History Fact Finder | Eras and Their Highlights - Who Were The Visigoths And Ostrogoths?

Who were the Visigoths and Ostrogoths?

The Visigoths and Ostrogoths were originally Goths, a Germanic tribe who lived in what is now Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark). In the third century A.D. the Goths invaded the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire, and during the fourth century they broke into two groups. Those living north of the present-day Danube River became known as the Visigoths; those living farther east, in present-day Ukraine, were called the Ostrogoths (ost means east). When the Huns from central Asia attacked the Visigoths and Ostrogoths, many of the Visigoths escaped into an eastern Roman province. Rebelling against the Roman rulers, the Visigoths destroyed the Roman army at a battle in Adrianople (in present-day Turkey) and killed Valens (328?–378), the emperor of the eastern Roman Empire. Under their leader, Alaric I (c. 370–340), the Visigoths moved into Italy. In 410 they...

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