Editing Ostrogoths (section)

===Hunnic invasions and the Amals===
{{Main|History of the Huns}}
[[File:Invasions of the Roman Empire 1.png|thumb|upright=1.2|Routes taken by Germanic invaders during the [[Migration Period]]]]
In the late 4th century, the rise of the [[Huns]] forced many of the Goths and Alans to join them, while others moved westwards and eventually moved into Roman territory in the [[Balkans]]. Ostrogoths and Greuthungi, perhaps the same people, are believed to have been among the first Goths who were subdued by the Huns.{{sfn|Bury|2000|p=55}} Many Greuthungi entered the Roman Empire in 376 with [[Saphrax and Alatheus]], and many of these Goths probably subsequently joined Alaric, contributing to the formation of the [[Visigothic kingdom]].{{sfn|Heather|1999}} A group of Ostrogoths and Greuthungi were also settled in Phrygia in the 380s by the Romans.{{sfn|Heather|1996|pp=52–55}} Otherwise, historical records only begin to mention the name of the Ostrogoths as the Gothic political entity that formed in the Balkans during the 5th century.{{sfn|Heather|1996|pp=151–161}} The Amal-led Ostrogothic kingdom began to coalesce around the leadership of the [[Amal dynasty]] who had fought under [[Attila]], and later settled in [[Pannonia]].{{sfn|Heather|1996|pp=109–110, 135}} The second major component of the Amal kingdom's population were the [[Thracian Goths]]. This occurred around 483/484.{{sfn|Heather|2007|p=73}}{{sfn|Heather|2003|p=90}}

====5th-century Pannonian Ostrogoths====
[[File:Europe and the Near East at 476 AD.png|thumb|upright=1.2|[[Barbarian kingdoms]] and tribes after the [[fall of the Western Roman Empire]] in 476]]
The Pannonian Ostrogoths had fought alongside both Alans and Huns.{{sfn|Todd|1999|p=177}} Like several other tribal peoples, they became one of the many Hunnic vassals fighting in Europe, as in the [[Battle of Chalons]] in 451, where the Huns were defeated by the Roman general Aetius, accompanied by a contingent of Alans, and Visigoths.{{sfn|Kim|2013|pp=75, 77}} Jordanes' account of this battle certainly cannot be trusted as he wrongly attributes a good portion of the victory to the Goths, when it was the Alans who formed the "backbone of Roman defences."{{sfn|Kim|2013|p=77}} More generally, Jordanes, depicts the Amals as an ancient royal family in his ''Getica'', making them traditionally preeminent among the Goths in Ukraine, both before and during the empire of Attila. [[Valamir]], the uncle of Theodoric the Great, is even depicted as Attila's most highly valued leader along with [[Ardaric]] of the Gepids.{{sfn|Jordanes|1915|p=107 [38.199–200]}} Modern historians such as [[Peter Heather]] believe this is an exaggeration, and point out that there were at least three factions of Goths in Attila's forces.{{sfn|Heather|2009|p=222}}{{sfn|Heather|2007|pp=46–47, 72–73}}

The recorded history of the Ostrogoths as a political entity thus begins with their independence from the remains of the Hunnic Empire following the death of [[Attila the Hun]] in 453. Under Valimir they were among the peoples who were living in the [[Middle Danube]] region by this time, and whose freedom from domination by Attila's sons was confirmed by the [[Battle of Nedao]] in 454, which was led by the [[Gepids]]. It is unclear what role the Goths played in this battle, if any, and after the battle many Goths entered Roman military service, while only some began to coalesce under the leadership of Valamir and his two brothers, Vidimir and [[Theodemir (Ostrogothic king)|Theodemir]], the father of [[Theodoric the Great]].{{sfn|Burns|1984|pp=52–53}}

These Amal-led Goths apparently first settled in the Pannonian area of [[Lake Balaton]] and Sirmium ([[Sremska Mitrovica]]), on the Roman Danube frontier. The land they acquired between Vindobona (Vienna) and Sirmium ([[Sremska Mitrovica]]) was not well-managed, a fact which rendered the Ostrogoths dependent upon Constantinople for subsidies.{{sfn|Todd|1999|p=178}}{{sfn|Wolfram|1988|pp=260–261}} They came into conflict with other [[Middle Danube|Middle Danubian]] peoples including the Danubian [[Suebian]] kingdom of [[Hunimund]], and the [[Sciri]], who had arrived as part of the Hunnic empire, and this led to the death of Valimir, and eventual Gothic victory at the [[Battle of Bolia]] in 469, now under Theodemir. Theodemir, father of Theoderic, brought these Goths into East Roman territory in 473/474.{{sfn|Heather|2003|p=86}} The younger uncle of Theoderic, Vidimir, with his like-named son and some of the Pannonian Goths, headed to Italy and his son was eventually settled in Gaul.{{sfn|Wolfram|1988|pp=188, 268}}

