Magna Germania: United Germans, Dutch, and Goths

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Mr. BoJangles

Mr. BoJangles

Magna Germania: A course on the history of Europe and the Germanic Peoples

POD: 1000 BCE

~~~~~PREFACE~~~~~

During the reign of Alexander the Great, Germanic Europe was going through some major changes. In the ancient region of Magna Germania, the Proto-Germanic languages had shown divergence into three distinct groups: Peninsular, Insular, and Continental.

This is the story of the German peoples, those of the Continental Germanic language family, and of Magna Germania.

~~~~~Chapter One~~~~~
~~~Of Goths and Men~~~

King Berik, legendary king of the Goths was one of the first Germanic Kings to talk of a united German Nation. The site of his grave was reported to have the inscription "Of Goths, For Alemanns" in Gothic runes. It was originally believed that this spoke of an alliance between the Goths and the Alemanni. However, geographic separation between the Goths and Alemanni proves this as highly unlikely. Common thought now persists that Berik was instead referring to all Germans with a phrase that described, "All Men."

However, the life of Berik was an interesting one. Though little is known of his early life, it is known that he was already the leader of the Goths by the age of 21. It was at that time that he had lead his tribe from Ancient Scandinavia to a region he called Gothiscandza. The language of his tribe was vastly different from the rest of the Continental Germanic Languages and was originally thought to have been related to Peninsular Germanic. However, it is now known that Gothic is likely to have been the original variation that would lead to the divergence of Continental Germanic. They settled the lands at the mouth of the Vistol river and soon settled further inland, displacing the Rugian tribes and eventually defeating the Vandals and driving them into the mountains.

Berik had allegedly travelled the length of the Vistol and wandered the wilderness for weeks until he arrived at a Greek settlement on the mouth of the Black Sea. It was there that he had taken the title of "King of the Goths." When he returned at the end of the year, he turned about organizing his people from a loose tribal confederation into a powerful kingdom.

Generations later, the Gothic populations had multiplied exponentially and expanded their lands up the Vistol. A descendent of Berik, King Filimer sought to move his people from their old lands to a new land he called Oium. However, his cousin Adulvos argued that it would not benefit their people to leave their homes for a new land. Filimer remained set to lead his people to Oium, leaving Adulvos and a small population of Goths on the banks of the Vistol. This would be the first and most pivotal split between the Gothic people.

Upon arriving in Oium, King Filimer and the Gothic people defeated several Sarmatian tribes, and founded a new kingdom on the banks of the Dniester and Dnieper rivers, along the coast of the Black Sea. Though both Adulvos and Filimer referred to their realms as the "Gothic Kingdom," the two leaders ruled their lands very differently.

Under Adulvos, the more traditional Goths continued to use Runic script and expanded their kingdom through trade and eventually established one of the oldest and single longest lasting nations in Europe. Though Adulvos focused primarily on internal growth and economic strength, he was still a strong leader and fierce fighter.

In Oium, Filimer's Goths had continued the tradition of conquest and defeated many more native tribes and grew to become a feared people. It wasn't until the appearance of the Huns that Oium had faced a rival strong enough to defeat it in conflict. The expansion of Oium and the Gothic lands as a whole would lead to one of the greatest wars in the history of Ancient Europe.
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Mr. BoJangles

Mr. BoJangles

~~~~~Chapter Two~~~~~
~~~The Rise of the Huns~~~

It was around the year 400 CE that we see the largest change to have occurred in European History, to this point. Granted, the invasion of Xerxes and the Persians into Greece was a pivotal event in the history of the world. But the arrival of the Huns in the modern Ukraine had many far reaching effects for the modern world.

Before we really go into discussing how the Huns changed the world, we must first understand what they changed. The world at the time was dominated by the Romans. Diagram A below shows the approximate known boundaries of the Roman Empire.

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Please note that there are some erroneous marks thanks to my 5 year old daughter, Rachel.

If you look closely at the Diagram, you can see the extent of the Roman Empire as a whole, as well as the Continental Germanic Tribes, the Dacian Kingdom, and the Sarmatian Iazyges peoples. This is what we know of the world from Roman Accounts roughly ten years before the appearance of the Huns.

