified Norsemen (a theory, however, contested by some Slavic scholars in the former Soviet Union, who name it the Normanist theory). Conversely, the Germanic settlement of England resulted in Anglo-Saxon displacement of and/or cultural assimilation of the indigenous culture, the Brythonic speaking British culture. As in England, Scotland's indigenous Brythonic Celtic culture in the southeast succumbed to Germanic influence due to invasion; while across the rest of Scotland Gaelic language and culture spread replacing Brythonic, primarily Pictish, languages. The Brythonic language survived for a slightly longer period in the South West of the country, principally under the Kingdom of Strathclyde, before succumbing to Gaelic pressure as the region was absorbed into the Kingdom of Scotland. Later almost the entire Scottish Lowlands became Scots speaking as the language displaced Gaelic over a period of some centuries. The Scots language is the resulting Germanic language now spoken in Scotland and similar to the regional variation of English in the north of England, Northumbrian dialects (such as Geordie) with which it shares a common origin. The Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands, though now a part of Scotland, were historically part of the Kingdom of Norway and Norse linguistically and culturally following the Viking invasions although plantations of English speaking Scots led to the death of the Scandinavian dialects in the 18th century. Portugal and Spain also had some measure of Germanic settlement, due to the Visigoths, the Suebi (Quadi and Marcomanni) and the Buri, who settled permanently. The Vandals (Silingi and Hasdingi) were also present, before moving on to North Africa. Many words of Germanic origin entered into the Spanish and Portuguese languages at this time and many more entered through other avenues (often French) in the ensuing centuries (see: List of Spanish words of Germanic origin and List of Portuguese words of Germanic origin). Italy has also had a history of heavy Germanic settlement. Germanic tribes such as the Visigoths, Vandals, and Ostrogoths had successfully invaded and sparsely settled Italy in the 5th century AD. Most notably, in the 6th century AD, the Germanic tribe known as the Lombards entered and settled primarily in the area known today as Lombardy. The Normans also conquered and ruled Sicily and parts of southern Italy for a time. Crimean Gothic communities appear to have survived intact until the late 1700’s, when many were deported by Catherine the Great. Their language vanished by the 1800’s. The territory of modern Germany was divided between Germanic and Celtic speaking groups in the last centuries BC. The parts south of the Germanic Limes came under limited Latin influence in the early centuries AD, but were swiftly conquered by Germanic groups such as the Alemanni after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. In Scandinavia there is a long history of assimilation of Finnic peoples, namely Finns and Lapps - such that the many Finns think of themselves as a Nordic People. Indo-European topics: Indo-European languages Albanian · Armenian · Baltic Celtic · Germanic · Greek Indo-Iranian (Indo-Aryan, Iranian) Italic · Slavic extinct: Anatolian · Paleo-Balkans (Dacian, Phrygian, Thracian) · Tocharian Indo-European peoples Albanians · Armenians Balts · Celts · Germanic peoples Greeks · Indo-Aryans Iranians · Latins · Slavs historical: Anatolians (Hittites, Luwians) Celts (Galatians, Gauls) · Germanic tribes Illyrians · Indo-Iranians (Rigvedic tribes, Iranian tribes) Italic peoples · Thracians · Tocharians Proto-Indo-Europeans Language · Society · Religion Urheimat hypotheses Kurgan hypothesis · Anatolia Armenia · India · PCT Indo-European studies Confederations of Germanic Tribes Germania Germanic Europe List of Germanic peoples Norse clans Germanic Christianity Sippe Nordicism Tribal warfare Notes and references ^ Whence derives Catalan germà, Spanish hermano and Portuguese irmão, "brother" ^ Strabo, Geogr. 