Germanic Tribes

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Background
 The Germanic Tribes were the descendants of the ancient Norsemen, migrating south from Scandinavia into the modern-day German-speaking countries. They came into contact with Roman and Greek civilizations as early as the 3rd century BC. Their environment was cold and harsh compared to that of their Mediterranean neighbours, and they proved more than capable of defending their territory against the Romans. The Germanic tribes endured throughout the 1st millennium BC and into the 1st millennium AD, eventually playing a vital role in the destruction of the Roman Western Empire. Although the Germanic tribes never came under one centralized rule until that of the Franks after the end of antiquity, they shared linguistic and religious similarities, including the Germanic pantheon, as well as warlike tendencies. They waged war not necessarily for expansion, which is reflected by the fact that the Germanic tribes were disparate and decentralized, but for plundering their neighbours for wealth and resources. The Germanic tribes never grew into a truly powerful force in Ancient Europe because of their lack of cooperation with each other. However, when they did band together, they proved to be formidable foes to the Romans, even defeating them in a decisive victory in 9 AD. This put a stop to the Roman attempt to take Germania, meaning that they were able to take on some aspects of Roman culture, but they remained firmly rooted in their Germanic origins, which strongly distinguished them from their neighbours in Gaul.

Trait tree
