The World War and What was Behind It | Page 9

the Germans and they might
have been successful but for a young German chief named Arminius.
He had lived in Rome as a young man and had learned the Romans'
method of war; so when an army came against his tribe, he taught the
Germans how to defend themselves. As a result, the Roman army was
trapped in a big forest and slaughtered, almost to a man.

[Illustration: Gaius Julius Caesar. From a bust in the British Museum]
This defeat ended any thought that the Romans may have had of
conquering all Germany. For the next one hundred and fifty years,
Germans and Romans lived apart, each afraid of the other. Then came a
time when the Germans again became the attacking party. Other fiercer
and wilder peoples, like the Huns, were assailing them in the east and
pushing them forward. They finally broke over the Rhine-Danube
boundary and poured across the Roman Empire in wave after wave.
Some of these tribes were the Vandals, Burgundians, Goths, Franks,
and Lombards. The Roman Empire went to pieces under their savage
attacks.
Questions for Review
1. Why is it that after nations become civilized, people need less land to
live on? 2. Are barbarous tribes more likely to engage in war than
civilized peoples? 3. Explain why clubs were the earliest weapons and
why the more civilized tribes were better armed than the barbarians. 4.
Can a people be said to be civilized when they enjoy bloodshed and are
not moved by the sufferings of others? 5. What was it that lowered the
morals of the Roman republic? 6. In what way were the Germans better
men than the later Romans? 7. What was the religion of the Moors and
the Arabs? 8. Why did the German tribes invade the Roman empire?
CHAPTER III
From Chiefs to Kings
The early chief a fighter.--The club the sign of power.--Free men led by
a chief of their own choosing.--The first slaves.--Barbarians conquer
civilized nations.--A ruling class among conquered people.--All men no
longer free and equal.--The value of arms and armor.--The robber
chiefs.--How kings first came.--Treaties between tribes follow constant
wars.--Tribes unite for protection against enemies.--A king is chosen
for the time being.--Some kings refuse to resign their office when the
danger is past.--New generations grow up which never knew a kingless
state.--The word "king" becomes sacred.

The chiefs of the invading tribes knew no law except the rule of the
sword. If they saw anything which they wanted, they took it. Rich cities
were plundered at will. They did not admit any man's ownership of
anything. In the old days when the tribes were roaming around, there
was no private ownership of land. Everything belonged to the tribe in
common. Each man had a vote in the council of the tribe.
Among these invaders, as with all barbarous tribes, there was no such
thing as an absolute rule. A chief was obeyed because the greater part
of his people considered him the best leader in war. Often, no doubt,
when a chief had lost a battle and the majority of the tribe had lost
confidence in him, he resigned and let them choose a new chief. (For
the same reason we frequently hear today that the prime minister, or
leader of the government, of some European country has resigned.) In
spite of the fact, then, that the chief was stronger than any other man in
the tribe, if the majority of his warriors had combined against him to
put another man in his place he could not have withstood them.
Government, in its beginning, was based upon the consent of the
governed. All men in the primitive tribe were equal in rank, except as
one was a better fighter than another, and the chief held the leadership
in war only because the members of his tribe allowed him to keep it.
[Illustration: A Frankish Chief.]
It must be remembered that in these early days, the people had no fixed
place of abode. Their only homes were rude huts which they could put
up or tear down at very short notice; and so when they heard of more
fertile lands or a warmer climate across the mountains to the south they
used to pull up stakes and migrate in a body, never to return. It was
always the more savage and uncivilized peoples who were most likely
to migrate. The lands which they wished to seize they generally found
already settled by other tribes, more civilized and hence more peaceful,
occupied in trade and agriculture, having gradually turned to these
pursuits from their former habits of hunting and fighting. Sometimes
these more civilized and peace-loving people were able, by their better
weapons and superior knowledge of the art of fortifying, to beat back
the invasion of the