7.1.2. Cf. L. Rübekeil, Suebica. Völkernamen und Ethnos, Innsbruck 1992, 182-7. ^ Rübekeil, Suebica, Innsbruck 1992, 161f. ^ Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology 1966) ^ McBain's An Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language ^ L. Rübekeil, Suebica. Völkernamen und Ethnos, Innsbruck 1992, 187-214. ^ Map of I1a ^ Lund, Die ersten Germanen, 1998. ^ Hermann Kinder and Werner Hilgemann, The Penguin Atlas of World History; translated by Ernest A. Menze ; with maps designed by Harald and Ruth Bukor. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-051054-0 1988 Volume 1. p.109. ^ The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, 15th edition, 20:67 ^ 1979: Nederland in de bronstijd, J.J. Butler ^ Leo Verhart, Op zoek naar de Kelten, 2006,ISBN 90 5345 303 2, p. 81-82 ^ The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, 15th edition, 22:641-642 ^ by writers including Joke Delrue, University Gent[citation needed] ^ Leo Verhart, Op Zoek naar de Kelten, Nieuwe archeologische ontdekkingen tussen Noordzee en Rijn, ISBN 90 5345 303 2, 2006, p. 67 ^ Dr. Charles Orser, Complexity, Trade, and Death: Analysis of the shift in Burial Practices during the Late La Tène Period[1] ^ Parker Pearson 1989:202 ^ Looijenga, Jantina Helena, Runes around the North Sea and on the Continent AD 150-700, II.2, From the pre-Roman Iron Age to the late-Germanic Iron Age, University of Groningen, 1997 ^ by Rolf Hachmann, Georg Kossack and Hans Kuhn, Völker zwischen Germanen und Kelten, 1986, p. 183-212 ^ Leo Verhart, Op Zoek naar de Kelten, Nieuwe archeologische ontdekkingen tussen Noordzee en Rijn, ISBN 90 5345 303 2, 2006, p. 175-176 ^ The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, 15th edition, 20:640-642 ^ a b Lucien Musset, The Germanic Invasions, the Making of Europe 400-600 AD, ISBN 1-56619-326-5, 1993 Barnes & Noble Books, p. 12-13 ^ J.H.F. Bloemers & T. van Dorp. Pre- en Protohistorie van de Lage Landen. De Haan/Open Universiteit, 1991, ISBN 90 269 4448 9, NUGI 644, pp 329-338 Further reading: Beck, Heinrich and Heiko Steuer and Dieter Timpe, eds. Die Germanen. Studienausgabe. Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde. Berlin, New York: Walter de Gruyter 1998. Xi + 258 pp. ISBN 3-11-016383-7. Collins, Roger. Early medieval Europe. 300-1000. 2nd ed. Basingstoke: Macmillan 1999. XXV + 533 pp. ISBN 0-333-65807-8. Geary, Patrick J. Before France and Germany. The creation and transformation of the Merovingian world. Oxford: Oxford University Press 1988. Xii + 259 pp. ISBN 0-19-504458-4. Geary, Patrick J. The Myth of Nations. The Medieval Origins of Europe. Princeton: Princeton University Press 2002. X + 199 pp. ISBN 0-691-11481-1. Herrmann, Joachim. Griechische und lateinische Quellen zur Frühgeschichte Mitteleuropas bis zur Mitte des 1. Jahrtausends unserer Zeitrechnung. I. Von Homer bis Plutarch. 8. Jh. v. u. Z. bis 1. Jh. v. u. Z. II. Tacitus-Germania. III. Von Tacitus bis Ausonius. 2. bis 4. Jh. u. Z. IV. Von Ammianus Marcellinus bis Zosimos. 4. und 5. Jh. u. Z. Berlin: Akademie Verlag 1988 -1992. I: 657 pp. ISBN 3-05-000348-0. II: 291 pp. ISBN 3-05-000349-9. III: 723 pp. ISBN 3-05-000571-8. IV: 656 pp. ISBN 3-05-000591-2. Pohl, Walter. Die Germanen. Enzyklopädie deutscher Geschichte 57. München: Oldenbourg 2004. X + 156 pp. ISBN 3- 486-56755-1. Pohl, Walter. Die Völkerwanderung. Eroberung und Integration. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer 2002. 266 pp. ISBN 3-17-015566-0. Monograph, German. Todd, Malcolm. The Early Germans. Oxford: Blackwell 2004. Xii + 266 pp. ISBN 0-631-16397-2. Jürgen Udolph. Namenkundliche Studien zum Germanenproblem. DeGruyter, Berlin 1994, ISBN 3-11-014138-8 Wolfram, Herwig. History of the Goths. Berkeley: University of California Press 1988. Xii + 613 pp. ISBN 0520052595 Wolfram, Herwig. The Roman Empire and its Germanic peoples. Berkeley: University of California Press 1997. XX + 361 pp. ISBN 0-520-08511-6. |
| Map of Ancient Germania |
| Map of the Nations Monument Leipzig |
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