Theodoric
No particular geographical feature helped the Ostrogoths' hold on Italy. In fact they settled in an area of the north which was flat. This did not facilitate the defence of their area in case of attack. The Ostrogoths' hold on Italy was due more the failure of the eastern Romans (also called Byzantines) to capitalise on their victory, rather than geographical factors. The eastern Roman emperor Justinian I decided to recover Italy for the empire. This led to the Gothic War, which lasted 17 years. The eastern Romans (also called Byzantines), led by the General Belisarius won the first phase of the war (535-40). Belisarius then left Italy to fight a war against the Persians. However, he did not appoint a commander-in-chief for Italy and the troops left in Italy were undisciplined and committed acts of plundering. It was this that enabled the Ostrogoths to restart the war. Their success in the second phase (541-550) was helped by three factors: The incompetence and lack of unity of the eastern Roman military commanders in Italy, the fact that the eastern Romans were engaged in the war with the Persians and an outbreak of an epidemic called the Plague of Justinian (542-42), which was one of the worse in history, which killed up to a quieter of the population of the empire. A pandemic of this scale did not occur again until the Black Death 800 years alter. The last two factors meant that they could not send reinforcements to Italy. When the eastern Romans organised a proper campaign in Italy, the Visigoths were defeated in one year.
Celts, Germans, Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Huns, Vandals, Venetii .......
No particular geographical feature helped the Ostrogoths' hold on Italy. In fact they settled in an area of the north which was flat. This did not facilitate the defence of their area in case of attack. The Ostrogoths' hold on Italy was due more the failure of the eastern Romans (also called Byzantines) to capitalise on their victory, rather than geographical factors. The eastern Roman emperor Justinian I decided to recover Italy for the empire. This led to the Gothic War, which lasted 17 years. The eastern Romans (also called Byzantines), led by the General Belisarius won the first phase of the war (535-40). Belisarius then left Italy to fight a war against the Persians. However, he did not appoint a commander-in-chief for Italy and the troops left in Italy were undisciplined and committed acts of plundering. It was this that enabled the Ostrogoths to restart the war. Their success in the second phase (541-550) was helped by three factors: The incompetence and lack of unity of the eastern Roman military commanders in Italy, the fact that the eastern Romans were engaged in the war with the Persians and an outbreak of an epidemic called the Plague of Justinian (542-42), which was one of the worse in history, which killed up to a quieter of the population of the empire. A pandemic of this scale did not occur again until the Black Death 800 years alter. The last two factors meant that they could not send reinforcements to Italy. When the eastern Romans organised a proper campaign in Italy, the Visigoths were defeated in one year.
The Ostrogoths and the Vandals.
The Ostrogoths did not conquer Rome. They left Rome alone and let her self-govern. Zeno, the emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire sent Theodoric the Great, the king of the Ostrogoths, to invade Italy on his behalf in order to depose Odoacer, a usurper who had led a rebellion of Germanic soldiers enlisted in the Roman army in Italy and deposed the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire. The Ostrogoths had settled in the Eastern Roman Empire and had become a powerful political and military force there. When he invaded Italy, Theodoric established the kingdom of the Ostrogoths, which covered Italy and Illyria (the east coast of the Adriatic Sea). Theodoric's intention was not to take over what was left of the Western Roman Empire. He established himself in Ravenna, the capital of the Western Roman Empire. He just wanted land for his people to settle and left the Latin cities alone allowed them to self-govern. He also wanted to re-establish the splendour of the Roman Empire and carried out infrastructure work in Italy.
Ostrogoths
The western part of the Roman empire was invaded by the Vandals, Alans and Sueves in 406 AD. Later the Ostrogoths took over Italy. The Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Frisians migrated to Rome in waves and took it over. The city of Rome was sacked three times, by the Visigoth, the Vandals and the Ostrogoths.
The emperor of the eastern part of the Roman Empire, Zeno, sent Theodoric the Great (the king of the Ostrogoths) to invade Italy to depose a usurper there on his behalf. Theodoric did not want to be a Roman. The Ostrogoths had been allowed to settle inside the Roman Empire and had became romanised, but they were also proud of being Ostrogoths. Theodoric ruled a kingdom of the Ostrogoths which covered Italy and most of the former Yugoslavia. He did not interfere with the Latins of Italy and let them to administer themselves. He wanted to revive the western part of the Roman Empire and carried out important public works, but did not want to become a Roman. He was an Arian Christian, a Christian denomination which was around at the time, and refused to convert to Catholicism. This also shows that he did not want to become a Roman.
Celts, Gauls, Scandinavians, Saxons, French, Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Hungarians, Polish, Franks, Normans; and some Moors and Saracens. The Celts, Gauls, Scandinavians, Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Hungarians, and Polish settled more toward northern Italy. The Franks and Normans migrated into northern and eastern Italy; and the Moors and Saracens came up from the south and southeast. Saxons migrated mostly to northern and central Italy. These migrations occurred over many centuries and resulted in great wars.
Italy
well Italy is very popular