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Origin of the Germanic Tribes - BARBARIANS DOCUMENTARY
Kings and Generals
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May 11, 2026
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Transcript
0:06
Of all the so-called barbarians the
Romans did battle with over the centuries,
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none have made as lasting an impact on the
history of Europe as the Germanic peoples.
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They terrorized the Empire for centuries,
before conquering its Western half in 476AD,
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arguably ending the era of Antiquity, and
ushering in the middle ages. In this video,
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we will shine the spotlight on them, exploring
their culture and society, while telling the
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history of the earliest origins of the Ancient
Germanic peoples, the greatest enemy of Rome.
0:42
Shoutout to Netflix and its new historical TV
Series Barbarians for sponsoring this video.
0:48
Barbarians is a brand-new TV series set in the
Antiquity with a backdrop of the famous battle
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0:54
of Teutoburg forest in which the legions of the
Roman empire led by Publius Quinctilius Varus
1:00
are ambushed by the alliance of the Germanic
tribes led by the former Roman auxilia Arminius.
1:05
This dramatization of the events of 9 AD
is everything history fans were asking for,
1:10
for years, with awesome production quality,
attention to detail, historicity and great actors.
1:16
The characters speak Latin and German only, making
the show truly atmospheric. We have been clamoring
1:22
for historical movies and tv shows to return to
our screens and Netflix is giving us just that,
1:28
so we would be watching this great show even
without being sponsored. Streaming it is the best
1:32
way to show how much we as a historical community
care about seeing more historical dramas made.
1:38
So, stream it on Netflix if you are subscribed
or subscribe to stream it if you are not!
1:44
So, who were the ancient Germanic peoples?
In short, they were a collection of iron-age
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tribes that lived in the rugged forests west
and north of the Rhine and Danube rivers
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during mid to late antiquity, best known for
their long and complicated relationship with
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the Roman Empire, with whom they traded,
integrated with, and most importantly, made
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war on. Broadly speaking, they are ancestrally
related to many peoples in Europe today,
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including the Dutch, Swiss, Austrians, Flemish,
Swedes, Norwegians, Danes and of course,
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the modern Germans - all of whom are
speakers of modern Germanic dialects.
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In 98AD, the historian Tacitus completed a
book titled De Origine et situ Germanorum,
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more commonly known as Germania, a Roman
survey of the history and culture of their
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Germanic foes. This tome provides us with the
most valuable window into Germanic culture,
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and will be referred to throughout this video.
Let us begin with a quote: “Undivided Germany
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is separated from the Gauls, Rhaetians and
Pannonians by the rivers Rhine and Danube,
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from the Sarmatians and Dacians by mutual fear
of mountains, and the rest of it is surrounded
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by ocean. As for the Germans themselves, I should
suppose them to be native to the area … who would
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have left Asia or Africa or Italy to look for
Germany? With its wild scenery and harsh climate,
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it is pleasant neither to live in nor
look upon unless it be ones' home.”
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As condescending as his account is, Tacitus
was not entirely incorrect. By his time,
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the various Germanic tribes had been living in
their traditional territories for at least a
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millenia or two. However, their true origins are a
little more complex than the chronicler suggests,
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and the key to understanding it lies in
linguistics. The Germanic languages are
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part of the Indo-European linguistic
family, and therefore share a common
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ancestor with almost all the languages of
Europe, Northern India and Western Asia.
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As of now, the leading is the Kurgan Hypothesis,
which postulates that the Proto-Indo-European
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language was spoken by a nomadic Europid people
who inhabited the Pontic Steppe from at least
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the 6th millennium BC. Known titularly as the
Kurgan People, or alternatively the Yamnaya,
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they were hardy seasonal livestock herders,
and were probably among the first humans to
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domesticate the wild horse- first as
food, and later, as transportation.
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Around the 4th millennium BC, these pastoralists
are said to have utilized the advantage given to
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them by their four-legged friends to expand out of
their steppe homeland, and across a huge swathe of
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the Eurasian landmass, displacing or intermixing
with the indigenous peoples already living there.
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Over many centuries, the Proto-Indo-European
tongue spoken by these various branches of
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Yamnaya migrants gave rise to the early versions
of Greek, Latin, Sanskrit, and of course, German.
