Annales de Teutonicorum E-Book

Reinhard Fürst

• Herausgeber: novum publishing
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 86

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025

Beschreibung

You begin your journey with the departure of the Cimbri to the south, learn more about the individual tribes, the developments of the Roman Empire and experience the emergence of Christianity. A living river of time arises before your mind's eye. As a softly murmuring source, constantly growing, forcing its way through gorges and driving through wide plains, sometimes calm, sometimes raging, but never boring. Start a journey through time, from the Germanic tribes to the present day. Get an overview of important historical events and get to know well-known people.

Leseprobe

First part

About antiquity

"The fool has his heart on his tongue, the wise man has his tongue in his heart."

What is the history of my people?

The history of the Germanic tribes from which my people emerged! And since you first have to know where you come from to ever know where you are, let alone where you are going, I'll start with a prehistoric part.

The historians of this time will call me a fool. But that's a good thing! "History is written by those who hanged the heroes."

Where everyone talks the same, most people lie!

This section covers Germanic history, from the first written records of it to the formation of the people, known as ethnogenesis. Such a process should not be thought of as a sudden event that happens and then, all of a sudden, there is a new people.

No. It's not that simple. Ethnogenesis takes place over a longer period of time - you can safely assume 150 years until this event is complete.

I use the original name of my people, in its Latinized form, "Teutones". This actually reflects the name of our people, Germans, whereas the term "Germani" is very misleading. It suggests a direct ethnic connection that does not exist. Because the Teutons are not the Germans!

Otherwise you would have to ask why this term should only apply to us Germans. And not also for an Englishman, Dutchman or Swede.

This is important because the Latin teutones, or theodisce, is derived from the Old High German diutisk. And that means something like "belonging to the people".

In fact, our name changed during the Renaissance (the era that made paganism acceptable again). At that time, the Latin geographical name of our homeland, Germania, began to be transferred to us as a folk name. Just look at the names of my people in the Romance and Germanic languages, there is no reference tothe Germanic tribesin any of them.

The oldest name for our homeland, however, dates back to 919 andreads regnum Teutonicorum, kingdom of the Germans. So it's high time to rectify this discrepancy.

The Germanic tribes

The Germanic people emerged at the end of the Late Stone Age from the mixing of older cultures with the Indo-Germanic peoples around 2000 B.C. During the Bronze Age (1700 - 800 B.C.), we therefore speak of an early Germanic or Nordic culture. This period also saw the first phonetic shift, which gave rise to the Germanic language. This process took place undisturbed from the outside, so that we can speak of a Germanic culture from around 500 BC.

The original home of the Germanic tribes was Scandinavia and Lower Germany. From there, they slowly spread in all directions. Most strongly, however, towards the south and east. This is probably because Central Europe (i.e. roughly the area of today's Germany, Switzerland, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland) was only sparsely populated before the birth of Christ. In the west, on the other hand, an active counterpart emerged at around the same time in the form of the Celts, which put a stop to westward expansion.

The Germanic peoples belong to the Indo-European language family and are divided into three large groups. The North, West and East Germanic peoples.

North Germanic peoples are all those peoples and tribes that remained in or developed from the original homeland of the Germanic peoples, Scandinavia. They include the Danes, Norwegians, Swedes, Icelanders and the Faroe Islands.

West Germanic peoples are all those peoples and tribes who settled roughly between the North Sea and the Danube, Rhine and Oder. They include us Germans as well as the Dutch, Flemish, English and Frisians. The Boers with Afrikaans also belong to this group. Yiddish is a special case, as a language of the Jews of Europe. It developed from Middle High German during the Middle Ages and therefore belongs to the Indo-European language family.

The East Germanic peoples were all the tribes and peoples who lived east of the Oder. They all perished during the Migration Period or merged with the Romans to form the later Romanic peoples.

The Germanic tribes first came into the light of history at the end of the 2nd century BC, when the Cimbri, Teutons and Ambrons abandoned their ancestral homeland and searched for a new home. This brought them into contact with the Celts and the Romans and led to numerous acts of war, which ultimately ended with the extermination and enslavement of these tribes by the Romans.

120 BC.

The Germanic tribes of the Cimbri, Teutons and Ambrons leave their homeland, which was probably in Schleswig-Holstein or Jutland. They are led by the Cimbrian king Boiorix. Their march initially heads south. As the migration progresses, more and more people join their trek.

