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Who were the Vandals?

The Vandals were a people who originated in present-day Scandinavia (Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway), south of the Baltic Sea. By A.D. 100 they had moved into the southern part of present-day Poland. In the late fourth century the Vandals fled westward when the region was invaded by the Huns, a fierce people from central Asia. The Vandals conquered Gaul (in western Europe), Spain, and northern Africa. King Genseric (c. 390–477) ruled the Vandals from 428 to 477. During his reign they attacked Rome in 455, destroying the city, stealing treasure, and killing innocent bystanders. The word vandalize—to destroy someone else's property—comes from the name Vandal. Nearly a century later, the Vandals were conquered by the armies of the Byzantine Empire (also called the Eastern Empire and East Roman Empire).

Further Information: Crystal, David, ed. Cambridge Biographical Dictionary. New...

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1. Early Ages
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   3. Who were the Neanderthals?
   4. What was the prehistoric era?
   5. What was the Stone Age?
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   7. Why has iron been called the "democratic metal"?
2. Ancient Civilizations
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   2. What was the first advanced civilization in Europe?
   3. What are the Seven Wonders of the World?
   4. What was the Myceneaen Age?
   5. What were the Dark Ages of ancient Greece?
   6. Which classical Greeks influenced Western civilization?
   7. What government ruled Rome before the Roman Empire?
   8. What was the Pax Romana?
   9. How did the Roman Empire differ from the Holy Roman Empire?
   10. Who were the Celts and what happened to them?
3. Middle Ages And Renaissance
   1. Were the Dark Ages the same as the Middle Ages ?
   2. Who were the Huns?
   3. Who were the Visigoths and Ostrogoths?
   4. Who were the first warriors to fight on horseback?
   5. Who started the fall of the Roman Empire?
   6. Who were the Vandals?
   7. Who were the Franks?
   8. Who were the Gauls, and what happened to them?
   9. Who were the Lombards, Saxons, and Angles?
   10. Who were the Vikings?
   11. What is feudalism?
   12. What was a lord?
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   14. What were vassals?
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   16. Who were the samurai?
   17. What was a papal state?
   18. What was the role of the Roman Catholic Church during the Middle Ages?
   19. What was the Investiture Struggle?
   20. What were the three great kingdoms of western Africa?
   21. What was the Holy Roman Empire?
   22. What was the Renaissance, and where did it begin?
   23. Who were the great Renaissance artists, writers, and thinkers?
   24. What was the northern Renaissance?
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4. The Modern Age
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