AHC: Ostrogoth Austria

During almost half of 6th century, most of present-day Austrian territory were part of the Ostrogothic Kingdom, which mostly concentrated in the Italian peninsula after its conquest in the year 493.

If a large number of Ostrogoth clans/tribes decided to settle in most, if not all, of present-day Austria, how it would affect its destiny and place on world history, specifically its relationship with its neighbors?

(This challenge was first asked as a "plausibility check" in Bacchanalia Facebook group).

*I know I personally felt that this scenario would possibly scream of "ASB" or even implausible, but at least I tried.
 
During almost half of 6th century, most of present-day Austrian territory were part of the Ostrogothic Kingdom, which mostly concentrated in the Italian peninsula after its conquest in the year 493.

If a large number of Ostrogoth clans/tribes decided to settle in most, if not all, of present-day Austria, how it would affect its destiny and place on world history, specifically its relationship with its neighbors?

(This challenge was first asked as a "plausibility check" in Bacchanalia Facebook group).

*I know I personally felt that this scenario would possibly scream of "ASB" or even implausible, but at least I tried.

First of all, you need to avoid the Justinian reconquest, or limit it at Sicily and North Africa, and maybe Southern Italy up to Rome. It needs to be a swift conquest, so Italy wouldn't be devastated. This would shift/focus the power base of Ostrogoths on Northern Italy, probably around Veneto/Dalmatia.

Or even better: Byzzies conquer all of Italy and keep the Ostrogoths as vassals on Pannonia/Noricum against the Lombards.
 
The Ostrogoths that survived the Gothic Wars migrated back to Austria, but they assimilated into the local population after that. If you can have them elect a new king, they might be able to survive. The area was populated mainly by Bavarians until the Slavs came in the late 600s, so you already have a suitable base for a new Germanic kingdom.
 
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First of all, you need to avoid the Justinian reconquest, or limit it at Sicily and North Africa, and maybe Southern Italy up to Rome. It needs to be a swift conquest, so Italy wouldn't be devastated. This would shift/focus the power base of Ostrogoths on Northern Italy, probably around Veneto/Dalmatia.
Given that scenario, in which the possibility that (Eastern) Gothic language became the language of Austria, would it be affected by the High Germanic consonant shift?
 
Depends on how an Ostrogothic Kingdom holds out against Merowingian expansion. If the Franks later vassalise them, so that the Easternmost reaches of their Empire are ruled by Gothic dukes, then exchange with Bavarian and Alemannic groups will be intense, and ATL Gothic might likely undergo the Second Sound Shift.
If the Ostrogoths stay independent, perhaps subdue the Langobards instead and keep a part of Northern Italy and/or Dalmatia, then the "Austrian" Goths will have much more contact with the entire Adriatic region. In this scenario, there is no reason why their language would move in consonance with e.g. Alemannic.
Such a Gothic language would be much more likely to become Latinised to a greater degree and perhaps become non-mutually-intelligible with High German.
 
Depends on how an Ostrogothic Kingdom holds out against Merovingian expansion. If the Franks later vassalise them, so that the Easternmost reaches of their Empire are ruled by Gothic dukes, then exchange with Bavarian and Alemannic groups will be intense, and ATL Gothic might likely undergo the Second Sound Shift.
Nice analysis.

If the Ostrogoths stay independent, perhaps subdue the Langobards instead and keep a part of Northern Italy and/or Dalmatia, then the "Austrian" Goths will have much more contact with the entire Adriatic region. In this scenario, there is no reason why their language would move in consonance with e.g. Alemannic.
Such a Gothic language would be much more likely to become Latinised to a greater degree and perhaps become non-mutually-intelligible with High German.
So, in this case the Goths of Austria would be Latinized, but not Romanized (as in assimilated to a Romance-speaking population)?
 
Hm, yes, they might as well, or even more likely, become Romanised. Depends on the ratio between Germanic speakers and provincial Romans, and on contacts with the rest of the Latin world. Good point.
 
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