The History of the Ostrogoths (378-562)

On the ninth of August 378 AD, a force of Gothic refugees under the command of Fritigern, destroyed a Roman field army at Adrianople. Emperor Valens himself perished during the fighting. Coming from the Pontic steppe, these Goths fled the oppression of the Huns to take refuge in the Roman empire. From this day onwards, various groups of Goths would strive for a safe home inside imperial territory. One of these groups, the Ostrogoths, would eventually establish a powerful kingdom at the heart of the classical empire.
⏰ Timestamps
0:00 - After Adrianople
3:45 - Survival in Pannonia
8:49 - Struggle in the Balkans
12:16 - The Conquest of Italia
16:57 - Theodoric the Great
34:43 - Amalasuintha's regency
38:01 - The Gothic War
🤝 Support
You can support me and donate a Follis or more on Patreon :
/ ancientsight
🎵 Music
www.epidemicsound.com/
Zero Hour - Reynard Seidel
Deconstructing the Empire - Christian Andersen
Desperate Insurgance - Jon Bjork
Survival - Bonnie Grace
Like a Tiger - Jo Wandrini
Where Heroes Come to Die - Hampus Naeselius
Age Of Men - Jo Wandrini
Disciples of Sun Tzu - Christian Andersen
Peacekeepers - Dream Cave
Forging an Empire - Christoffer Moe Ditlevsen
Army of Darkness - Eoin Mantell
Wild Betrayal - Bonnie Grace
The Big Chase - Bonnie Grace
The Last Disaster - Howard Harper-Barnes
Truce No More - Dream Cave
This Is Our Land - Bonnie Grace
The Final Cut - Hampus Naeselius
📚 Sources
- Hans-Ulrich Wiemer, Theodoric the Great - King of the Goths, Ruler of the Romans: Yale; 2023
- Thomas Burns, A History of the Ostrogoths: Indiana; 1984
🌐 Online resources
- Wikipedia fr eng, 2024
- Historical Maps on KZbin

[@btransport1047]

These maps are so incredibly clear. A criminally underrated channel.

[@not_him_again94]

I agree 💯 one of the best Channels I've come across!

[@_gouda7928]

Best Late Roman history content on KZbin

[@LightxHeaven]

The Ostrogoths were spawned through eastern black magic to destroy Rome. How you failed to mention this unbiased part of history is beyond me.

[@geordiejones5618]

The Historian's Craft has some great Late Roman analysis if you haven't checked out his stuff.

[@ttanesquejv7684]

For a good day you need a good news like this

[@vanson7709]

holy heck the dude Liberius lived long enough to see the "fall" of Rome and the reconquest of Rome by the Empire, what a life he had.

[@peterjorgensen1086]

Thank you for this. Not sure it's the right niche but if anyone's very much into Ostrogothic history I strongly recommend Schwerpunkt's relative content. I'd love to see a coop

[@ancientsight]

Video formats of both of us are really different but I'm not closed to it

[@devastator938]

I love the Ostrogoths, they deserve more popularity. Im so hyped

[@cjthebeesknees]

Happy to see you upload again brother, quality work as usual. Ave Ancient Site.

[@Imperium-YT]

Great video as always, mate 😊

[@Artaxias-V]

I have been looking forward to this. Twice the wait time double the quality!

[@ln5321]

My quality has doubled since the last time we met, Count.

[@-NovaRoma.]

Honestly I genuinely believe that anytime now this chanel will blow up and gain many subscribers. Any time now

[@stepanpytlik4021]

The wait was, in the end, worth it. Bravo!

[@digenesakritas]

Best Roman history channel on KZbin. Always high quality!!

[@cristianotaormina8122]

Goated creator 🗣🔥🙏

[@Solow87]

Great video as always!!

[@unusualhistorian1336]

Amazing as always! Love seeing this channel growing as it should!