Remember from history that Julius Caeser was able to secure the Moselle-Meuse border from the Suebic incursions during the Suebi War only after the Battle of Bibracte and subduing the Helvetii. It was only a decade later that Rome lost Helvetica to the Alemanni, but they were able to retain the border as whole and crush the Belgae.

So at the time of the arrival of the Huns, the Roman Empire was expansive. However, there was inner turmoil that, when coupled with the Hunnic Invasions, would prove fatal to the Romans. Meanwhile, we turn back to the Goths in Oium.

Tradition holds that Heidrek established first contact with the Huns by kidnapping the Hunnic Princess, Sifka. Whether this is true or not is uncertain. However, the events that unfold after the kidnapping include Sifka becoming pregnant, and being returned to the Huns, where she begets Heidrek's first, though illegitimate, son; Hlod. Years later, Heidrek dies and his son, Angantyr succeeds him. Upon hearing this Hlod returns to claim his birth-right. After a quarrel, Hlod leaves the Gothic homeland to return later with a horde of Huns. Though the Goths win the battle, they eventually lose the war. Both Hlod and Angantyr are slain, and the Goths become subjugated to the Huns. Now with a thirst for the campaign, the Huns, lead by Balamber, lead an army consisting of the Ostrogoths and Visigoths, along with the Alans, against the Romans.

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Referring to Diagram B above, we can see the expanse of the Empire that the Huns had built. We know there was little mixing between the Huns and the people they conquered. Yet many of the Germanic Peoples in the region fought hard against Hunnic Rule.

The most important of these was the Burgundians. Having settled on the western edge of the Dniester, the Burgundians were one of the first to come into contact with the Huns. However, at a fierce battle in Ruthenia, the Burgundians inflicted so many casualties against the Huns that the Old Goths on the Vistol were able to defeat them at the Battle of the White River. This in turn limited the northern expansion of the Huns to the Carpathian ranges.

Under the famous King Attila, the Huns advanced into Italy and the Balkans. His death and the subsequent break-up of the Hunnic Empire cam shortly there after and nearly all accounts of the Huns disappear from history until the middle ages.

Today, the descendents of the Huns live in the Banat Region of the Balkans. Recent genetic evidence from the Huns shows that they are genetically related to the Mongolian people, and their language shows distinct similarities that links the Mongolian, Chinese, and Korean language families. However, the similarities between them are so ancient that contemporary classification does not apply, leaving Hunnic as a separate language isolate.

Meanwhile, the Huns very likely spurred the Great Migration. The subjugated Ostrogoths and Visigoths continued moving to the West. While the defeated Burgundian peoples established their own kingdom in Eastern Gaul. The Vandals, whom had been living in the Carpathians, prospered and formed their own kingdom in Bohemia. The Heruli, a German tribe that had willingly joined the Huns, settled in Dalmatia, before spreading into Ancient Carthage and founded their own kingdom on the ruins of Carthage itself. The Old Goths fortified their own kingdom, and when the Balts and Slavs began to settle on the fringes of their territory, they soon conquered and defeated the Proto-Slavs. Lastly, the Franks expanded westward, forcing the Alemanni into the Alps, and the Suebi deep into Gaul.
​
 
Mr. BoJangles

Mr. BoJangles

~~~~~Chapter Three~~~~~
​
~~~The End of Rome~~~


We were all taught of the collapse of Rome in school as children. Contemporary belief leads us to believe that the German peoples invaded Rome, destroying much of the culture, and plunging Europe into what we collectively refer to as the Dark Ages.

This interpretation however is not accurate. Archeological evidence tells a vastly different story from the one told by the accounts written by the Romans. First and foremost, the Last Roman Emperor was disposed not by a German, but by a Celt. Odoacer had been a Celtic Warrior for the Huns and an Ambassador in the court of Attila. After the collapse of the Hunnic Empire, Odoacer was free to unite the Celts under the subjugation of the Huns and lead them into Rome. Having already been weakened by political turmoil, the Hunnic Wars, Military upheaval, and other such national crises, Odoacer marched into Rome and crowned himself King of Italy. The Ostrogoths that had begun to settle in the region quickly rallied to fight off the Celts while the women went to the libraries to save what they could of their civilization.

