What was the Great Migration in the Middle Ages?

History of Great Ethnic Migration (reposted)

In120th BC, Emperor Liu Che ascended the throne for three years, and Rome was founded in 634. At first glance, it seems to be a very calm year, and a rare peace has enveloped Rome. But this is only a short silence after the chaos, and a dead name still haunts everyone's mind like a nightmare: Gracchus! For more than ten years, Gracchus, a commoner, has pushed forward the epic agricultural reform in order to achieve social equality and limit the polarization between the rich and the poor in Rome, demanding that all Italians obtain Roman citizenship, which has won wide support from all walks of life. A Roman senator once asked in horror, "What if Gracchus asks us to hand over all the illegal land?" "Even if I give him the whole city of Rome, I dare not have an opinion!" His colleague replied. Of course it's not that simple. The privileged class launched a crazy counterattack. Grand Gragu was killed in BC 133, and little Gragu was forced to commit suicide in BC 12 1 year. Nearly 4000 compatriots were massacred and arrested by Roman soldiers in two incidents. How to abolish the agricultural law drafted by Gracchus and promulgated by the assembly with dignity has become a top priority for Roman rulers at this time.

Rome's external environment seems to be much more peaceful than its internal environment. After three Punic wars and three Macedonian wars, Carthage and Macedonia, two sworn enemies, were successively annexed by Rome. Spain, Gaul in southern Shandong, Greece and Asia Minor all entered the territory, and Egypt, Syria and Numidia all knelt down. The vast Mediterranean became the inner lake of Rome. I pulled out my dagger, and I peeped in four directions in vain. The invincible Roman soldier seemed to have reached the state of seeking failure alone.

But history will soon arrange an equal opponent for the Romans. The worst Armageddon in Europe in the pre-era is imminent.

It is said that in the distant Nordic Sea, there is a jutland, which, together with several surrounding islands, forms a country that was later called "Denmark". Jutland's name comes from jute, which means "the country of jute"; The name of Denmark comes from Dane, which means "Danish land". Jutes and Danes belong to Germanic nations (German, actually pronounced as "Gemani", translated as "evil mani" in Qing Dynasty), but there was no name of "Germanic" at that time, and Jutes and Danes did not live in Jutland, mainly three Germanic nations posthumously awarded by historians: Cimbri and Teutonic. There are also a few scholars who stubbornly believe that according to linguistic data, they should actually belong to the Celtic nation. Later, the Anglo-Saxons belonging to the Germanic ethnic group were ignorant and even used "Germanic" to address the Germans (a mixture of several Germanic and Slavic ethnic groups), while using "Teutonic" to address the entire Germanic ethnic group was really forgetful.

By the way, even the name "Germanic" is Celtic, which means "neighbor", because the two nations have had disputes in history. Celtic originally originated in Bavaria Plateau in southern Germany, but later even this old base area was taken away by the Germans. The Celts fled to the west bank of the Rhine and called it Gaul, which means "the country of Celtic". Unexpectedly, less than 800 years later, this place was first conquered by Rome and then taken away by the Franks in the Germanic ethnic group, and it was renamed "France", meaning "Frankish country". Now there are not many red-haired Celts left on the earth, and their remains are scattered in Scotland, Ireland and North America, but the megalithic buildings all over Europe and the names of a few teams such as "Glasgow Celtic" and "Boston Celtic" can also arouse the memories of this ancient group from curious outsiders.

These tall, blond Germans-let's call them that-have entered the Iron Age, with agriculture as the main economy, supplemented by hunting and animal husbandry. In social organization, they are still in the primitive social stage, scattered in villages similar to communes, and basically there is no slavery. Every village has a parliament, which is responsible for discussing internal and foreign affairs and electing the bravest and most skilled of them as the king. Germans sacrificed the bodies and blood of their enemies to various natural gods, and were extremely awed by natural phenomena such as thunder and lightning and earthquakes. Tacitus, the great Roman writer, recorded their way of life in his masterpiece Germania, which is very suspicious. After all, Tacitus himself never set foot on the land east of the Rhine. Archaeological excavations show that although Germans don't like bathing, they actually like to dress themselves up and often put butter on their hair to keep their hairstyle. It is said that their hair is so yellow, they braid their beards, invented scissors for cutting hair and nails, and invented tweezers for plucking armpit hair and nose hair. Combs, toothpicks and soap are all available, as evidenced by cultural relics. Besides, they will also make two things that China people didn't invent until the 9th century. The former is because China's own inventor failed to live up to expectations, and the latter is because of Confucius' teaching: "If you are covered with skins, your parents dare not harm you, and filial piety begins." Germans build single-storey houses out of wood, in which live their own domestic animals-horses, cows, sheep, dogs, etc.-which are very small. Because of the nature of hunters, they are irritable. Javelin, spear and tomahawk are their main weapons, while iron helmet and wooden shield are used for defense.

Tacitus once asked in Germania, "Who will leave Italy, Africa and Asia where the seasons are warm and pleasant, cross the unknown and dangerous ocean and move to Germania (Central and Northern Europe) with poor soil, bad climate and desolate environment?" At that time, Jutland, like other parts of Germania, was full of forests and swamps, with rain and fog all year round, and "there were nine famines in ten years." Not long ago, the remains of a German girl were unearthed in Denmark. According to the forensic examination, she was only 13 years old when she died, and her skeletal development was delayed 1 1 year due to hunger. Perhaps because of the pressure of life, around 120 BC, most of the Simbri people, Teutonic people and Amboyens suddenly left their homes and went south to support the elderly and bring up the young, thus opening the initial prelude to the migration of the Germanic people.

