NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Völkerwanderung

The German term Völkerwanderung ['fœlkər"vandərʊŋ] ("the migration of peoples"), is used in historiography as an alternate label for the "Migrations Period", of Germanic, Slavic and other tribes on the European continent during the period AD 300–900. Continental Europe is the continent of Europe, explicitly excluding the European islands and peninsulae. ... For other uses, see number 300. ... For other uses, see number 900. ...

German historians in the 19th century used the term Völkerwanderung to describe the migrations of the Goths, Vandals, Franks and other Germanic tribes triggered by the incursions of the Huns. They saw these migrations as a contributing factor leading to the break-up of the Roman Empire, in which they attributed moral factors, contrasting vigorous and manly Germanic kultur with a decadent and slothful civilizazion. In a reaction, 20th-century English-language historiography widely supplanted Võlkerwanderung with "Migrations period", as in the series Studies in Historical Archaeoethnology or Gyula Laslo, The Art of the Migration Period. The "invasions" of Romantic-generation historians have given way, too: scholars today hold that a great deal of the migration did not represent hostile invasion, but rather tribes taking the opportunity to enter and settle lands already thinly populated and weakly held by a divided Roman state whose economy was shrinking. Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... Human migration denotes any movement of groups of people from one locality to another, rather than of individual wanderers. ... The Goths were an East Germanic tribe which according to their own traditions originated in Scandinavia (specifically Götaland and Gotland). ... The Vandals were an East Germanic tribe that entered the late Roman Empire, and created a state in North Africa, centered on the city of Carthage. ... The Franks were one of several west Germanic tribes who entered the late Roman Empire from Frisia as foederati and established a lasting realm in an area that covers most of modern-day France and the region of Franconia in Germany, forming the historic kernel of both these two modern... The term Germanic tribes applies to the ancient Germanic peoples of Europe. ... Many historians consider the Huns (meaning person in Mongolian language) the first Mongolian and Turkic people mentioned in European history. ... The Roman Empire is the term conventionally used to describe the Roman polity in the centuries following its reorganization under the leadership of Caesar Augustus. ...

The expansion of Germanic tribes into France, England, Northern Italy and elsewhere, in the moral reading given it by historians after the mid-18th century, indicating the energy and dynamism of those so-called "barbarian" peoples, became associated with 19th century German Romantic nationalism and the Eastern expansion of Germany (Drang nach Osten, the urge to move East), and later contributed to the Nazi folk ideology of Lebensraum, or "living space", the theory that the Germans had a mission to expand their population beyond the national borders of Germany. Royal motto: Dieu et mon droit (French: God and my right) Englands location within the UK Official language English de facto Capital London de facto Largest city London Area - Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population - Total (2001) - Density Ranked 1st UK 49,138,831 377/km² Religion... Barbarian was originally a Greek term applied to any foreigner, one not sharing a recognized culture or degree of polish with the speaker or writer employing the term. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... Liberty leading the people, embodying the Romantic view of the French Revolution of 1830; its painter Eugène Delacroix also served as an elected deputy Romantic nationalism (also organic nationalism, identity nationalism) is the form of nationalism in which the state derives its political legitimacy as an organic consequence of a... Drang nach Osten (Striving towards the East) is a term used in Germanys history that means the expansion of Germany, German states and German settlement, that led to the conquest of former Slavic and Baltic areas by Germany commencing during the Middle Ages until the end of World War... The Nazi party used a right-facing swastika as their symbol and the red and black colors were said to represent Blut und Boden (blood and soil). ... Lebensraum (from the German for living space) is an idea that was used to justify the expansionist politics of Nazi Germany. ...

Modern historians divide the migration movement into two phases. The first phase, between AD300 and 500, largely seen from the Mediterranean perspective, saw the movement of Germanic and other tribes and resulted in putting Germanic peoples in control of most areas of the former Western Roman Empire. (See also: Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Burgundians, Langobards, Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Suebi, Alamanni). For other uses, see number 300. ... For other uses, see number 500. ... This article deals with the continental Ostrogoths. ... The Visigoths, originally Tervingi, or Vesi (the noble ones), one of the two main branches of the Goths (of which the Ostrogothi were the other), were one of the loosely-termed Germanic peoples that disturbed the late Roman Empire. ... The Burgundians or Burgundes were an East Germanic tribe which may have emigrated from Scandinavia to the island of Bornholm, whose old form in Old Norse still was Burgundarholmr (the Island of the Burgundians), and from here to mainland Europe. ... The Lombards (Latin Langobardi, from which the alternative name Longobards found in older English texts), were a Germanic people originally from Scandinavia that entered the late Roman Empire. ... Angles (German: Angeln, Old English: Englas, Latin: singular Anguls, plural Anglii) were Germanic people, from Schleswig — an area which was wholly the southern part of Denmark and protected from German conquest by the Danevirke until the 19th century — to East Anglia in the 5th century. ... This article is about the Saxons, a Germanic people. ... The Jutes were a Germanic people who are believed to have originated in Jylland (Jutland) in modern Denmark and part of the Frisian coast. ... The Suebi or Suevi were a Germanic people whose origin was near the Baltic Sea . ... The Alamanni, Allemanni or Alemanni, are a Germanic tribe, first mentioned by Dio Cassius, under the year 213. ...

The second phase, between AD 500 and 900, saw Slavic, Turkish and other tribes on the move, re-settling in Eastern Europe and gradually making it predominantly Slavic, and affecting Anatolia and the Caucasus as the first Turkic peoples arrived. See also: Avars, Huns, Arabs, Varangians. The last phase of the migrations saw the coming of the Magyars to Pannonia and the expansion of the Vikings out of Scandinavia, For other uses, see number 500. ... For other uses, see number 900. ... The Slavic peoples are the most numerous ethnic and linguistic body of peoples in Europe. ... Anatolia ( Greek: ανατολή anatolē or anatolí, rising of the sun or East; compare Orient and Levant, by popular etymology Turkish Anadolu to ana mother and dolu filled), also called by the Latin name of Asia Minor, is a region of Southwest Asia which corresponds today to the Asian portion of... The Caucasus is a region in Eastern Europe between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea which includes the Caucasus mountains and surrounding lowlands. ... This is the disambiguation page for the terms Turk, Turkey, Turkic, and Turkish. ... The Eurasian Avars were a nomadic people of Eurasia who established a state in the Danube River area of Europe in the early 6th century. ... Many historians consider the Huns (meaning person in Mongolian language) the first Mongolian and Turkic people mentioned in European history. ... For other uses, see Arab (disambiguation). ... The Varangians or Variags were Scandinavians who travelled eastwards, mainly from Sweden. ... Magyars are an ethnic group primarily associated with Hungary. ... Position of the Roman province of Pannonia Pannonia is an ancient country bounded north and east by the Danube, conterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia. ... The name Viking is a loan from the native Scandinavian term for the Norse seafaring warriors who raided the coasts of Scandinavia, Europe and the British Isles from the late 8th century to the 11th century, the period of European history referred to as the Viking Age. ...

Other migrations that happened later in the history of Europe generally did not give rise to new states (except for Turkey, for example) and comprised mainly temporary invasions.

For a discussion of prehistoric migrations, see Human migration. Human migration denotes any movement of groups of people from one locality to another, rather than of individual wanderers. ...

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