113

The migration of the Germanic tribes probably led via Silesia and Bohemia, which was sparsely populated at the time, to what is now Carinthia. There they first encountered the Romans, who regarded the Celtic kingdom of Noricum, which corresponds to the majority of modern-day Austria, as their sphere of influence. At a place called Noreia, whose exact location in Carinthia is unknown today, the Romans attempt to set up a trap. However, this is recognized and the Roman army is defeated.

Roman tradition makes this event the first written record of the Germanic tribes.

109

As the Germanic tribes move into Gaul, the Romans continue to see them as a threat. Especially for their southern possessions in Provence.

West of Lyon, the Romans finally suffered another defeat at the hands of the Cimbri, Teutons and Ambrons.

105

Northwest of Marseille, at a place called Arausio, the Romans suffer their third crushing defeat against the Germanic tribes. This defeat led to the army reform of Marius, the so-called second founder of Rome. He introduced a professional army and equipped the legionaries with the classic weaponry that we are familiar with today. As the paymentwas also taken over by the rich, the legions would one day become the private armies of the patricians. Incidentally, the words "salary" and "pay" we use today originate from this period. In the beginning, legionaries were paid with salt, Latin salus! This was calledsalarium, which has endured as a term for payment.

105 - 102

Initially, the tribes split up to find a new home separately, but both failed. So they reunite in central France and move in a wide arc towards the north-east, before finally heading south again. They split up again at the Burgundian Gate. The Teutons continued southwards and the Cimbri moved westwards around the entire eastern Alps. It is not known why this separation took place, but it became fateful.

102

East of Marseilles, at Aqua Sextae, Marius destroys the Teutons and Ambrons and the survivors are enslaved.

101

At Vercellae, west of Milan, Marius defeats the Cimbri and enslaves the survivors.

End of the Kimbern Wars.

Ariovist, 101 - 54

Leader of the Swebs in Gaul.

100

Gaius Iulius Caesar, 100 - 44

Roman statesman, general and dictator.

Around 90/80

The Greek historian Poseidonius mentions thegermanoi, the Germanic tribes, for the first time.

At 72

The Suebi, or Swebs, under their leader Ariovist, cross the Rhine to help their allies and settle on the left bank of the Rhine.

63.

Gaius Iulius Caesar Octavianus, called Augustus; 63 - 14

Princeps and first "emperor" of Rome.

61

Ariovistus achieves a complete victory over the Gauls and from then on claims the western bank of the Rhine as his own.

58

Julius Caesar responds to the call for help from his Gallic allies. Disguised as a helpful friend, he begins the conquest ofGaul. This is followed by renewed clashes with the Germanic tribes.

56

Julius Caesar defeats the Suebi prince Ariovist. This broke the Germanic power on the left bank of the Rhine. The Rhine becomes the new border between the Romans and the Germanic tribes.

55

Caesar defeats the Germanic Usipetes and the Tenkterians, who had crossed the Rhine. Caesar thus consolidates his position as ally of the Gauls. He even had a bridge built across the mighty river to pursue the fleeing Gauls. After pillaging several villages and farmsteads, he finally withdraws again.

53

Another attempt by the Suebi to assert their former claims fails. On the contrary, Caesar moves a second time to the right bank of the Rhine. Apart from a few skirmishes and looting, nothing much happens and he retreats again.

52 - 51

The revolt of the Gaul Vercingetorix. This leads to the siege and decisive battle of Alesia, a place in central France, the exact location of which is no longer possible today. Caesar's victory atcompletes the conquest of Gaul and its subjugation to Rome; Gaul becomes a Roman province.

51

Caesar writes his commentaries on the Gallic events. They became famous asDe bello gallico, On the Gallic War. The writing is so important because it not only describes the historical events, albeit tendentiously, but is also the first written account of the life and culture of the Celts and Germanic tribes. Many tribal names appear here for the first time.

The Germanic culture

Germanic culture, as far as we can reconstruct it today, was fully developed around 200 BC. Here, too, a distinction is made between West, East and North Germanic cultures. The influence of the Romans can be clearly seen in the West Germanic peoples in particular, just as a strong Scythian influence on the East Germanic peoples can be recognized. Among the West Germanic peoples, the "administrative structure" was influenced by the Romans, as was trade, while among the East Germanic peoples it was the nomadic habits and horsemanship. One reason why the Goths later had good success against the Romans was the fact that they had a small but fine cavalry force, which the Romans did not know in this form.

The Germanic tribes had a uniform religion with gods and a uniform world of legends. However, as inother ancient cultures, the importance of the individual gods varied from tribe to tribe.

Their religion did not require any temples at all. Similar to the Celts, they worshipped sacred groves, springs, marshes or other spiritually significant places as meeting places with their gods.