The ensuing Battle for Rome was short and decisive. The Celts, who vastly outnumbered the under-armed Ostrogoths, swept their force aside and pillaged Rome. Being brought up on stories of how the Romans destroyed the lives of his people, Odoacer sought vengeance against Rome itself. Once King of Italy, he set forth to completely dismantle everything Roman. The whole of the Italian Peninsula was razed to the ground. It wasn’t until the Herulians entered Italy that Odoacer’s Razing ended. The Herulians, who at the time were mistaken for Vandals, established a short-lived kingdom in Italy before being disposed by the Amali Dynasty of the Ostrogothic Kingdom. For the Heruli, this is where there story essentially ends. Their kingdom relocated to the ruins of Carthage before being lost to the Byzantine Empire. A smaller population of Heruli remained in Dalmatia where they developed a distinct culture and adopted the Jewish Faith.

While still on the topic of the Italian Peninsula, the final blow to Odoacer’s Kingdom of Italy came when Theodoric the Great of the Ostrogoths lead his army across the Po and into Rome. With an army of 1,300 Theodoric managed to defeat the Celts of Odoacer in thirteen distinct and strategically important battles before arriving at Rome itself. Here, Theodoric and Odoacer met in Rome. The Ostrogoth Helsing wrote likely the most famous account of what would happen next:

“Both men approached one another in the streets of Rome, each trailed by a loyal army ready to die at his command so that one might rule over those who survived. The use of Latin within the City was tradition and both Kings, as luck would have it, met not [one meter] at the head of the Ancient Colosseum. The two Kings agreed that no more blood should be shed on their behalf, and that they alone would decide who was the rightful king of Rome. The two men made camp for the night. In the morning, after the chill had dispersed from the air, the two men entered the arena alone. It was chilling, staring into the face of your enemy while your King dueled for his life. It was in the heat of the day that we heard the agonizing cry of a man being slain. The clash of iron ceased. It was as though the world itself held still for the victor to emerge. When finally he appeared, Theodoric stood triumphantly. [He] turned to the Celts, and offered them two pieces of Roman Gold. This was his way of saying that he would honor their traditions and allow for the honorable burial of their fallen leader. No longer King.”

Theodoric lead his army into Rome where he was promptly crowned as King. The Ostrogothic Kingdom sought to restore the strength and prestige of Rome within its bounds. However, such a task proved to be far more difficult than imagined thanks to the total devastation brought by Odoacer’s Raze. The Kingdom of the Ostrogoths fell itself to the Lombards in 568.

Northern Gaul remained loyal to the Empire until the reign of Odoacer. With the exception of Modern Brittany, Gaul fell to Suebi, then to the Visigoths, before finally being claimed by the Franks. At this era in time, The Suebi migrated into Hispania, where they established a kingdom in Portuguese Galicia. It was here that the Suebi adopted Latin and virtually ceased to be Germanic. Though their influence can still be seen in Portuguese, it has itself become Latinized and ceased to exist after approximately 600.

The Visigoths retained a powerful kingdom in Western Europe for years after the collapse of Rome itself. However, the arrival of the Franks in Gaul pushed their realm south of the Pyrenees and into Hispania. Under the house of Balthi, the Visigoths remained in power in Hispania, and willingly ceded Septimania in exchange for an Alliance between the two realms. The peace would not last however as Lusitania, Galicia, and soon the whole Visigothic Kingdom itself began to fall victim to the Arab invasions. With the Muslim Conquest of Hispania beginning in 711, the Balthi dynasty was betrayed by several within their courts and soon no members of the nobility remained. By 725, The Visigothic Kingdom was limited to a single principality under the protection of the Franks in the Pyrenees. The Basques and Asturians were the only people to resist the Muslims and soon began what would in turn be called the Reconquista.

The Franks themselves moved in from the region of present day Aachen and soon spread into the void left behind by the other migrating Germanic Tribes. Upon defeating the Suebi, the Franks moved into Northern Gaul. Further conflict with the Visigoths eventually pushed them south across the Pyrenees. Though never willing to conquer the Celtic Britons, they then turned to the east. Expanding into the German Heartland, the Alps, and even into Italy, the Franks were soon the most powerful Catholic kingdom in Europe. After Defeating the Lombards, Charlemagne was crowned the first Emperor of Rome. This title, though in actuality only symbolic, would serve him well and set the tone for the future.