Shortly after leaving jutland (then called "Simbri Peninsula"), these three Germanic peoples met head-on with a big river, the Elbe River, which was called the Albis River by the Romans at that time. It originated in the present Czech mountainous area and flowed northwest into the North Sea. The Simbri, Teutonic and Ambon people have long heard of this largest river in Germania. They went upstream along the right bank of the river and headed for the hinterland of Europe. Walking along the river is a common feature of ancient ethnic migration. On the one hand, it can ensure that our people get enough fresh water and food, and on the other hand, they will not get lost in the forest. You know, at that time, the forest coverage rate in Europe was as high as 80%, and squirrels could jump from Russia to Portugal without having to come down from trees once. Without the help of a compass, it is impossible to tell the difference between southeast and northwest in such a dense forest.

Since the formation of Germanic peoples, their national migration has periodically affected the fate of all ethnic groups in Europe. This is by no means a journey of peace or exploration, but a journey of plunder and war. Wherever the teams of Simbri, Teutonic and Ambuan go, they are all empty. The nationalities along the Elbe River either hand over all their wealth, burn down all their houses, and embark on the road south with them, or they are slaughtered. However, in the mountains of the upper reaches of the Elbe River, they met with stubborn resistance. Ji Bo, a Celtic tribe that once occupied northern Italy and founded Bologna, relied on flexible guerrilla tactics and finally forced the Germans to give up their efforts to conquer them and turn further south. At this time, the land where Borges lived will be named after them in the future. This is Bohemia, the country of Borges.

After crossing the Bohemian forest, the wide Danube suddenly appeared in front of the Germans. They went down the river and reached what modern people call the Hungarian Plain-the eternal heartbreak of European civilization around 1 18 BC. A thousand years ago, Dorian, Illyria, Phrygia and other nationalities set out from this land and went south to Italy, Greece and Asia Minor, where ancient civilizations such as Mycenae and Hittites were buried. Since then, although the residents of the Hungarian plain sang like lanterns, they all seriously threatened the security of southern European countries.

At this time, Dirsk, a Celtic people who also lived in the Hungarian plain, invaded Greece with the Galatians in 279 BC. Unable to resist the fierce German offensive, they were forced to leave their native land and go south, invade Greece, and return to the north after defeating a Roman army at Delphi. The Simbri, Teutonic and Ambuan people finally got a fertile land to settle down. They immediately settled down and established Teutonburg, the capital, in the western suburbs of Belgrade. Another Simbri continued to travel eastward along the Danube until they reached the Black Sea, where they came into contact with the local Thracians. Some people are homesick and return to jutland with treasures from the south, one of which is the treasure of the town hall of the Danish National Museum.

However, the good times did not last long, and the changes of the barbarians in the north finally reached the ears of the Romans. Norici and Taurisci, two other Celtic peoples living on the southwest border of Hungarian Plain, felt that their existence was threatened by their new neighbors, so they sent messengers to Rome for help. The struggle between barbarians has existed since ancient times. The Romans did not pay special attention to this matter at first, but the increasingly turbulent situation on the northeast border of Italy finally evoked their unhappy memories of the Celtic invasion of Rome in 387 BC. In the spring of 1 13 BC, the Roman Senate sent two groups led by the consul Carpau to Norikum to "appease" the troublemakers. As mentioned above, the Romans didn't know the existence of the Germanic nation at this time, so they regarded the Simbri, Teutonic and Ambon as Celts or Scythians.

Cabo was surprised when he arrived at the scene of the accident. This is not because of the large number of opponents-it claims to have a population of one million and more than 300,000 adult men can fight; Nor is it because the opponent is tall-the average adult man is as high as 1.80 meters, which is nearly one head taller than the Roman soldiers; But because the other person's attitude is very deferential. After respectfully listening to the reprimand of the Roman consul, the Ambassadors of Simbri said that they had no intention of launching any aggressive war, but were just looking for land. Now that they have decided to settle here, they won't bother their neighbors any more. Cabo himself said that he was very satisfied with such a friendly reply, but secretly planned to surprise the other side when it was not ready for war to gain military benefits. His evil plan was quickly put into practice, but the result was a huge disaster: the Germans were really caught off guard at the beginning of the battle, but they quickly stabilized their positions, launched a counterattack and annihilated the Roman army. If it weren't for the sudden thunderstorm in the battle, superstitious Germans thought it was an order from the God of wotan (also known as Odin/Odin) to stop pursuing, then the Romans would definitely be wiped out. Cabo, the consul who set himself on fire, fled back to Italy with thousands of beaten soldiers and was condemned by the whole country with one voice. To make matters worse, he foolishly launched the "Battle of Norrea", which opened the prelude to the bloody war between Rome and Germany for thirteen years.

After the Battle of Noja, the Simbri, Teutonic and Ambuan people could not live in Central Europe for some reason. They did not attack Italy from the south, but unreasonably turned to the west, going up the Danube first, then down the neckar, and crossing the Rhine around 1 10 BC. Now it's the turn of the Gauls who live here to have nightmares. They are all allies of Rome.