[@Andy_Babb]

Please keep up the longer videos! Loving this! Thank you

[@GeorgiosLeo]

We are looking forward. ROMA VICTOR

[@NeveroOn]

Roma Victrix! Non Victor! Nam Romae cauda non est :)

[@StoicHistorian]

He’s back!

[@TenOrbital]

Justinian’s reconquest was a calamity.

[@hiskakun2276]

Justinian’s reconquest went well until 540. There was a misunderstanding and miscalculation between Justinian and Belisarius. Justinian wanted peace with the Ostrogoths, so they would become vassal state in the north of the Po river, in order to defend the eastern frontier from the Persians. Belisarius on the other hand, saw that the Ostrogoths were at the edge of collapse, so wanted to continue and finish them all. At the end neither of this happened, no peace, no finished either. Belisarius was recalled to defend the eastern frontier, the Ostrogoths had the time and leader (Totila) they needed. So they started to push back the Romans. The war could’ve ended 20 years earlier if in 540 a peace, agreement could’ve been reached. But the Ostrogoths fought back and it took extra 20 years the end the conflict, and this destroyed Italy.

[@randomuser-xc2wr]

Justinian was a calamity.

[@belis35]

The goths were a calamity

[@TenOrbital]

@@hiskakun2276 - Justinian already had peace with the Ostrogoths. The Ostrogothic king was a Roman patricius and imperial prefect for the lands he ruled, if nominally. Justinian should have left things as they were. The war destroyed Italy as a unitary state and depopulated Rome, which was still a large city before the war.

[@jerry7836]

Glad to have you back! This video is really high quality, it really is a hidden gem!

[@drinci]

Babe, the new Ancient Sight video just dropped!

[@hopeundertheblacksun]

Great video,love your mapping style

[@blindtester]

WHOS WATCHING IN 2024🔥🔥🔥

[@YaBoiBaxter2024]

HERE HERE

[@winstonjames2583]

All of us unless they got the early version

[@qutuveo6332]

@@winstonjames2583I’m watching in 493 AD

[@Andy_Babb]

When else would we be watching? This sh!t just dropped. lol To be fair… I _AM_ watching from your future in 2057. I live on a small island in the pacific, it’s the only land known to be left in the world. There’s this one guy who has gills though and he protects us from Dennis Hopper attacks.

[@Mao_Zedong1927]

HERE HERE

[@nashg2239]

I've been waiting for your next video for so long I almost gave up hope! But seeing the length, detail and art in this video really shows why it took a little while. The amount of research required itself mustve been insane!

[@ancientsight]

This book helped a lot : Hans-Ulrich Wiemer, Theodoric the Great - King of the Goths, Ruler of the Romans: Yale; 2023

[@CARL_093]

thanks bro its worthy of waiting keep it up

[@arthurmorgan3180]

Absolutely amazing video, first time I actually looked into the Ostrogoths history, was damn worth it, W channel🔥🔥

[@Mezzogiorno84]

Very Very Very accurate and well Done!

[@vincesettineri]

Once again fantastic work! Great coverage of the Goths

[@anthonymaduska5483]

Simply brilliant work!

[@InAeternumRomaMater]

Small correction, the Thervingi were Roman federati as well. Being placed in Roman Gothia on the other side of the danube after Constantine the Great re-conquered much of what was the former Dacia Traiana. And in 535, according to Novels XI of "The enactments of Justinian", the Romans reaffirmed their positions on the other side of the danube.

[@andreascovano7742]

GREAT VIDEO!!

[@rockstar450]

Incredibly accurate and factual! Stick with it. Your channel is amazing

[@hallow6970]

Best late antiquity channel out there

[@quitchiboo]

The period between western collapse and eastern renovatio imperii is so freaking interesting, particulariliy if you binge late western empire lore before hand.

