Several ancient sources list subdivisions of the Germanic tribes. Writing in the first century CE, Pliny the Elder lists five Germanic subgroups: the Vandili, the Inguaeones, the Istuaeones (living near the Rhine), the Hermiones (in the Germanic interior), and the Peucini Basternae (living on the lower Danube near the Dacians). In chapter 2 of the Germania, written about a half …

The earliest soldiers of the Roman army were hoplites. Census data from the Roman Kingdom shows the soldiers were hoplites who fought in a Phalanx formation similar to how the Greek soldiers of this period fought. Cavalrymen went into battle with their torsos bare. The legion of the Early Roman Republic was divided into thirty sets of 120–160 men strong maniples organized …

Project Riese was the code name for an unfinished construction project undertaken by Nazi Germany between 1943 and 1945. It consisted of seven underground structures in the Owl Mountains and Książ Castle – pictured here in 2014 – in Lower Silesia (now part of Poland). The purpose of the project remains uncertain because of a lack of documentation.

Romanians speak a language originating from the dialects of the Roman provinces north of the "Jireček Line".This line divided, in Roman times, the predominantly Greek-speaking southern provinces from those where Latin was the principal language of communication. The emergence of Proto-Romanian from Vulgar Latin is first demonstrated by the words "torna, torna, frater" …

The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, described as the Varian Disaster (Clades Variana) by Roman historians, took place at modern Kalkriese in AD 9, when an alliance of Germanic peoples ambushed Roman legions and their auxiliaries, led by Publius Quinctilius Varus.The alliance was led by Arminius, a Germanic officer of Varus's auxilia.Arminius had acquired Roman …

The Limes Germanicus (Latin for Germanic frontier) is the name given in modern times to a line of frontier fortifications that bounded the ancient Roman provinces of Germania Inferior, Germania Superior and Raetia, dividing the Roman Empire and the unsubdued Germanic tribes from the years 83 to about 260 AD. The Limes used either a natural boundary such as a river or …

This list of ancient Germanic peoples is an inventory of ancient Germanic cultures, tribal groupings and other alliances of Germanic tribes and civilisations in ancient times. The information comes from various ancient historical documents, beginning in the 2nd century BC and extending into late antiquity.By the Early Middle Ages, early forms of kingship began to …

The Danube river formed the Danubian limes (limes Danubii), a defensive line separating Upper and Lower Austria from the Germanic tribes of the Marcomanni and Quadi. The Romans built many cities that survive today. They include Vindobona , Juvavum , Valdidena , and Brigantium .

This is a chronology of warfare between the Romans and various Germanic peoples (living in land called Germania) between 113 BC and 476.The nature of these wars varied through time between Roman conquest, Germanic uprisings and later Germanic invasions of the Western Roman Empire that started in the late second century BC. The series of conflicts was one …

The German name for Franconia, Franken, comes from the dative plural form of Franke, a member of the Germanic tribe known as the Franks. The name of the Franks in turn derives from a word meaning "daring, bold", cognate with old Norwegian frakkr, "quick, bold". Franks from the Middle and Lower Rhine gradually gained control of (and so gave their name to) what is now …