I. The Germans
The boundaries of the northern part of the empire were at the Rhine and Danube rivers. The people to the north of the empire were called "Germans" by the Romans and were though of as barbarians or savages. The Germans were actually made up of tribes, but they conquered one another frequently, and so they would change tribes often. The Germans were farmers and traders, often trading goods with the Romans to their south. Many of the tribes also adopted Roman culture because of how close they were to the Romans. The Romans sometimes hired the Germans near the borders to fight other Germans who posed a threat to the empire. They sometimes even hired the Germans as soldiers.
III. The Threat of the Germans
When Alaric became leader of the Visigoths, he took his men through the Balkans and then into Italy to get food and money from Rome. This happened from 395-401. The Romans denied his his request, so he besieged Rome and got 5,000 pounds of gold and 30,000 pounds of silver. Just a couple of years later, he thought that he deserved part of Italy and decided to sack Rome for three days. Not long afterwards, Alaric died and the Visigoths moved to southern Gaul and Spain and became allies again with Rome. Following the Visigoths example, the Burgundians moved to southern Gaul, the Franks to northern Gaul, and the Vandals along with their leader Gaiseric went all the way to Carthage and took over. The Romans decided to bring their forces inward and to leave the borders to the Germans. They took away their forces in Britain allowing the Saxons to take over that part of the empire. Rome was now giving control to other people, which proved to be a fatal mistake.
IV. Role of Masters of the Soldiers
Most of the western part of the Roman Empire had been taken over by Germans in the middle of the fifth century. Much of the power was now in Rome, but key officials in the military call Masters of the Soldierswere also very powerful. Three very important Masters of the Soldiers were Stilicho, Aetius, and Ricimer. Stilicho as well as Ricimer was a German, but Aetius was a Roman. They also stayed on the Germans' good side in order to keep the power they had. The Masters of the Soldiers weren't even safe though. Stilicho was ordered to be executed by Honorius and Aetius was killed by Valentinian. The city of Rome wasn't safe either. The Romans didn't follow through on a deal with Gaeseric, and he sacked Rome. After twenty one years of the empire being battered, Odoacer, who was a German and a Master of the Soldiers, took control of Rome from Romulus Augustulus. Zeno, the emperor in Constantinople was still in charge of the empire even though Odoacer took over the west. Eventually the Roman rule was completely gone, but the culture still lived on in the Germans.