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In AD 410, the Goth hordes sacked the city. This event symbolised Rome's collapse. Within 70 years, the western empire - what we think of as Ancient Rome - was abandoned. But it should never have happened at all.

Since Caesar's days, Germanic warriors and Roman legionaries had often met in battle. Rome's power seemed invincible. But then, in the year 9 AD, the Germans mounted a rebellion.

In the fourth episode of the series, Clovis was the first Frankish king to acknowledge the Christian faith. This changed the direction of Europe's history.

On the second part of his journey through the dark ages Richard Rudgley continues into the age of the wandering peoples, the Volkerwanderung. These Northern people enjoyed a golden age unaffected by Rome and just 30 years after the Romans relinquished Britain, the 'Anglo-Saxons' made their move. The bedraggled legions are in retreat. Walls are pulled down. Mosaics shattered. And yet there never was a people called Anglo-Saxon. We look at the lasting influence of Saxon leaders like Alfred the Great, and his blue print for social justice.

The third assault on the tattered remains of Roman civilization came from even further North, where the melting glacial ice had created immense sheltered fjords, leaving its inhabitants little choice but the sea. These fearless navigators understood that dominion over the oceans was the key to their ambitions.
Where the Romans expanded incrementally, the Vikings adopted a bolder, more aggressive approach. So was it the Dark Age which failed Europe, or the stifling uniformity of the great Roman experiment? Were the lost tribes more victim than failure? Richard Rudgley will hope to shed new light on the real secrets of the so-called Dark Age.

Click CC for subtitles. Torn between the Roman Empire that raised him and the Germanic people into which he was born, a Roman officer finds himself trapped between loyalty, identity and rebellion. As Rome tightens its grip over the tribes beyond the Rhine, resentment grows and old bonds are tested. At the center of the conflict stands Arminius, a man shaped by Roman discipline but increasingly confronted with the suffering of his own people, while Thusnelda and Folkwin become symbols of defiance against an empire that demands obedience at any cost. Based on real historical events and figures, the series reinforces its sense of authenticity by using Latin and Germanic dialogue, helping recreate the cultural and historical setting of the period as faithfully as possible.
In the first three episodes, tensions erupt when the Cherusci are pushed beyond endurance by Governor Varus’s demands. Thusnelda and Folkwin strike a provocative blow against Roman authority by stealing the legion’s sacred eagle standard, triggering a brutal response. The crisis brings Arminius back face to face with his father Segimer and with the childhood friends he left behind. Ordered by Varus to hunt down Folkwin and return with his head, Arminius is forced into an impossible choice as Roman reprisals threaten Folkwin’s family, his village and the fragile loyalties that bind them all together.