The Germanic Invasions: The Making of Europe Ad 400-600

Though this work was originally published in 1965, the fact that new editions of the English translation are still being published shows that its usefulness is still recognized. The period of the "barbarian" invasions of the western Roman Empire can be confusing. There were many different cultures, of separate origins and speaking a variety of languages, their peregrinations often overlapping. Many of them joined together in alliances, broke apart again, and fought each other as well as the Romans and the Romanized barbarians who had arrived earlier. But most Americans of European origin are more likely to carry the DNA of the Visigoths, Vandals, Lombards, or Franks, than we are of the Romans. Musset divides his work into three parts, the first of which I would especially recommend to beginners in this subject. It's called "The Facts" and it runs about 150 well-written, easily comprehended pages. Rather than considering each of the migrating peoples individually, because they so often interact with each other, he deals with the subject chronologically, examining each of the five major waves of invaders by land over four centuries, plus the maritime migrations of the Germanic Saxons, Angles, and Jutes to Britain. The second section is "Unsolved Problems and Subjects for Further Research," which is still largely valid even after almost forty-five years. While new schools of historical thought and method have taken power, there are still many unanswered questions. In fact, this section could be very useful in getting students to think for themselves. The third section, "Sources and Studies," is probably the least useful at this late date, being an unannotated bibliography of more than five hundred primary and secondary sources, both books and journal articles -- most of them, not surprisingly, in languages other than English. Still, the primary sources themselves haven't changed (though interpretations of them have), and certain classic secondary works, like J. B. Bury, are certainly still worth reading.