Editing History of Germany (section)

=== Migration Period and decline of the Western Roman Empire ===
{{Main|Migration Period|Decline of the Western Roman Empire}}

Rome's [[Third Century Crisis]] coincided with the emergence of a number of large West Germanic tribes: the [[Alamanni]], [[Franks]], [[Bavarii]], [[Chatti]], [[Saxons]], [[Frisii]], [[Sicambri]], and [[Thuringii]]. By the 3rd century the Germanic speaking peoples began to migrate beyond the ''[[Limes (Roman Empire)|limes]]'' and the Danube frontier.{{Sfn|Bowman|Garnsey|Cameron|2005|p=442}} Several large tribes – the [[Visigoths]], [[Ostrogoths]], [[Vandals]], [[Burgundians]], [[Lombards]], [[Saxons]] and [[Franks]] – migrated and played their part in the [[decline of the Roman Empire]] and the transformation of the old [[Western Roman Empire]].{{Sfn|Heather|2010}} By the end of the 4th century the [[Huns]] invaded eastern and central Europe, establishing the [[Hunnic Empire]]. The event triggered the [[Migration Period]].<ref name="Halsall2007">{{Cite book |last=Halsall |first=Guy |title=Barbarian Migrations and the Roman West, 376–568 |date=20 December 2007 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-5214-3491-1 |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=S7ULzYGIj8oC&pg=PP1 1ff.] |author-link=Guy Halsall}}</ref> Hunnic hegemony over a vast territory in central and eastern Europe lasted until the death of [[Attila]]'s son [[Dengizich]] in 469.{{Sfn|Heather|2006|p=349|ps=: "By 469, just sixteen years after [Attila's] death, the last of the Huns were seeking asylum inside the eastern Roman Empire."}} Another pivotal moment in the Migration Period was the [[Crossing of the Rhine]] in December of 406 by a large group of tribes including [[Vandals]], [[Alans]] and [[Suebi]] who settled permanently within the crumbling Western Roman Empire.<ref name="Empired Besieged">{{Cite book |title=Empires Besieged |date=1988 |publisher=Time-Life Books |isbn=0-7054-0974-0 |location=Amsterdam |page=38 |chapter=The Roman Decline |ol=11194180M |quote=For on the bitterly cold night of 31 December 406, there was apparently no Roman army on guard when a host of Vandal, Alan, Suevi and Burgundian warriors, with their families and possessions, crossed the frozen Rhine and headed southwest through Gaul. This time, Rome's frontiers had been breached by barbarians who meant to stay.}}</ref>