What I found interesting in the history of German tribes and their migration was that in the process of migration they came into contact with the Romans in many ways which can be categorized into military, trade, sharing of spoils and gifts. It was also strikingly interesting that despite the fact that the Romans placed an embargo on their weapons in order not to let the German tribes access them, the German tribes still got access to the weapons through the trade routes that had been established.
Different tribes of Germans had different cultural practices, had served in the Roman legion and joined the Romans in fights. Strikingly, the German Chieftains who collaborated with the Romans in the fight tried to adopt the cultural practices of the Romans. It is of great interest that the German tribes were diversified in terms of cultural practices yet they were identifying themselves with the culture of the Romans. They also got into contact with Romans through trade, gift and plunder. The German tribes attempted to identify themselves with the nobility of the Roman culture interestingly, they identification attempt was meant to gain the services of the military, the German tribes got specific products from the Roman people, unfortunately, not the weapons since the Romans had statutes governing the use of their weapons (Burdon and Haldane, 1971, p. 51).
What I found controversial was the plunder of Roman items by the Germans. More controversial was the fact that the continued interaction between the German tribes and Romans, coupled with the penetration of the Roman people by the German tribes in their migration process enabled the Germans to gain Roman weapons. In the process of migrating, the German tribes must have come into contact with many other communities, however, it is interesting that they get into contact with the Romans and they are even ready to adopt their culture. This represents some form of controversy.
The Romans gave the German tribes all types of items except weapons. So, it was a great controversy that many of the Roman weapons still found their ways into the hands of German tribes despite the embargo that the Romans had imposed on their weapons. But then, it was also controversial that the German tribes were ready to abandon their respective cultures and adopt that of the Romans. In this case, it may be argued that the German tribes had some hidden agenda they wanted to achieve by being close to the Romans (Newark, 1985, p.80). This could be true as confirmed by (Gilliver et al, 2005, p.42), “…to the lands of other Gallic tribes on which they intended to settle after defeating its inhabitants.” It means the tribe fought to drive inhabitants of the land they intended to settle on which was possible with Romans.
What I found personally meaningful was the fact that the Romans did not want the migratory German tribes to possess their weapons. It seems they were suspicious of what the migratory German tribes could do since they were migrating in search of more land for settlement. This is also explained by Naroll et al when they wrote, “Impetus for the Germanic migration is usually attributed to the westward thrust of the Huns. This thrust upset the status quo relationship established by Rome with the Germanic tribes…”
As much as the Romans liked the way they collaborated with the German tribes, which were expanding and spreading, they never wanted them to have their weapons because the Germans were a military threat to them (Newark, 1985, p.87). The German tribes were increasing in population and therefore needed more land and territory to accommodate the growing size of population. The contact between the German tribes could be meant to enable the Germans to get weapons from the Romans, a possibility that the Germans seemed to have suspected hence imposing the weapons embargo.
References
- Burdon, J. & Haldane, S. (1971). Science and human life. Essay index reprint series. United States: Ayer Publishing.
- Gilliver, K. et al. (2005). Rome at war. Volume 6 of Essential Histories. United State: Osprey Publishing.
- Naroll, R. et al. Military deterrence in history. A pilot cross-historical survey. New York: SUNY Press.
- Newark, T. (1985). The barbarians. Warriors & wars of the Dark Ages. United States: Blandford Press.