Who were the Norse and Germanic people?

The name Norse referred to people and language of the ancient Scandinavians (Norwegians, Swedish, Danish, and Icelandic). Technically, the word Norse means Norwegian, but it loosely included the Icelanders, Swedes, and the Danes.

Scandinavian consisted of part of the Germanic people and language. Some scholars and historians believed that all Germanic tribes originated from Scandinavian Peninsula (Sweden and Norway) and Jutland (Denmark).

The Romans first encountered Germans in the late 2nd century BC. The Teutones and Cimbri were Germanic tribes from Jutland (Denmark), migrating southward. The mighty Roman armies were badly mauled by the Germans at Noreia, north of the Alps, in 113 BC; and later at Arausio (Orange), southern Gaul (France), in 105 BC. The Romans under its general Gaius Marius finally defeated the Teutones and Ambrones, at at Aquae Sextiae (modern Aix-en-Provence) in 102 and then the Cimbri at Vercellae in 101 BC.

Since the ancient Germanic people left no written records, we had to heavily rely on classical Greek and Roman historians, as sources of information. Of course, we also depend upon archaeology as well. (Oh, sorry about using the "we" so freely, I am not an archaeologist.)

Other Germanic tribes began moving south into central Europe, often driving the Celtic people further south and west towards the Roman empire

Julius Caesar encountered the various Germanic tribes during his campaigns in Gaul (modern France and Belgium), in the mid-1st century BC. Caesar tried to keep the Germans east of the Rhine River. Sometimes Caesar fought these Germanic tribes; at other times he enlisted them in his army, serving as cavalry. Caesar, who wrote about his campaigns in his memoirs, managed to distinguish the Germans from Celts. He described the Germans as having towering physique and belonged to warlike society. He briefly touched on Germanic religions, comparing the Germanic deities with those of the Roman, but using Roman names, such as Mercury and Mars.

Tacitus, Roman historian of 1st century AD, gave better description of the Germanic people and their society. Tacitus had also distinguished and compared their deities with Roman deities, also giving them Roman name.

Tacitus had called those who lived in ancient Sweden as the Suiones. The Roman knowlegde of the region were gained from trade link. According to Tacitus, the historian had identified a number of tribes that had left the Scandinavain Peninsula before his time: Burgundians, Gepidae, Goths, Rugii, Vandals, and several others. Some of these migrating tribes, particularly the Goths, would a great impact on the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the succeeding centuries.

Throughout the 1st and 2nd century AD, the Romans tried to keep the Germans east of the Rhine and north of the Danube, with a mixture of successes and failures. However, in the third and fourth century, new Germanic tribes caused considerable strain to the Roman military and empire. The Germanic people were pressured into migrating further south and west into Europe, by the Huns, a Turkic nomad people from the steppes of Central Asia. The Huns started migrating westward, driving the Germanic people from their home in Eastern Europe.

The Goths were a Germanic tribe from Scandinvia before moving to Poland, during the 1st century AD. The Goths migrated to a new homes, dividing the tribe into two, with the Visigoths moving to the mouth of the Danube (Romania), while the Ostrogoths moved to north shore of Black Sea in modern Ukraine.

During the late fourth and fifth century AD, the Great Migration, the Huns pushed westward into Europe, forcing the Germanic tribes to also migrate into Western Europe. The Visigoths under the leadership of Alaric, moved to as far southern Italy, sacking Rome after short siege, as well as travelling to Gaul (France) and Spain. While the Ostrogoths migrated to northern Italy.

Such was the perilous state of the Western Empire that in AD 410, the Emperor Honorius gave order for legions to abandon their post in the province of Britannia, leaving Britain defenceless.

The Burgundians may have also come from Scandinavia, on the southern shore of Baltic Sea. They may have originally lived on the island of Bornholm, before migrating to valley of Vistula River. Then in AD 413, the Burgundians arrived in the area around the Rhine, establishing their capital in Worms, which was originally called Borbetomagus by the Celts and Civitas Vangionum by the Romans.

Eventually the Huns established a large empire north of the Danube. The first time the Romans encountered the Hunnish warriors, they inspired feared, because of their skills in horsemanship and their accuracy with archery. At first, the Huns served as mercenaries in the Roman armies of both the Eastern and Western Empires.

A single ruler, named Rua, managed to gain control of the various clans of the Huns in AD 432, but he died two years later. Attila and Bleda, Rua's nephews, ruled jointly in AD 434.

In AD 441 when the Eastern Roman Empire didn't honour their treaty with Attila, to pay tributes in gold, Attila and his Hunnish army raided into the Eastern Roman Empire, devastating vast amount of territories.

Attila became the sole ruler of the Hunnish empire, after he murdered his brother Bleda, in AD 445. The Huns were known for their skills in horsemanship and their brutality in warfare.

The Roman general, named Flavius Aëtius, serving the Western Roman Emperor, Valentinian III, used the Hunnish mercenaries to destroy the Burgundian kingdom at Worms, in AD 437. The Burgundian king, Guntharius, was killed in the fighting.

In AD 446, the people of Roman Britain gave one last appeal to Aetius, but no aid came to them, because the empire was threatening to collapse from the onslaughter of the Huns. In AD 451, Aetius led the mixed armies of Romans, Visigoths and Burgundians. They fought in a great Battle of Chalons, defeating Attila.

Though, the Hunnish Empire under Attila collapsed at his death (AD 453), the western Roman Empire was seriously weakened. The Roman army lacked sufficient strength to defend themselves against various Germanic tribes.

Rome finally fell in AD 476, when the Romano-German commander Odoacer (obviously an Ostrogoth), seized power, and named himself king of Italy. With the collapsed of the Western Roman Empire, Western Europe fell under the shadow of the Dark Age.

In AD 493, another Ostrogoth leader, named Theodoric the Great, deposed Odoacer and claimed the kingdom of Italy as his own kingdom.