Directory:Visigoths
<embed> <script src="http://www.google-analytics.com/urchin.js" type="text/javascript"> </script> <script type="text/javascript"> _uacct = "UA-38898916-1"; urchinTracker(); </script> </embed> The Visigoths (Western Goths) were one of two main branches of the Goths, an East Germanic tribe (the Ostrogoths being the other). Together these tribes were among the loosely-termed Germanic peoples who disturbed the late Roman Empire during the Migration Period.
Most famously, a Visigothic force led by King Alaric I succeeded in storming Rome itself in 410 A.D.
After the collapse of the western Roman Empire, the Visigoths played a major role in western European affairs for another two and a half centuries.