The 5 Consequences of the Most Important Barbarian Invasions

The Consequences of barbarian invasions Are those sequels that left in the Roman culture the tribes of others who immigrated massively in antiquity.

This migratory movement can be divided into two phases: one from the third to the fifth and the other from the sixth to the seventh centuries after Christ. At first, the arrival of the barbarians was peaceful with very numerous population movements, but then it became violent and wars were unleashed that put an end to the Roman Empire.

Map invasion barbara roman empire

The ethnicity and concrete origin of the tribes that crossed the borders of Rome are discussed, although it is clear that several of them were of Germanic origin, such as the Saxons, who came from present-day Germany and Scandinavia.

Others, such as F Rancos, came from the middle course of the Rhine. Visigoths , Ostrogoths, Frisians and Turingians, among others, were also part of this group.

The invasion of these peoples had great consequences for the civilization of that time. Five of them are the most transcendental, since they brought changes of great importance that persisted in later years, including the High Middle Ages .

Consequences of Barbarian Invasions

1- Geopolitics

At the end of the fourth century a sudden event occurred: the partition of the Roman empire In two halves. In the West the Roman Empire of the West was formed whereas in the East the Eastern Roman Empire was constituted or Byzantine Empire .

With the barbarian invasions, the first part of this partition, the western one, was lost, which lost most of its dominions. The second survived until 1453 when its capital, Constantinople, was taken by the Ottomans .

Leaving aside the Byzantine Empire, the Roman Empire of the West, when fragmented after its fall, gave way to free barbarian tribes that consolidated their power with the spoils of the ancient Roman provinces and even Italy itself.

Thus the map was peppered with a cluster of kingdoms rivaling each other that had no territorial, political, geographical, linguistic, social, ethnic, religious or bureaucratic unity.

One can add something substantial: with the barbarian invasions, the Roman Empire ended, yes, but their institutions were also eliminated.

Concepts such as"Senate,""Republic,""Elections,""Citizen,""Town,"and"Constitution"all disappeared and existed as memories stamped on paper. The law of Roman law was about to fall into oblivion and was not rescued until the Middle Ages, when it returned to be studied in universities.

2- Military

The direct result of the barbarian invasions was the decomposition of the Roman army, which had been the soul of the imperial glory of heroes as Julius Caesar or August .

Given their inability to protect the border with the Rhine, the Romans could no longer contain the advance of the Germanic tribes in the direction of southern Germany. The Huns, for their part, knew how to take advantage of the weaknesses of the Romans, who inflicted costly and bloody defeats.

However, there is something not often mentioned in the textbooks: the barbarian invasions also involved alliances between Romans and foreign tribes who did not want to be invaded.

With this, the power of Rome was increased and the barbarians could be part of the military forces of the empire, in which they received a military training. With ancestry, influences, accumulated merits and a bit of luck, a frank citizen of the Gaul , For example, could reach general.

3- Social

In addition to the above, it is to be expected that the barbarian invasions, in addition to cutting down the geopolitical and military tree of Rome, would do the same with their society.

Its citizens faced each other by irreconcilable differences caused by conflicting affiliations between factions.

Without Rome, there would be no Romans. With the presence of invading tribes that ended the Empire, collective imaginaries and gentilicios were radically restructured. However, the loss of Roman identity was counterbalanced by the cosmopolitan character of this culture.

The first mass migrations of barbarian peoples, who were more peaceful, provided foreigners willing to fight for the Roman Empire so they assimilated to their culture from their youth.

These kinds of events contained setbacks. An example is the case of Arminio , The Germanic"Romanized"officer who overcame Varo In Teutoburg in the year 9 of our era.

4- Economic

The rupture of Rome was not only a political, military and social breakdown, but also an economic transformation.

The use of the Roman currency practically fell into decline and was replaced by other forms of economic exchange in accordance with the monetary policies of the barbarian tribes, who, being not centralized, managed the finances in their own way.

5- Linguistics

With the Roman Empire dissolved, Latin could be used for more than a millennium as the language of cultured people. For this he had to pay a high price: to lose its preponderance as a language of daily use.

Then came something that was called"vulgar Latin,"from which came the Romance languages ​​like the Spanish. Likewise, the languages ​​of the barbarian tribes gave linguistic loans to that Latin"profane"that ended up becoming, for example, French and Italian.

The catastrophe of invasions in the Roman Empire

The 5 Consequences of the Most Important Barbarian Invasions The invasion of the barbarians. Ulpiano Checa.

It was not the first time that the Romans faced foreign enemies; They had already done so with Greeks, Celts, and Carthaginians. Nor was it the first time they had received immigrants.

For centuries, Rome imported citizens from distant lands that had nothing to do with the Italian peninsula, such as the province of Hispania .

However, between the third and eighth centuries Rome did face something that had not seen before: the massive entrance of foreign visitors who did not come in peace.

Rome was faced with a decline in domestic policy that led to civil strife and inefficient governments that led to its downfall.

Since the time of Constantine Until the Theodosius , The Roman Empire suffered gradual defeats at the hands of the Germanic tribes.

These settled gradually in their territory until they felt the confidence enough to give a stronger blow. The rest of the work did it Attila With its Huns.

Finally, for the fifth century, the fate was set and in successive centuries this situation did not go back but ended up consolidating irreversibly. The Roman Empire had disappeared and behind it were consequences that sealed the fate of Europe.

References

  1. Beard, Mary (2016). SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome (translated by Silvia Furió). Barcelona: Grupo Planeta.
  2. Cumberland Jacobsen, Torsten (2009). The Gothic War: Rome's Final Conflict in the West. Yardley: Westholme.
  3. Grant, Michael (1978). History of Rome. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
  4. (2016). The Routledge Atlas of Classical History: From 1700 BC to AD 565. London: Routledge.
  5. Halsall, Guy (2007). Barbarian migrations and the Roman West, 376-568. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  6. Kulikowski, Michael (2007). Rome's Gothic Wars: from the third century to Alaric. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  7. Mark, Joshua J. (2011). Roman Empire. West Sussex, United Kingdom: Ancient History Encyclopedia. Retrieved from ancient.eu.
  8. V.V.A.A. (2006). The Cambridge Ancient History, 2nd edition (14 vols.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.


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