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Proto-Germanic languages and cultures were
said to have emerged as a distinct branch of
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Indo-European during the bronze age, contained
to the northern coast of modern Germany,
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the Jutland peninsula, and
the southern tip of Sweden.
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In the late iron-age, they expanded
from the Rhine to the Vistula rivers,
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bordering the Celtic peoples to the west, and
the Scytho-Sarmatian horse lords to the east.
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Early Germanic society was predominantly rural.
Unlike their Proto-Indo-European ancestors, they
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mostly lived sedentary lives in small to mid sized
villages. The economy of these villages revolved
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mainly around the rearing of goats, sheep and
cattle, and the cultivation of grain. Ample lush
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wilderness meant that hunting and foraging played
a significant role in their lifestyle as well.
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They were never a single nation, and instead a
spectrum of many independent tribes with similar
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but differing cultures and languages. Among
these were larger confederations, like the Suebi,
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Marcomanni, and Alemanni, and the political
map of ancient Germania was ever-shifting
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as independent factions splintered out of
larger tribes, larger tribes swallowed up
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smaller tribes, and loosely organized
alliances came together and fell apart.
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As one can imagine, these factions
were all highly martial in nature.
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Tacitus claimed that while Kingship in
Germania was determined by bloodline,
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it was the subordinate war-leaders,
who were the real power in their tribe.
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In turn, the war-leaders only remained in power
as long they could continue to deliver victories
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for their people, and were promptly ousted
if they showed cowardice or incompetence.
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Let us now expand upon what this
warrior culture looked like.
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Unlike the chariot-riders of Gaul to their west,
and the mounted archers of Sarmatia to the east,
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the Ancient Germanic peoples possessed little
to no cavalry, as horses were a symbol of luxury
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reserved for Kings and nobles. As such, Germanic
armies were made predominantly of infantry.
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Quality metal was a luxury, so iron panoply
was reserved for tribal leaders and their
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inner circle. The common warrior was usually
clad only in linen or leather, and naked
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from the waist up. They wielded javelins,
lances and short spears called “frameae”,
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which required comparatively less iron to forge.
They protected themselves with long, oval or
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rectangular shields in which was embedded a hard
iron shield-boss, which could be used to bash
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the enemy to deal blunt-force damage. However,
what the Germanic peoples lacked in equipment,
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they made up with ferocious and fearless fighting.
Tacitus’ remarked on their stigma of spinelessness
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with grim commentary: “traitors
and deserters are hung from trees.
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Cowards and poor fighters are plunged in the mud
of the marshes with a hurdle over their heads.”
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Despite the bellicose nature of the Germanic
peoples, there were avenues for non-violent
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diplomacy among them. The most prominent
of these were great inter-tribal gatherings
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known as hustings, or simply as the “thing”.
According to Tacitus, these assemblies would
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take place only when the moon was neither new
nor full. The summoned tribes would arrive
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and once there, they would take their seats while
girded with their weapons. Kings and Chiefs would
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speak one by one, in order of importance
based on age, birthright and battles won.
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As the leaders made various proposals, the crowd
would groan loudly if they disapproved, and clash
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their spears enthusiastically if they approved.
It was through gatherings like these that issues
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of land rights and resource distribution were
settled, and political alliances were created
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among tribes. Tacitus also mentions the role
of priests during these gatherings, who acted
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as powerful mediators between tribes, with the
authority to “force obedience” to keep the peace.
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Let us use this as a segway to discuss the nature
and role of religion in early Germanic society.
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By far the best known variant of Germanic
Paganism lies in the mythology of the Viking age,
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which was adhered to by the Norsemen in the early
medieval era even as the rest of their Germanic
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cousins eventually adopted Latin Christianity.
However, we should not assume that Norse Paganism
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was the exact same as the rites practiced by
their ancestral relatives of antiquity, after all,
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they were separated by over 700 years. With that
said, anyone familiar with the Viking Pantheon
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would certainly find some familiar faces among
the Gods of the Suebi, Alemanni, and Marcomanni.
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On the subject of Germanic faith, Tacitus
had this to say: “Of the Gods, they worship
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Mercury the most, to whom on certain days they
count even the sacrifice of human life lawful.