[@notrocketscience1950]

wow that was fantastic- thank you

[@christopherevans2445]

The 539 sack of Mediolanium may have been the most devastating sack of the entire gothic war. It was the largest city of Italy at that time (125/150k) and had a rich imperial importance. A very bad stain on Narses who hesitated to help Belisarius get reinforcements to the city. Sad day to a beautiful Roman city

[@sonap004]

I hoped this would be worth the six month wait and boy was I right!

[@ancientsight]

The quality will continue to go up and never again will it take that much time for a video

[@mrcat5508]

@@ancientsightthis video was really good. Never watched you before but just subbed. Suprised you only have 10k subs when it’s on the same quality level as some KZbinrs with millions

[@simonpetrov4195]

We wait for Lombards as next video ! Amazing job, in top 2 of my historical channels !

[@hmao4466]

So good...thank you.

[@ziyadpepe6291]

Great job 👏 Comment for the algorithm.

[@thelasttriumph]

It would be great to see this channel to get 100k followers

[@mohammedsaysrashid3587]

It was a great historical coverage documentary about Astrogothes in the 3rd to 5th AD periods....thank you for sharing

[@cb.1008]

I have no words. How do you have so few subscribers? You manage to keep me glued to the screen. Anyway, what program do you use to create these animations?

[@ancientsight]

Thanks man, really glad to read that

[@ancientsight]

I use Photoshop and After Effects

[@darranwilkins4648]

i take it back boy knows his stuff and guys his delivery is beautiful realy nice man

[@geordiejones5618]

Theodoric the Great is such an underrated European monarch. He was a great warrior, extremely deft politician and before his death you could argue that he rivaled the Eastern Roman and Sassanian rulers in terms of hard and soft power influence. Justinian and Belisarius are very lucky he didn't have a strong successor. Their legacies were elevated by very convenient timing.

[@rakita1389]

Impressive, very nice

[@alehhandro1]

The old movie comes to mind - The Battle for Rome. Used to love it as a kid. It compresses the timeline but you get the gist of what happened between the death of Theodoric and defeat of Totila

[@marvelfannumber1]

Amazing video as always, and really exhaustive. Actually learned some new things here, and it's good to see that your main source is a very recent and up to date book. If I were to have a couple of criticisms, and it's mostly just nitpicks: I like the new detail of having the portraits bobbing, but it can be a bit distracting sometimes imo. Would maybe be better if they only bobbed when they're moving, but not when they're standing still? I also think it's a bit odd you used a 15th Century miniature of Amalasuintha and a coin depicting Justinian for Athalaric when we have genuine ivory portraits of both of them on a diptych. But these are just minor things mostly.

[@ancientsight]

Thank you for your comment it's very welcome. I will take that into consideration

[@ZefiBear]

Please do one on the Visigoths!

[@ancientsight]

One day absolutely

[@someguysomeone3543]

Interesting, most maps put the ostrogoths in pannonia from the 450 until their invasion of of italy. Didn't know those lands were ruled by the gepids.

[@ancientsight]

It's not cristal clear who occupied the region right after the departure of the Goths. But the Gepids definitely were the bigger players

[@eem8039]

What I like about these maps is the way the Romanians pop up when the smoke is cleared

[@darranwilkins4648]

nice pod cast and yountube voice slanchivar

[@ameralahmari5922]

You are like woody allen, I don't know what the world would be without you.

[@ancientsight]

Thanks man!

[@NeveroOn]

Sadly that the Romans did not do Cannae to those Ostrogoths in the beginning and the to the Visigoths as well.

[@YaBoiBaxter2024]

When we needed him most, he came!

[@user-ri1ti6go7s]

The maps and history were very detailed and very clear. They got around didn't they those goths!

[@Rolilasx]

Well, I look forward to watching this one, the late estern Roman period is not very known to me.

[@CaptainGrimes1]

Love these videos about the barbarians and how the land under their control changed, really helps to see what was actually going on in a very confusing and ever changing period. One question I have though is given the size and population of the Roman Empire why weren't they able to conquer the barbarians one by one?

[@ancientsight]

Really interesting question that's hard to answer in a few sentences. But in short, population size is one parameter among many that are able to influence the balance of power among states.

