Western History 53: Which groups were involved in the Great Migration (or the Barbarian Invasion)?

From the Fourth century CE onwards both the Western and Eastern Roman Empires were subjected to vast hordes of migrants people of Eastern and Northern origin. Eventually these groups would bring down the Western Empire, drive back the Celtic and Latin populations and re-draw the political map of the west. Such groups included:

1. Visigoths – Western branch of the Gothic people. The Visigoths defeated the Romans at Adrianople (378 CE) and then under their leader Alaric sacked Rome in 410 CE. They moved into France but were driven out by the Franks in 507 CE eventually establishing a kingdom in Spain. Visigoth power in Spain was ended by the Arabs/Berbers in 711/712 CE.
2. Ostrogoths – Eastern branch of the Gothic people. The Ostrogoths traded heavily with the Romans migrating westwards under pressure from the Huns. They would eventually conquer the Italian kingdom of Odoacer establishing their own power base under Theodoric the Great. Ostrogoth power would deteriorate in the face of Byzantine advancement in Italy in the 6^th century CE with much of its population eventually being absorbed into the Lombard kingdom
3. Vandals – An Eastern Germanic people the Vandals swept westward from territory in Poland establishing kingdoms in Spain and later North Africa. They clashed with the Gothic groups but continued moving westward under Hunnic pressure.  In 429 CE they entered North Africa under the king Genseric and in 455 CE sacked Rome. However their power collapsed in 533-34 when they were defeated by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian in the Vandalic Wars. The great vandal legacy today resonates in the word ‘vandalism’ which has become synonymous with senseless destruction and the defacing of artwork (a linkage that evokes the 455 CE sacking).
4. Franks – A Germanic Group who would succeed the Romans as the eventual masters of much of France, Germany and the Lower Countries from the 5^th – 9^th century CE. The Franks would emerge as the possible successors of the Western Roman Empire through the legacy of the Merovingians and the Carolingians.
5. Saxons - Germanic tribe dominant in the low Countries, Jutland and Northern Germany. The Saxons and another tribe the Angles would eventually conquer most of England following the collapse of Roman Rule on the island in the 5^th century CE. Much of their gains would occur at the expense of the local Celtic groups.
6. Huns – A Nomadic group from the Caucus regions. It is often argued that the Huns started the great Migration by their Western drive. The greatest Hunnic warrior was Atilla who became co-ruler with his brother Bleda in 437 CE and sole ruler in 445. His forces dominated much of the interior of Eastern Europe and gained strength as they pressed into Gaul.  He plundered the Western Roman Empire and extorted the East  but was defeated in 451 by a coalition force led by the Roman General Aetius at the Battle of Catalaunian Planes. In 452 he invaded Northern Italy but a year later died of haemorrhage on his wedding Night. Hunnic dominance in Central and Eastern Europe would eventually be broken in 454 with the defeat of the Huns by a tribal grouping that included the Gepids, Heruli, Rugi, Scirii and Subebi.
7. Burgundians – A Vandal group that were one time allies of the Huns.  They are thought to have originated in Poland and eventually settled into the region of France that bears their name.
8. Lombards – Another Germanic people who would dominate the Italian peninsula from 558 to 774 CE. The Kingdom of Italy that they founded reached its peak under the rule of Liutprand in the 8^th century.