:: Germany > HISTORY > Germanic Tribes Early History: Celts, Germanic Tribes and Romans For about a millenium before the expansion of the Roman empire, most of modern day's Europe belonged to the Celtic empire. It stretched from Ireland to Turkey and from Spain to the western part of today's Germany. The Celts or Gauls - well known to everybody through "Asterix and Obelix" - were country folk, loosely connected through culture and religion, without a central power or a capital. They lived in small settlements or villages. Urban life was alien to them. So when they seized and plundered Rome in 390 BC, they decided against settling in the city, but rather let it go again for an enormous ransom. The threat the Celts (Gauls) posed, had actually caused the Romans to develop and organise their military. And eventually they were able to subdue the Celts west of the Rhine and south of the Main river.

Hermann the Cheruscan - also called "Arminius" - after his victory over the Romans in the Teutoburg Forest. He was raised in Rome and knew the Roman military tactics very well. (Germanising kitsch painting from the Wilhelminian era)

The larger part of Germany, east of the Rhine and north of the Main, had over hundreds of years become the new homeland of Germanic tribes who had migrated south from Denmark and Sweden, driven by famine and overpopulation in Scandinavia. There was no ethnic pride or racism. Wherever they settled, they mixed with the indigenous population, Chatts, Bajuwars, Alemans and others. The Germanic culture, language and religion, however, turned out to be dominant. Evolving common languages formed part of the Germanic family. The best known of the Germanic tribes were the Cimbers and Teutons. These Germanic peoples migrated further, as far as Spain, looking for land to settle, were repeatedly defeated by the Romans and pushed back to central and northern Europe. The Romans still attempted to subdue them. The heterogenous society of the Germanic tribes had not enough of a structure to be lastingly subjugated. Hundreds of tribes, thousands of clans in ever varying alliances rendered any victory on the battlefield fruitless: You turn your back, and they just carry on as if nothing had happened. A messy situation. The Romans were frustrated, and after their devastating defeat by the Franconian tribe of the Cheruscans under their leader Hermann in 9 AD in the Teutoburg Forest, they changed their policy to one of friendly trade relations. The Romans built the wall Limes to at least confine the Germanic barbarians to the northern regions. The Limes runs from the Rhine town of Koblenz to the Danube at Regensburg. With 568 kilometres it is the biggest still visible archeological site in Europe (UNESCO World Heritage). The Roman army installed about 900 watchtowers and 60 fortresses. A large number of towns was founded along the border, trade flourished and the Roman province of Gallia - today western Germany and France - was equipped with sophisticated administration and infrastructure. There are magnificent remains of the Roman period, amphitheatres, aqueducts and thermal baths, for the traveller of today to visit. Trier (Augusta Treverorum), Aachen and Cologne (Colonia Agrippinensis) boast some of the most prominent proofs of the cultivating impact of the Romans. The Roman-Germanic Museum in Cologne has a huge number of excellent exhibits, superbly presented, on the prehistory, the Roman phase and the Christianisation of Germany.

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Limes tower

Celtic houses

Porta Nigra - Trier