It was roughly 800 CE and the Germanic peoples had grown. Though both the Ostrogoths and Visigoths had been wiped out, the Kingdom of the Goths continued to deal with the eastern invasions from the Slavs and Balts. It wasn’t until the Byzantine Empire allowed Slavic settlement within their empire that the nearly constant conflict was reduced to the occasional skirmish. It was around 850 that the Goths adopted the Greek Alphabet to help facilitate trade between Constantinople and the Gothic Capital, Varschau. Groups of Slavs moved into the Carpathians, forcing the Vandals to consolidate their kingdom just into Bohemia. Meanwhile, the Saxons and Prussians had spread throughout the German plains. The Saxons would eventually be subjugated to the Franks, while the Prussians remained as a tributary state. The Alemanni formed a weak tribal confederation in the Alps, and remained the only Germanic peoples within Western Europe to never have been conquered by the Franks. The Swabians, Bavarians, and Lombards all contested territories in Southern Magna Germania until they were all subsequently conquered by the Franks.

Following the death of Charlemagne and his only son, Louis, the Kingdom of the Franks was divided. In Middle Francia, the Burgundians and Lombards quickly rebelled against their new king and formed two separate kingdoms. East Francia soon became the Kingdom of Germany and quickly absorbed the rebellious northern territories of Middle Francia. It was here that Ludwig “the German” entered Rome and was subsequently crowned Emperor of Rome, King of the Germans.

This marked the end of Rome as the major political entity in Europe. The Kingdom of Germany, West Francia, Muslim Hispania, the Kingdom of the Goths, and the Byzantine Empire collectively existed as the successors to what Rome used to be. ​
 
Mr. BoJangles

Mr. BoJangles

Ledalek said:
whats the etymology of this name?
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During the period just prior to the fall of Rome, the king of the Goths, Varscha had turned the surrounding area into what could be considered a Capital. As that was where he governed from when not on the front dealing with the Slavs. Other than that, Varscha was not a note worthy king and wasn't mentioned more than in historical texts as the man who founded the capital.
 
Mr. BoJangles

Mr. BoJangles

~~~~~Chapter Four~~~~~​

~~~A Discussion on Language and Religion~~~​

At this point I would like to talk about Language in Europe. As it is at this period of time in which we see that much has changed.​

First and foremost, I will speak about common language as a whole. In the old Roman World, Latin was encouraged. Policy was that those who knew Latin could serve on Roman Councils. Not surprisingly, Latin became a very popular language, but was the first language of only a few. And after the Split of the Empire and the collapse of Western Rome, the Byzantines instead adopted Greek. Latin remained the predominant language of the Roman successor states, particularly amongst the elite.​

In Gaul however, language developed differently. Frankish dialects of German essentially disappeared in West Francia. Some Celtic words and phrases, in addition to some Frankish, were adopted into the common Latin, and would eventually evolve into what we know today as French. Outside of Brittany, this became the language of the region and would play a prominent role in the future.​

Brittany, along with most of the British Isles continued to speak Celtic Languages. Of which, Breton, Welsh, Gaelic and Irish are the largest modern Celtic languages that survived. In Londinium, the native Insular Germanic Root took on some Saxon variations. This brought us to the language that we call Primitive Anglic.​

The history of Hispania, as mentioned before, was wrought with challenges. Al-Andalus allowed the use of common language, but exchanges in commerce and official government business was conducted with Arabic. Latin and Vulgar Latin remained popular common language. However, in the Free Northern Christian Kingdoms, Latin evolved rather quickly into new language. Outside of Navarre, where Basque remained prevalent, we begin to see the emergence of the Spanish and Portuguese root dialects.​

This brings us to the final region of the fallen Rome, Italia. Here, Latin was so common that it was able to survive the purges of Odoacer. Though minor changes always come about, Modern Italian dialects evolved from this. Outside of the region of Langobardia, the entire Italian peninsula knows some level of Italian.​

This covers most of Europe. As described, the languages of the successor states of the Roman Empire evolved from Latin. The Byzantine Empire converted to Greek and used it predominantly throughout their empire, where it was widely accepted. Two exceptions to this are in Byzantine Dacia, and Byzantine Banat. Dacia, and the Dacian Language, picked up heavy latin influence, and later Slavic influence, to become the Romanian of today.​

