Germanic tribes, Roman frontier and the Frankish Empire
The Germanic peoples are thought to have emerged from the Jastorf culture during the Nordic Bronze Age or early Iron Age.[22][23] From southern Scandinavia and northern Germany, they expanded south, east, and west, coming into contact with the Celtic, Iranian, Baltic, and Slavic tribes.[24][25] Southern Germany was inhabited by Celtic-speaking peoples, who belonged to the wider La Tène culture. They were later assimilated by the Germanic conquerors.[26]
Under Augustus, the Roman Empire began to invade lands inhabited by the Germanic tribes, creating a short-lived Roman province of Germania between the Rhine and Elbe rivers. In 9 AD, three Roman legions were defeated by Arminius in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest.[27][28] The outcome of this battle dissuaded the Romans from their ambition of conquering Germania and is thus considered one of the most important events in European history.[29] By 100 AD, when Tacitus wrote Germania, Germanic tribes had settled along the Rhine and the Danube (the Limes Germanicus), occupying most of modern Germany.[30] However, Baden-Württemberg, southern Bavaria, southern Hesse and the western Rhineland had been incorporated into Roman provinces.[31][32][33]
Around 260, Germanic peoples broke into Roman-controlled lands.[34] After the invasion of the Huns in 375, and with the decline of Rome from 395, Germanic tribes moved farther southwest: the Franks established the Frankish Kingdom and pushed east to subjugate Saxony and Bavaria. Areas of modern eastern Germany were inhabited by Western Slavic tribes.[31]