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.