OSTROGTHS Essay, Research Paper

Ostrogoths

The Goths were Germanic people who probably migrated

from Southern Scandinavia some time before the time of

Christ. By the third century, the Goths had settled in the

areas around the Black Sea. Those who settled in the area

of the modern Ukraine came to be known as Ostrogoths. The

Goths were divided into Ostrogoths and Visigoths. The name

“Ostrogoths” means “the Eastern Goths.” The Ostrogoths

developed a huge empire north of the Black Sea. These Goths

caused a lot of trouble during the third century.

The Ostrogoths invasions helped them move farther into

the Roman Empire. They invaded such people as the

Burgundians on the Main River, the Saxons on the Weser, the

Lombards in Silesia, and other tribes. By the end of the

third century, there wasn’t much difference between

civilization and barbarism.

When the Huns came into Europe about 370 AD, many of

the Ostrogoths were conquered and made to help their

conquerors. They joined Atilla the Hun in his battle

against Gaul in 451, and many of them were killed by the

Visigoths at the Battle of Chalons. The Ostrogoths remained

under the Hunnic Empire’s rule for eighty years until it’s

dissolution in 454. The Ostrogoths finally fought back and

they regained their independence.

The Ostrogoths became Roman allies. Their new leader

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was Theodoric. Theodoric was sent to Italy in 488 to attack

Odoacer, a German usurper, in 489. The Eastern Emperor,

Zeno, helped Theodoric with this invasion. As a reward,

Theodoric moved the Ostrogoths west, took over the throne,

and became king. He started his reign in 493. Theodoric

remained king for a full generation and because he was so

capable and prosperous, he was sometimes called “Theodoric

the Great.” He reigned from 493 to 526 AD. He died in 526

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and the disruption in Italy became so bad that in 535, the

Byzantines had to conquer the

peninsula. The Byzantines broke Gothic power in 555 and

filled the throne with the Byzantine Governors. The

remaining Ostrogoths dispersed into other tribes after the

Byzantines took over.

Proving himself an able leader, both Politically and

military, Theodoric rose to become the leader of his

people. He led them out of the unpromising lands in which

they had settled and moved to Moesia, close to

Constantonople itself. Their presence greatly worried the

East Romans and when it became clear that he wanted to carve

out a kingdom in the west, they did not try to discourage

him, and he was able to claim that his subsequent invasion

of Italy had Imperial Sanction. Their host which Theodoric

led into Italy may have totaled as many as 100,000 people,

this was as much a migration as

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an invasion, and perhaps 80% of this number were non-

conbatants. Many were not Goths at all; there were certainly

Rugi and even Romans. The Western Empire had already fallen

and Italy, at that time, was ruled by a barbarian king,

Odovacar. The struggle between the two great men lasted

between 489 and 493, and finally ended when Theodoric

murdered his rival in cold blood at a banquet. Despite the

claims of Imperial patronage. Theodosic was not recognized

as King of Italy by the Emperor Anastasius until 497.

From the time of their conquest by the Huns until the

death of Attila, nearly a hundred years later, little is

known of the Ostrogoths. It is certain that the vast

majority of them remained as loyal vassals of their Hunnic

overlords. They formed a significant contingent of Attila’s

army, ant the battle of Chalons in 451 found themselves on

the opposite side to their Vissigoths cousins, serving as

allies of Aetius, the Roman Patrician. The Huns were

defeated but it was not until Attila’s death two years later

that the Hunic Empire collapsed.

The Huns, had enterd south Russia by 355 and drstroyed

the Ostrogothic kingdom on the Dnieper about 374. As the

Huns moved into the Hungarian plain, they frigthened the

Visigoths, who were allowed by the Empire to cross the

Danube in376. After tge resulting disaster as Aadrianple two

years later the Visigoths had to be

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premitted to remain in the Balkans as an organized body,

their king serving also as a Roman general. The young

emperors after 395 each had a German commander, Rufinus

under Arcadius in the east and Stlicho under Honorius in the

west.

Recognized by Anastasius, Theodoric ruled Italy as the

self-styled “King of the Goths and Romans” until his death

in 526. Like the Visigoths, and like Odovacar before him,

he was wise enough to rule by the employment of existing

Roman institutions.

In 476, a date which is often taken as marking the end

of the Roman Empire in the west, the German mercenary leader

Odoacer deposed the ursuper Romulus Augustulus, a boy witha

truly ironic name and sent the imperial paraphernalia to

Constantinople. Even thereafter most of the Germanic

chieftains gave deference to the emperor in the east, so

overtrown in 493 by Theodoric, leader of the Ostrogoths, who

had been directed toward Italy by teh eastern emperor.