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Hercules and Mars they appease with animal life as
is permissible.” The deities the Roman historian
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mentions are distinctly Olympian in nature,
but Tacitus was actually drawing parallels
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between native Germanic Gods, and the Greco-Roman
Pantheon. “Mercury” in this case was Wodanaz- an
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early form of Odin, thus associated as both
he and Mercury were messengers for the gods,
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and guides between the mortal world and the
afterlife. “Hercules” was probably Donar, who
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like the ancient Greek hero was a great warrior,
adventurer and beast slayer. His mighty hammer
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was associated with Hercules’ club. As one might
have guessed, Donar was an early form of Thor.
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Meanwhile, “Mars” was equated to Tyr. A
minor deity by the time of the Viking age,
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but a highly important patron of
war and wisdom during antiquity.
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Although Tacitus compared him to the Roman
God of war, he was most likely derived from
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the Proto-Indo-European Dieus, the same God from
which the Greek Zeus and Roman Jupiter evolved
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from. So while it is easy to dismiss Tacitus’
rebranding of Germanic Gods into Roman ones,
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they were actually more interconnected than
most realize. Not referenced by Tacitus,
11:50
but found in the archeological records are other
aspects of Germanic mythology, including the
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proto-versions of the goddess of love, beauty,
fertility Freyja and Yggdrasil, the world tree.
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We know very little about how the Germanic
peoples carried out their religious rites,
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but according to Tacitus, human sacrifice appears
to have been practiced. Ancient bodies found in
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the bogs of Northern Germany show evidence of
ritual slaughter. Tacitus also claimed that
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Germanic priests read divinations based on
the flight patterns of birds, the casting of
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runes written on tree bark, and the behaviour of
sacred white horses, “never soiled by mortal use”.
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Meanwhile, two golden horns found in Southern
Denmark, feature engravings of dancing warriors
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adorned in horned helmets. This likely depicts
some form of a seasonal cycle, where ceremonies
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were held according to the transition
between spring, summer, autumn and winter.
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It is here that we will delve into the Germanic
peoples’ interactions with the Roman world,
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a multi-layered, centuries long relationship that
would, in time, come to define the fate of both
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cultures. For centuries, it was the Celtic peoples
that stood as a buffer between Germania and Rome,
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but by the late 2nd century BC, the long struggle
between the Gallic Tribes and the growing Republic
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had begun to turn to the latter’s favour.
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By 118BC, the Romans had managed to subdue
a portion of Southern Gaul into the province
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of Gallia Narbonensis, and made the Celtic
federation of Noricum into their client state.
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As the Latins creeped north, so too did the
Germans begin marching south. Around 120BC,
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either crippling floods or freezing in the
southern Jutland peninsula compelled the Cimbri
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and Teutones tribes to begin a mass migration,
sending 200,000 warriors along with their families
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barrelling into Noricum. Thus, the Roman and
Germanic worlds met for the first time, and
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was almost immediately defined by bloodshed. We
have covered the Cimbrian war in a previous video,
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so we won't go into detail here. In summary,
the Romans were able to win a pyrrhic victory,
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at the cost of tens of thousands of lives, and a
wakeup call to the true ferocity of their new foe.
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The next major clash between these two
civilizations began sometime in the 60sBC,
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when one King Ariovistus of the Suebi crossed
into eastern Gaul with an army of 15,000 warriors.
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Originally there to help the Celtic
Sequani tribe fight their Aedui rivals,
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the Suebian leader became enamoured with the
fertile lands he had arrived in, turning on his
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Gallic allies and seizing their realm for himself.
Meanwhile, Roman governor Gaius Julius Caesar
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was at the height of his ambition. Hot off the
tails of subduing the migrating Helvetii tribe,
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he turned his attention to Ariovistus.
While the Germanic King was originally
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labeled a friend of Rome, both he and Caesar
lusted for the spoils of war and in 58BC,
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they clashed at the Battle of Vosges in a struggle
for dominance over Eastern Gaul. Caesar won a
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decisive victory and continued the conquest of
Gaul culminating at the Siege of Alesia in 52BC.
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With this, the Roman border was
moved right up to the Rhine river.