Though there are a great many variations of the Latin Languages, they have all been, as far as common knowledge suggests, been secondary languages. ​

Leaving the Latin world, we head north into the realm of the Germanic Peoples. Magna Germania by this time was clearly split into two very distinct Language groups. Here, Continental Germanic had evolved into East and West Continental Germanic. West Germanic at this time began to diverge into two language families. As mentioned previously, the region of Langobardia did not adopt Latin. Instead, they adopted the West Germanic root that the Lombards brought with them. This language, along with some words picked up from the Ostrogoths that had settled here previously, adopted more Latin but retained their Germanic roots and heritage. The Lombardic Language became the first to diverge into the South Germanic language family. Alemannic soon followed, thanks to influence from the French. ​

The remainder of West Germanic adopted the Latin alphabet, but otherwise remained roughly unchanged. The reasoning for this will be brought up when we begin the discussion on religion. The Saxons, of West German Origin, became so widespread and populous that they soon sought refuge across the North Sea. It was during this period of Saxon Migration that West Continental Germanic painted Primitive Anglic with its influence. ​

East Continental Germanic at this point was the most widespread geographically. Herulian dialects continued to exist in Dalmatia, Burgundian was prominent in the Lowlands as well as within its own constituent kingdom, Vandalic continued to thrive within its Carpathian homeland, Ostrogothic and Visigothic were still spoken in small communities throughout the Roman Successor states and the Byzantine Empire, Old Gothic was the largest single Germanic Language at the time. ​

It should be noted that there are two discrepancies within East Continental Germanic. The first of which is that Herulian is argued to have been a West Germanic Language. In Herulia, it was supplemented by Ostrogothic and eventually replaced by Lombardic, with no written texts outside of some common names left to differentiate it as an independent language. The second is that of Burgundian. It is the only surviving East Continental Germanic language that adopted the Latin alphabet. In contrast to this, Vandalic, Old Gothic, and modern Gothic all use the Greek Alphabet.​

Insular Germanic had developed very differently, Primitive Anglic, as mentioned previously, adopted a great many changes from both Latin and the Celts. It would later develop a great deal more variations as the result of the history of the region. Primitive Frisian however, essentially refuted all changes within its language. It developed as a single language with minor regional differences while continuing to remain almost completely intelligible between each dialect.​

Turning North to Peninsular Germanic, which has been mostly ignored up until now due to little surviving archeological findings or written historical accounts, we see the first signs of writing and language differences. At this point we can discern that Proto-Norse had diversified into three distinct groups: Western, Middle, and Eastern. Western Nordic eventually evolved into the modern Norwegian, Icelandic, and Greenlandic dialects. Middle Nordic evolved into Swedish, Danish, and Elfdalian; the last of which is the only language to continue to use Runic Script. Eastern Nordic consists of Gutnish and Bothnian. The uniqueness of these languges is in their development after their distinction. Gutnish, was heavily influenced by Danish and is classically regarded as a Danish Dialect. Bothnian was the only language to not be influenced by another Germanic or Latin group, and was instead influenced by early Finnish.​

In the East, the Uralic Languages began to spread with the population shifts of their people. However, only two would attain prominence: the Finnic group in Scandinavia and the migratory Magyar people with their language, who would eventually settle in Pannonia. Also in the east we see the Balto-Slavs. It is at this point that we see the massive migration of these peoples, as well as the modern distinction of them into the Baltic and Slavic peoples. The Balts remained concentrated in the Baltic region. While the Slavs spread rapidly to the east and south. The spread of the Slavs to the West however was in near constant conflict with the Goths. The Gothic populations unwilling to accept them in such great numbers, due to their knowledge of the history of Rome, coupled with the Slavs constant growth and migratory pressures would bring this conflict to a head at a later date, which I will discuss at the time.​