[[File:Hermitage hall 033 - 04.jpg|thumb|The Concesti helmet was found among the burial goods of a probable Ostrogothic Prince. [[Hermitage Museum]].{{sfn|Nicholson|2018|p=378}}]] 
Theodemir and Theoderic moved their Goths around the Balkans, while in the meantime, the Thracian Goths were the main focus of Gothic power. For some time they held a part of Macedonia, controlling part of the [[Via Egnatia]] between the major Roman cities of [[Durrës]] and [[Thessalonika]]. Theodemir died in [[Cyrrhus (Macedonia)|Cyrrhus]] in 474, having made sure that Theoderic (the future "Great") was designated as successor. In the same year, the other Theoderic ("Strabo"), fell out of favour with the new emperor Zeno.{{sfn|Wolfram|1988|pp=269–270}}

====5th-century Thracian Goths====
The 5th century Thracian Goths, according to Peter Heather, had probably become unified only in about the 460s, although they probably lived in the area since the 420s when a group of Goths under Hunnic influence already in Pannonia were detached and settled there.{{sfn|Heather|2003|pp=88, 91}} Wolfram has proposed that Theoderic Strabo was an Amal, whose father had split with Theoderic's branch only as recently as the time of the Battle of Nadao.{{sfn|Wolfram|1988|pp=32, 260}}

They formed a military force which was loyal to [[Aspar]], the East Roman ''magister militum'' ("master of soldiers") of Alanic-Gothic descent, who was killed in 471. Aspar's death saw a change in the East Roman approach to Gothic military forces which he had been allied to. Theoderic Strabo led a revolt in 473 and was declared king of the Goths. As Wolfram noted, "His elevation as king in Thrace in 473 parallels the elevation of [[Odoacer]] in 476. [...] A Roman federate army sought to force through its demands by making its general king".{{sfn|Wolfram|1988|p=268}} He demanded to be recognized as the "sole Gothic king to whom all deserters had to be returned [...] and he further demanded the settling of his people in Thrace as well as the surrender of the institutional and material inheritance of Aspar. It took more bloodshed and devastation before the emperor formally agreed to the demands and promised in addition to pay two thousand pounds of gold each year." In return his Goths were ready to fight for Rome, except for a campaign against the [[Vandal kingdom]] in North Africa.{{sfn|Wolfram|1988|p=269}}

With the death of [[Leo II (Emperor)|Emperor Leo II]], and the succession of Aspar's old rival [[Zeno (Emperor)|Emperor Zeno]] in 474, the situation for the old Gothic party became increasingly difficult in the eastern empire, and Theoderic Strabo lost the support of the emperor. The younger Theoderic, son of Theodemir, was able to benefit from this.{{sfn|Wolfram|1988|p=270}}

====Theodoric the Great and the Thracians====
About 476, Zeno, having removed support from Theoderic Strabo, started to give important honours to Theoderic, the son of Theodemir. He was adopted as a "son in arms", named as a friend of the emperor, and given the status of ''patricius'' and commander-in-chief. His kingdom, now based on the [[Lower Danube]] in Moesia, was recognized as a federate kingdom and granted (at least in theory) an annual subsidy.{{sfn|Wolfram|1988|p=270}} However, when Zeno forced the two Gothic groups into a confrontation in 478, Theoderic Strabo petitioned the Amal-led Goths, making a case for Gothic unity.{{sfn|Wolfram|1988|pp=271–272}} Strabo also appealed to Zeno, but Zeno made new offers to Theoderic the Amal instead, but these were rejected. Warfare between the Goths and imperial forces ensued, and the Amal-led Goths once again became mobile, leaving Moesia. Zeno proposed a new federate kingdom for them in Dacia, north of the Danube, but instead the Goths attempted to take Durrës; however, Roman forces quickly repulsed them.{{sfn|Wolfram|1988|pp=271–274}}

Between 479 and 481, it was the Thracian Goths under Theoderic Strabo who kept the Romans occupied, but in 481 Strabo died, when he fell from his horse and was impaled on a lance. His son Recitac was unable to retain Gothic support and was killed in 484 under orders from Theoderic the Amal, who united the two Gothic groups. Zeno was forced to conclude a treaty and Theoderic the Amal was named consul in 484. Hostilities between Theoderic the Amal's Goths and the Eastern Roman Empire began again by 487.{{sfn|Wolfram|1988|pp=276–278}}