How the Barbarian Invasions Shaped the Modern World

by Thomas J. Craughwell
published 2008

The thesis of this detailed and fascinating book is that without the "barbarians," (those who did not speak Greek back when it sailed the wine-dark seas) the nations of England, France, Russia, and China (at least) would not exist. 

Of course, that can be argued as, without a doubt, the land-masses, rivers, shores and mountains would have dictated something similar as people dispersed and investigated their surroundings in the first 1000 years after the birth of Christ and the domination of the western world by Rome. But the point is taken: without the determined movement of those tribes of energetic, acquisitive and sea-faring or horse-carried people, the countries, languages and customs we associate with those nations would not exist.

But how could the Huns, Vikings, Goths, Franks, Vandals, Angles and Saxons - many of whose names alone we associate today with raping, pillaging and plundering - have been the force that drove the shaping of the modern world?

Craughwell suggests that we can trace the story back to Rome and its fall from power - a thing brought about by a number of forces, but in the final analysis, it was the barbarians who brought Rome to its knees. 

Rome, of course, was the center of much of the world for an extremely long time, traveling, establishing outposts, demanding tribute and extending the "Pax Romana" throughout an extremely wide and broad empire. Roman language, technology, roads, architecture, literature and government are all reflected clearly in the modern world. The empire extended over 2.2 million square miles, and "approximately two-fifths of the world's population at that time." (In the second and third centuries after the birth of Christ.)

As far away as Great Britain there are remnants of the Roman Empire in paved roads, and in Hadrian's Wall; sewer systems are thanks to fastidious Romans; multiple modern languages can thank the Romans for a wealth of words and concepts. And to this day you can visit a wall built by Romans, that stands at the border of England and Scotland.

The book begins with Rome's growing weakness and the opportunity a Visigoth (a western Goth, as opposed to an Ostragoth, or eastern Goth) tribe led by Alaric saw to sack the eternal city. This event changed the world, from the point of view of the west, completely. It was in 410, though it was 66 years later that the last emperor of Rome abdicated at the behest of Germanic chieftain Odoacer. 

Though the "fall of Rome" seemed to ebb and flow for a while, the western world now began to feel the power of the many and varied people from the vast steppes of present day Russia and Mongolia to the scattered horse-masters and sea-faring raiders of Norway, Denmark, Germany, and France.

The author explores the religious and raiding reasons many of these tribes sought out new lands to invade - but one curious thing was that for many of them, conquest - occupation - wasn't really the aim. The riches, slaves, and exploration drove them more than the idea of empire. They dropped in, beat the locals into submission, took their gold and slaves both for sale and ransom, and ran back home to enjoy the spoils.

The Huns were an example of this kind of invasion. They were evidently an Asiatic people who spent so much time in the saddle they were typically depicted bow-legged. They could ride and shoot a bow with extraordinary skills, and lived the life of a "perpetual nomad." We learn about Attila, then the Vandals (which name resulted in "vandalism," today an "act of wanton destruction or defacement." 

While Rome is collapsing further East thanks to, at least in part, the barbarian raids upon it, England to the west is beset by the Angles, Saxons and Jutes from the north and east. One wonderful image in the richly illustrated book was particularly fascinating and thought-provoking: Roman ships loaded with legionary soldiers, are preparing to sail away from the British Isles. A mental image of the seashores of England, to this reader at least, are typically later in time, with ships, dark and hulking, with white square sails against a foggy sky. In this image, the ships are were low-slung with oars and brightly colored sails, and we can see the plumed helmets of armor-clad soldiers. In fact, the Romans not only inhabited the British Isles, but were its "nobility" for many years in the first millennia A.D. (or BCE), so this image is probably not far from the "real" appearance of the seashore in about 407 A.D., when the last of the once 50,000-strong Roman legion finally fled Britain.

Characters, battles, conquests, revenge and brilliant plans fill the pages of the book, along with dozens of little facts that surprise. For example, the Vikings, who were both raiders and settlers, established cities in Northern Africa, and were eventually defeated as they tried to flee the Moors through the straits of Gibraltar. And these same Vikings established the cities we now consider quintessentially Irish - Dublin, Waterford, Wexford, Arklow, Cork and Limerick. These adept sea-farers traveled from the far north, established themselves throughout the British Isles and down both on the seas to the Mediterranean but also over land and along rivers. 

Wherever the many tribes of northern and eastern Europe and parts of Asia went, they gathered up people, treasure and knowledge, and left people and bits and pieces of art, information, and destruction in their wake. Equally important, from the standpoint of history, this activity was at least in part responsible for the English language, art, culture, customs and many myths, legends, stories that remain at the root of the modern world.