Human Heritage: A World History

Chapter 17: The Germans

Web Activity Lesson Plans

“The Germanic Tribes”

Introduction
Students have read about the migration of the Germanic tribes and their effect on the Roman Empire in the West. In this exercise, students will examine various aspects of Germanic culture and history.

Instruction Objectives

1. Students will be able to describe Germanic political, religious, and social customs and reasons behind their migrations.
2. Students will use this information to write a letter describing what the Germanic peoples they have studied are like.

Student Web Activity Answers

1. Comitatus was a term coined by the Roman historian Tacitus that meant a group of soldiers that voluntarily attached itself to a lord. They made oaths and protected the lord in exchange for the protection of the comitatus and wealth.
2. They were pressured by overpopulation.
3. The first complete text in a Germanic language was Wulfila's translation of the Bible into Gothic. It shows some of the worldview of the Goths, because the Bible was translated into the concepts of the Gothic peoples.
4. Clovis' conversion to Roman Christianity was this significant event. He became a great king in Western Europe. He helped spread Roman Christianity instead of Arian Christianity, which had been the religion of most Germanic peoples.
5. Answers will vary, but should pull information about government, religion, military, and other aspects of Germanic life available from the Web site.