Episode 26: Imperial Crisis and the Goths

As the English Civil War raged in the 1640s, English grammarians wrote about several developments in the language, including a new sound appearing in the word “vision” and new ways of describing future actions and events. The military conflict was also shaping the language by con ...  Afficher plus

During the decade of the 1640s, England was divided by Civil War. At the same time, the sound of letter of U was also experiencing its own division, ultimately resulting in two distinct ‘long’ sounds and two distinct ‘short’ sounds. In this episode, we explore those developments ...  Afficher plus

The Goths are renowned for many things, not least sacking Rome in 410 AD and helping to bring about the fall of the Western Roman Empire. They were a 'barbarian' people from across the Danube who began migrating into the Empire during the 3rd and 4th centuries, pushed out of t ...

In the late 4th century and early 5th centuries two massive largely-Germanic confederations arrived on Roman borders, having been uprooted from their homelands by the Huns. These were the Goths and the Vandals. Both peoples would become prime enemies of the Roman Empires in the E ...  Afficher plus

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the great Roman military disaster of 9 AD when Germanic tribes under Arminius ambushed and destroyed three legions under Varus. According to Suetonius, emperor Augustus hit his head against the wall when he heard the news, calling on Varus to give ...  Afficher plus

In the 430s the Romans dealt with increasingly agressive and confident barbarian tribes living both inside and outside the traditional borders of the Empire.