[@TrajGreekFire]

Totila my beloved gothic king

[@hopeundertheblacksun]

King without a kingdom

[@devastator938]

heil totilvs rex

[@TrajGreekFire]

@@hopeundertheblacksun you look at the borders before his battle with Narses

[@FieldHoodGaming]

Thank you for narrating and illustrating this story. Was it a Roman failure to not learn how to deal with the Goths? After the reconquest of North Africa assimilation between the Romans and the Goths could have been possible. A coalition between the Romans and Goths could of form to reconquer Gallia and England.

[@chrisand3286]

Nothing but respect for Theoderic

[@ancientsight]

A true towering figure of his age

[@Vuks8]

Some of these early Gothic names are Serbo-Slovanic. Vidimir in direct translation means" The look of peace".

[@eem8039]

Is a mess I am from Romania and many people here believe this so called history is bull shit

[@Alternativecactus]

We are so back

[@NaneRulz]

Chuckled at 26:34.

[@CaptainGrimes1]

Why

[@Avinkwep]

*Bring down the Roman Empire *set up in the same spot as the Romans *Usher in an age of prosperity *fall like the Romans The Gothic experience was wild

[@Jaruleks]

Really good done video. Unfortunately this period is little represented in popular culture although no less interesting than classical times.

[@xavisanchez7522]

Ostrogoths and visigoths are also roman citizens, but they managed the army side while the ancient roman senate became the pretorians and they voted for a pope. A system that is still today in use

[@Awesomewithaz]

I was here

[@Someoneoutthere-mt6jp]

Babe wake up Ancient Sight posted a new video

[@kristiawanindriyanto5765]

Visigoth next ?

[@ancientsight]

Not next but definitely one day. Hopefully soon. It will probably be a mini-series of its own or perhaps a single take like this one

[@kristiawanindriyanto5765]

@@ancientsight looking forward to it

[@autismmoder2104]

THEODORIC THE BETTER THAN JUSTINIAN LETS GOOOOOO

[@-NovaRoma.]

Justinian conquered more lands, justinians empire conquered theodorics , justinian was a better leader making many reforms and he knew who to pick to get a job done

[@gen_henry9836]

I thought that "Theodoric Strabo fell on his own spear and died" was a joke/exaggeration/eufemism for "was murdered by Theodoric Amal", not something that actually happened

[@KARADJORDJIJE]

Goths coming in Balkan from Scandinavia..you have today in Sweden area name Gothland..they had a battle against Huns near Crimea and Huns defeat them..after that they coming in Balkan..now in South West Serbia..you have their genetics..they are tall strong and blonde people..light brown hair etc..haplogroup I1..its a german haplogroup..in Montenegro tribe Drobnjaci is Goths..I1

[@limoneadeGlass]

You embody the legacy of the late Historia Civilis, before he went mad and fell into ironical commentary. I therefore grant you the title of Restitutor Orbis of historical youtube!

[@Zyzyx442]

Gundobad, wonder if this wher Tolkien got the name Gundabad from?

[@toasterman5412]

Justinian's greatest mistake was destroying the kingdom of otsrogoths

[@hiskakun2276]

Justinian’s reconquest went well until 540. There was a misunderstanding and miscalculation between Justinian and Belisarius. Justinian wanted peace with the Ostrogoths, so they would become vassal state in the north of the Po river, in order to defend the eastern frontier from the Persians. Belisarius on the other hand, saw that the Ostrogoths were at the edge of collapse, so wanted to continue and finish them all. At the end neither of this happened, no peace, no finished either. Belisarius was recalled to defend the eastern frontier, the Ostrogoths had the time and leader (Totila) they needed. So they started to push back the Romans. The war could’ve ended 20 years earlier if in 540 a peace, agreement could’ve been reached. But the Ostrogoths fought back and it took extra 20 years the end the conflict, and this destroyed Italy.

