Invasion Of Western Europe13-1

Germanic Invaders Germanic invaders overran the western

half of the Roman Empire Repeat invasion caused changes that

altered the economy, government and culture

Disruption of Trade Merchants faced invasion from land and

sea Business collapsed Destroyed Europe's cities as economic

centers Money became scarce

Downfall of Cities & Population Shift As the empire fell cities were abandoned

as centers of administration As Roman centers of trade and

government collapsed nobles retreated to rural areas

Roman cities were left without strong leadership

This shift caused most of Western Europe to become rural

Decline of Learning Germanic invaders could not read or

write Among Romans the level of learning

sank sharply and more and more people left for rural areas

Few people except church officials were literate

The knowledge of Greek which was always important was almost lost

Loss of a Common Language As Germanic speaking people mixed with

Roman population Latin changed It was still and official language but no

longer understood Different dialects developed and new

words became a part of everyday speech By 800’s French, Spanish and other Roman

based languages evolved from Latin