With language being sufficiently covered, we will now begin to discuss Religion in Europe. In the last two centuries of the Roman Empire’s existence, Christianity spread and became the religion of the empire. Early Christian sects were many and widespread. Many of which gained a level of prominence at some point in time. As a whole, the Christian faith remained homogenous. Yet in the years after the Collapse of Rome, many conflicts surfaced within the church. Yet theological, canonical, jurisdictional and governance differences and friction between the Constantinople and Rome lead to the eventual schism of the Christian faith between the Catholic Church, and the Orthodox Church. Further conflict between the Orthodox Constantinople and the Catholic Rome was brought on by the invasions of the Arabs.​

Christianity remained the main driving force in Europe throughout the Middle Ages. However, it was as the result of Odoacer that there was a massive shift in one religious group. Roman Jews living in Italia migrated en masse out of Odoacer’s Kingdom and settled in Vandalia. By the time of the Great Schism, the Vandals had become predominantly Jewish. Another group of Jews, the Ashkenazi, had migrated further north into the areas settled by the Saxons. These two groups had a large impact on the German community as a whole, particularly in hygiene. ​

As discussed earlier, the Muslim invasions of Hispania were the first to bring Islam to Europe, though they would not be last. For those reasons, and the period of our current discussion, I will leave this as a relatively minor footnote until appropriate to bring it back.​

In Scandinavia, Pannonia, Eastern Europe, and the Celtic states, Paganism remained the predominant religious practice until various Christian missionaries began to successfully convert their people. The exceptions to this are in the Banat Region and the Crimea. The religious practices of the Huns who settled the area strongly resemble those of the Confucians in the Orient. This goes to further strengthen the genetic and historical ties between the Huns and the Xiongnu. In the Crimea, Sarmatian peoples had settled and developed a relatively isolate community. Their language and religion both reflect their relation to the Persians. Linguistically, they utilize the only attested and surviving member of the Sarmatian language family. Religiously, they are the single largest group of practicing members of Zoroastrianism outside of Persia.​

A note about the Sarmatian languages: the group contains three families; Scythian, Sarmatian, Alanic. Of which, Alanic has become modern Ossetian while Scythian had disappeared from all historical accounts by the Fall of Rome.​

That is all for the Week.​
 
Mr. BoJangles

Mr. BoJangles

~~~~~Chapter Five~~~~~
~~~From the East~~~​

It had been nearly three hundred years since the fall of the Visigothic Kingdom, and two hundred since the Goths had repelled the Slavic invasions. Yet a far greater threat was galloping it way across the steppes of Central Europe. Yet before we can discuss the “Scourge of the East,” we need to understand what happened in the years before.​

The Magyar people had been living on the fringes of European society since the Slavs settled in the Balkans and Eastern Europe. However, it was as the result of a new enemy that they were suddenly forced into the European world and became a powerful nation. Before their old enemy was known to the rest of Europe, the Magyar were forced into the Transylvanian Plateau. Unsuitable for their way of life, they soon settled on the eastern outskirts of the Great Pannonian Plain. It was for nearly twenty years since their eviction from Oium and their subsequent settlement in Pannonia that the Avarians had discovered them within their realm. Their attempts to subjugate the Magyar failed. Though it is uncertain when conflict began, it is known for certain that the Avarians were disgraced in repeated battle and replaced by the Magyar. The Magyar Kingdom of Pannonia established a capital on the Danube river, evicted the Avarians to the “Eastern Plains,” and subjugated the Huns in Banat. Unlike the Avarians, who maintained their original religious traditions and practices, the Magyar adopted Catholicism and allowed for the Gnostic Huns to practice freely. Know however that they were not safe from persecution or prejudice, in the same manner as the Jewish Vandals. The period of warring by the Magyar seems to have ended around 955 when their raids of Gothic, Vandalic, and Byzantine settlements were instead replaced with diplomacy and trade. Though Taksony was known for establishing official relations with his neighbors, it was St. Stephen who had established the Magyar Kingdom of Pannonia around 1000 AD, ruling directly over the Avarians and Huns.​

It was also around this time when the Viking raids began to intensify. Having been established as tradition for centuries, it was not until this time when the population of the Nordics exploded in such a way that their raids went from pillaging to settling. And with their experience at sea, they spread themselves to regions not yet known. In time, Hotland and Iceland became heavily populated with Viking raiders. Though it is debated that Vinland and Greenland were more than mere myth and established colonies, there is little evidence that these colonies existed at all.​

