Customer Reviews

The Roman Empire and Its Germanic Peoples

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

After a brief narrative of early German history, he gives thorough details on the individual peoples or tribal confederations. Actually, you could read ch.15 first and then go to the Introduction. The main emphasis is on the Danubian Goths. He gives a good structural analysis of their institutions and how they blended with Roman culture. His thesis that the majority of Germanic peoples wanted to become part of the Roman World does seem to be valid to this ancient history buff. The German Kings do appear to have tried to maintain both the socio-economic conditions and Administration. It is a vivid picture of an often neglected subject. There is a good bibliography and a plethora of footnotes to research further. The omission of the Franks, who arguably were the most influential is why I'm deducting one star.

Mr. Wolfram has definitely done his homework; this is a well-written and extremely informative, if a rather dry, look at the relationship between Roman and German for really the entire Roman Imperial Period, though naturally focusing mostly on the AD 300-600 area (not to sound petty, but I was hoping for more information on the Germans of the earlier centuries, other than the Cherusci in AD 9 and the Marcomannic Wars you don't hear much about them). Much of the book is about the various Germanic kings who carved out their own pieces of the Roman Empire in the 5th and 6th Centuries, like Gaiseric, Theodoric, Clovis, Odovacar, and others, and the movements and separate cultures and personalities of the major groups, the Goths, Vandals, Burgundians, and others are also profiled. I particularly appreciated the author's look at the events of AD 476 in Chapter Eight, the `Empire that Did Not End'. Also, he makes it clear that he sees the Barbarian `Invasions' as not invasions but immigration, from Italy to England. Also included are some useful genealogy charts and chronologies. Overall, a single great book on the early Germanic Kingdoms for those with a serious interest.

This book, a survey of the histories of the various so-called Germanic tribes that eventually assumed control of Europe, spanning the years from roughly 250AD to somewhere around 800AD. One of Wolfram's main theses is that the actual barbarian "invasions" were events that were much more complicated than a simple onslaught of Germanic hordes. He does a relatively good job in describing how exactly the migrations took place. Along the way, he gives the reader some good ideas about how the Germanic tribes functioned as societies.

This is an enormously complicated subject. I'm sure no two people agree on everything involved, but I must take issue to some of the criticisms that has been written here. First, this is no easy book to read. It's a history book written by and for specialists. So, it's not simply a narrative of events that happened; there's a great deal of analysis and moving back and forth in time in order to make comparisons. He does provide a time-line, though. Nevertheless, it's going to be rough-going for someone looking for a quick scan of the topic.

As for Wolfram's sources, most of them are Roman texts or in German (the book itself is a translation from the German). There's nothing quoted here that's any more spurious than any other history book I've read. In fact, Wolfram spends a lot of time weeding out what's reliable in the Roman sources and what isn't.

Lastly, it should be pointed out that another of Wolfram's big points is to distinguish the Germanic tribes as political units as opposed to ethnic units (and thus somehow "related" to modern Germans). He's very effective at convincing me at least that most of these tribes were ethnically polyglots that subsumed various "races" according to political and economic need.

The author presents a truly enlightening study of how the Empire absorbed the Germanic tribes, as well as the ultimate effect of the powerful Roman cultural hegemony on outlying provinces. As an Ancient Rome buff, I find this a necessary counterweight to Gibbon's "Decline and Fall..."

My reason for reading this book is that I wanted to know more about Roman Germany after visiting several sites in West Germany. I've had a lifelong interest in the Roman Empire and loved my Latin classes in high school. Since then I've occasionally read books about the Roman Empire. I am certainly not an expert in this field. This particular book is not easy reading. It is a serious, scholarly work in a solemn translation from the German. However, if one has the patience to plow through, it can be quite rewarding and provocative. I felt I was tracing the roots of our own culture when the author showed that so many of the tribes had a religion around a sacred sword. The author didn't mention Excalibur, but it immediately came to mind.

Roman Germany turned out to be far different than I had simplistically imagined. It was not a matter of conquering and occupying. There was a lot of wheeling and dealing going on. One system simply evolved into another over time. This book was tremendously informative to me. I feel that my understanding of the so-called "Dark Ages" is radically improved. As I said, this is not an easy read. It takes time and concentration. But I felt it was worth it.

I found this book hard to read, compared to the two other books in my library which cover similar ground, namely The Early Germans (The Peoples of Europe) and The Goths (The Peoples of Europe).

However, while the book is quite dry and unengaging, and while this does detract from the book to a significant extent (hence only four stars) the book presents a compelling picture of the decline of the Roman Empire and the rise of Germanic successor states which combines economic, military, and social elements, and which provides insights that no other book in my library does.

For example, Wolfram makes a great deal of the differences in tax income, military expenditures, and economic disparity between the Eastern Roman Empire and the Western Roman Empire. He points out that the Eastern Empire spent more on their military than the Western Empire did on their entire budget, and he attributes this to problems with taxes caused by tremendous economic disparity in the West. Wolfram offers many other valuable insights in this work, so this is still a very valuable addition to the library of any history buff.

Recommended.

A stunning interpretation of the interactions between the Roman empire and the Germanic peoples who came to inhabit it. Demolishes the ides of "barbarian invasions" and demonstrates the lasting (and durable) power of Roman culture and politics.

Only read this book if you are forced to. Not a casual read. Author bounces around dates with wreckless abandon. Accuracy is highly questionable.