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All of a sudden, the tribes of Germania looked
westward and saw not a squabbling Gallic tribes,
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but the strongest army in the ancient world,
professional and unyielding. The death of the
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Republic and birth of the Principate coincided
with a new era in Roman-Germanic relations.
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When the first Emperor Augustus came to power, he
extended Rome’s territory up to the Danube river.
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Thus, a direct frontier between Rome and Germania
was established along the key rivers of the Rhine
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and Danube, a frontier that would remain
more or less deadlocked for the centuries.
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In the following years, back and forth struggle
continued. In 16BC, the Emperors’ stepsons
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Tiberius and Drusus launched an invasion into the
Alps east of the Rhine, subduing many tribes. The
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Germanic peoples never gave up an inch of land
without a fight, and that same year, the Tencteri,
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Usipetes and Sugambri inflicted a crushing defeat
upon the Fifth Legion “Gallia” on the banks of the
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lower Rhine. Tiberius pushed back, and according
to Roman sources, had managed to subdue the whole
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of Germania into an obedient province by 6BC.
This would last a grand total of 15 years,
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before the Cherusci prince Arminius pulled off
a devastating ambush on three Roman Legions led
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by Publius Quinctillus Varus at Teutoburg Forest
in 9AD. So absolutely crushing was this defeat,
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that many historians consider it the worst
military disaster in Roman history. Following
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this, Rome retreated from Germania, and gave
up on ever trying to directly rule the region.
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The reason Arminius was able to defeat the Empire
was in part due to his background. Born as the son
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of a Germanic Chieftain, he had been sent to Rome
as a hostage and served in the Imperial military,
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learning all there was to know about
Roman tactics and military doctrine.
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While Arminius would eventually return to his
roots and become Rome’s principal nightmare,
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he was one of many Germanic peoples who had
spent their life cooperating with the Empire.
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His life was a testament to the fact that as much
as the Romano-Germanic story was defined by war,
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so too was it defined by diplomacy,
trade, and cultural integration.
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The principal means by which Rome maintained
diplomacy with their war-like neighbours
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was a policy of divide and control. As we covered
earlier, the Germanic peoples were locked in
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inter-tribal struggles and as a result,
the Romans were often able to use hostages,
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bribes and alliances with specific tribes to keep
the spears of Germania pointed at each other,
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rather than at Rome. Many Germanic peoples soon
realized that doing business with Rome was far
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more profitable than making war on them. Between
the 1st and 3rd centuries AD, trade between the
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two cultures boomed, concentrated at border
forts along the Rhine and Danube frontier.
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Thousands upon thousands of Roman artifacts
have been found across Germany Denmark,
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Sweden and Eastern Europe, including
Campanian pottery, bronze vessels,
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and dining ware of silver and glass. In turn, the
ancient Germans dealt in animal hides and furs,
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but their most valuable products lay in amber
and slaves - usually captives from rival tribes.
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For decades, relative stability prevailed
along the Rhine and Danube frontiers,
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and although both Rome and the Germanic
peoples would occasionally challenge one
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another, no major wars were fought
between them. This changed in 166AD,
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when a massive confederation of tribes, led
by the Marcomanni attempted a mass southwards
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migration into the Roman Empire. Naturally,
Emperor Marcus Aurelius could not allow this,
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and as a result, spent 14 years fighting in the
brutal slugfest that was the Marcomannic wars.
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Once more, Rome prevailed, but there was something
they had not considered: what could have prompted
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such a massive confederation of people to
uproot themselves to leave their homeland in
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the first place? Today, most historians
agree that they were being pushed out,
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assailed from the east by a mysterious foe
they feared more than they feared Rome.
20:18
Indeed, as the 2nd century transitioned into
the third, new confederations were forming in
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the heartland of Germania. Stronger, larger,
and fiercer than any who had come before them.
20:30
They would set in motion the next chapter in the
struggle between the Roman and Germanic worlds,
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bringing the Empire to its knees, and reshaping
the entire history of Europe in the process.
20:44
Join us next time, as we continue our
history of the Ancient Germanic peoples
20:49
by covering the rise of the great conquerors:
the Goths, and the Franks. Make sure you are
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