Relative peace followed in the years following the establishment of the Kingdom of Pannonia. However, this peace would not last forever as the old enemies of the Magyar would soon make themselves known once again. In 1137, the Scythian King Osetan, along with his Sarmatian and Bolgur (pronounced bol-Gar) suzerains entered into a state of war with the Magyar and the Goths. This war would mark the first time in recorded history that Goths, or any Continental Germanics would come to the aid of their old enemies. This case in particular marked the end of the Slavic Resistance, though some context is needed. When the Scythians launched their attack against the Dacians, they had also forced the Slavs into what is recorded as one of the harshest forms of slavery known prior to the Modern Age. Many Slavs, whom would later become Ukrainians, were forcibly immigrated into their society. Others, such as the predecessors to the Poles, were expelled. One of those who had been expelled pleaded with the Gothic King Adolf to come to their aid and free their people. Adolf originally refused this request, but soon heard of the incursions against the Dacians and the subsequent mobilization of the armed forces of the Magyar prompted him to send an emissary to the Pannonian King Bela II and offered an alliance to defeat the Scythians. Bela II died in battle in 1141 and Adolf took command of his Armies, guiding them to victories on the Danube Delta, Budjak Steppes, and a final crushing blow on the Dniester. The defeat of Osetan broke the Scythian Confederation, allowing for Geza II of Pannonia and Adolf of Gothonica to expand. Adolf annexed the Lithuanian lowlands while Geza continued his expeditions east, eventually incorporating Wallachia and Moldovia directly into his kingdom, and establishing a suzerain state in the Bolgur Crimea.​

The dissolution of the Scythian Confederation allowed for the Slavs in Sarmatia to revolt and force the Sarmatians into the Caucusus. The establishment of the Principality of the Kievian Rus under Oleg the Fierce became the crowning point of Geza’s rule. Unfortunately, his rule did not last long enough to solidify a long lasting alliance between Oleg and Adolf, and soon both sides began clashing on their borders.​

In 1255, a new threat appeared on the eastern horizon. While Europe was quarreling with itself, the Mongols rode hard to the west and conquered all in their path. Originating as a confederation of nomadic tribes, their unique methodology in warfare allowed them to take much of Asia by surprise. Sweeping west, the conquered the Persians by 1250 and were moving into Europe. Drawn by the wealth of European cities, the Mongols soon found they were inadequately prepared to take the fortifications of Europe. Yet their adaptability and ingenuity allowed them the ability to quickly wreak havoc on the fortified cities of Europe. Mongol Invasions defeated the Kievian Rus and conquered much of Eastern Europe, reaching the Baltics through Livonia. Their territorial expansion stopped at the hills of the Eastern and Southern Carpathians. Unable to cross into Pannonia, the Mongols instead turned south to the Balkans. Here they defeated Serbian, Bulgarian, and Byzantine forces time and time again until they finally reached the shores of the Adriatic. Their victories were not long lives however. The Kingdom of Pannonia, led by Bela IV defeated the Mongols in Slavonia and began to push back. With assistance from the Teutonic Knights in the Baltics, and the Goths in Sarmatia, the Mongols were finally defeated in the Balkans by 1300. Though they continued to hold influence in Sarmatia, they were never again as much of a threat as they were during the rise of Pannonia.​

This would not be the end however. Thirty years after their defeats in the Balkans and Baltics, the Mongols again attempted to take Europe. Laying siege to Kaffa, then controlled by traders from Marseille, the Mongols began to hurl the bodies of their dead into the city. Their plan was to defeat the defenders through infection. Eventually, the Mongols lifted the siege and soon disappeared from Europe all together. But their final act of conflict against Europeans would do far more damage than they ever had through war. Weakened from years of harsh winters, famine, and malnutrition, Plague began to spread through Europe at an alarming pace. Pannonia, Italy, France, Spain, England. It proved that no one was immune to the Black Death as it swept through Europe. In ten years, the population of the continent dropped as much as sixty percent. Estimates of 70 to 300 million people were killed directly from the disease. Those numbers were lower in “Germania” however. Customs adopted from the Jewish community in Bohemia centuries before spread throughout the rest of the Continental Germanic population. Here, it is estimated that between 30 and 45 percent of these populations succumbed to the Plague, much lower than the rest of Europe. The only Continental Germanic population that befell the same fate as the rest of Europe was the Burgundians, with estimates of their population loss as high as 80% in some estimates. It took nearly two centuries for Europe to completely recover.​