[@derek6579]

Very good, a period of history really ignored. Justinian was an idiot, Theodosius gets my vote!

[@zaklinakovace6792]

This Gots have slavic names how come? Valamit etc...

[@DimitarDimitrov-bk4xm]

Yes! The Ostrogoths are Thracians (Bulgarians).

[@zaklinakovace6792]

​@@DimitarDimitrov-bk4xm Bulgarians😮. You are jot Slavs and their names are Slavic

[@dmcf236]

下一个视频是 what

[@Staerkebombe]

*the strongest rivals to the Romans, as always, were the germanic tribes, teaching the Romans many lessons in all fields of human knowledge, not just war...*

[@vattghern257]

I very appreciate your videos. This part of history is always overlooked in history books. PS: Theodemir sounds like a slavic name despite it being a name for germanic man. Maybe this was the growing influence of Slavic people who begun to migrate after the fall of Hunnic empire and great powershift.

[@unanec]

Yhe downfall of rome is my favourite historical period

[@gheddafiduck8239]

VAAAAAAAAAAALEEEEEEEENS!!!!!!!!

[@konstancemakjaveli]

I think its not unreasonable to say that Justinian destroyed Italy

[@polomarco7575]

I totally agree

[@brandontheodore7494]

The Goths deserve a greater part of the blame for the destruction of Italy they sacked cities like Milan and murdered important local Italo-Roman aristocrats and their families including children btw

[@hiskakun2276]

Better say it was Totila. Justinian’s reconquest went well until 540. There was a misunderstanding and miscalculation between Justinian and Belisarius. Justinian wanted peace with the Ostrogoths, so they would become vassal state in the north of the Po river, in order to defend the eastern frontier from the Persians. Belisarius on the other hand, saw that the Ostrogoths were at the edge of collapse, so wanted to continue and finish them all. At the end neither of this happened, no peace, no finished either. Belisarius was recalled to defend the eastern frontier, the Ostrogoths had the time and leader (Totila) they needed. So they started to push back the Romans. The war could’ve ended 20 years earlier if in 540 a peace, agreement could’ve been reached. But the Ostrogoths fought back and it took extra 20 years the end the conflict, and this destroyed Italy.

[@konstancemakjaveli]

@@hiskakun2276 nah man, justinian didnt even need to invade. Ostroghots were already a tributary, nevertheless the fact they wanted a total victory rather than just basic reconquest of italy. By the end of the war, Italy was devestated and a shadow.

[@boogiesmell5181]

Lots of bots in this comment section. Tiring reading... Examples: "Babe wake up Ancient Sight posted a new video" and "Babe, the new Ancient Sight video just dropped!" Yah well done bot-bros, that is totally what a human would write, 100010101110! 😄 No one else finds the narrators voice annoying and forced? There's no passion in the voice, he's just reading a script, and reading it rather poorly at that. Something to improve on. Whoever says this is the best channel on Roman history has never seen Historia Civilis. Not to be all negative, I really appreciate that the sources are included! That shows great integrity. Also I like that no unnecessary "jokes" were forced into the narrative. Keep it up, you're on the right path.

[@hopeundertheblacksun]

I agree with you about the narration but the main reason i watch the videos is because of the beautiful maps

[@ancientsight]

That's a useful feedback, I take that into consideration

[@GHST995]

The dark ages, not so dark.

[@mango2005]

I dont think they were that barbaric. Theodoric governed Italy better than a lot of the 5th Century Roman emperors.

[@DimitarDimitrov-bk4xm]

Тhe Ostrogoths, are Thracians( Bulgarians)!

[@johnking6252]

Aryan Heretics also known as the ostrogoths !! Cool shit 🤪🤪👍

[@fatemosasaur]

how i feel after finding out how europe was dominated by goth mommys at a point

[@peterpim6260]

Sorry, quite an entertaining subject, but this non-english accent is unbearable.

[@NeveroOn]

Which accent? xD