However, the damage had already been done. Particularly in the Byzantine Empire, the Black Death left the Byzantine Greeks weak. This weakness left them vulnerable to conquest from the Ottoman Turks. Byzantine influence vanished with the Fall of Constantinople in 1453. It was in the decades before this however when the European Renaissance Revival took hold and lead to rapid growth throughout the rest of Europe. And though most of Europe began to prosper during this period, it was not the end of conflict with the east. The Ottoman Turks fought consistently with the Magyar until 1526 when most of the kingdom was taken by the Turks. Only the western third of the Kingdom Proper remained out of Ottoman control, instead electing Ferdinand, archduke of Austria as King of Pannonia. Though this effectively ended Magyar control of their kingdom, it also ensured that the Magyar were protected from the advancing Turks. As Ferdinand was Holy Roman Emperor, he could in turn crush any incursions by the Turks, allowing for the growth of the Hapsburg Monarchy and paved the way for Austria to become one of the most important political entities in modern history.​
 
Mr. BoJangles

Mr. BoJangles

Pischinovski said:
Charlemagne, the Teutonic Order, the Ottomans? All with a POD so far back?
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Not exactly. The Teutonic Order is similar in name only. The Ottomans aren't affected by the POD until contact is made with Germans. And Charlemagne is simply the product of convergent evolution. ;) An entirely different man who so happens to have the same ancestry (though that ancestry in itself is entirely different), and name (with different pronunciation; kar-li-mang).
 

Pischinovski

Mr. BoJangles said:
Not exactly. The Teutonic Order is similar in name only. The Ottomans aren't affected by the POD until contact is made with Germans. And Charlemagne is simply the product of convergent evolution. ;) An entirely different man who so happens to have the same ancestry (though that ancestry in itself is entirely different), and name (with different pronunciation; kar-li-mang).
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The Teutonic Order is acceptable (I always enjoy one or two references to OTL in a ATL).
The Ottomans like everything else in the world will have be influenced by your POD by this point, that is the butterfly effect.
Charlemagne was not his real name but comes instead from Carolus Magnus (Charles/Karl the Great). There could of course in every TL be a Frankish king or emperor named Karl/Charles but millions of butterflies have to die so he has the same ancestry with a POD before the migration period.
 
Mr. BoJangles

Mr. BoJangles

Pischinovski said:
The Teutonic Order is acceptable (I always enjoy one or two references to OTL in a ATL).
The Ottomans like everything else in the world will have be influenced by your POD by this point, that is the butterfly effect.
Charlemagne was not his real name but comes instead from Carolus Magnus (Charles/Karl the Great). There could of course in every TL be a Frankish king or emperor named Karl/Charles but millions of butterflies have to die so he has the same ancestry with a POD before the migration period.
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The Ottomans have been influenced. There is more to their story than I was able to put into that update.

As for Karlemang, he's Frankish, but these Franks aren't the same Franks from OTL. It's just a product of convergence. These "Franks" are Franks because it suits the story. Their language is not the same, nor is their national/tribal history. It's the same way that there are three distinct groups of Goths. They have some similarities, but a vast level of differences. It just so happens that those differences have not been explored yet as it isn't the time.
 
GenghisKhanfan

GenghisKhanfan

Sure hope you'll update the maps as you forge this ATL. It makes it even more interesting.

Yea, I the type that likes to see an image with a narrative. It does help better show the changes in the narrative.
 

SvoHljott

The Ottomans were only a threat to the Byzantines by chance, it could have been any other Turkic tribe. Heck, with a POD this far back, it's likely that the butterfly effect would ripple across to them. The conversion of Turks to Islam wasn't until the 8th/9th century, so it'd definitely affect them.

I have to say I think for the sake of argument, it'd be better to use a different, perhaps obscure Turkic tribe, or, for fun, make one up.
 
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