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Nordwestblock
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The name Nordwestblock is applied by historians to a group of Europeans whose homeland was in the Netherlands, Belgium, the northern part of France and the western part of present-day Germany until approx. the 1st century, but who were not originally Germanic tribes. They may have been of Old European origin.
Scholars include in the Nordwestblock the Chatti, Hermunduri and Cheruscii. By the first century, these tribes were culturally German and it is possible they were being led by men of actual Germanic origin (for example, Arminius the Cheruscan, well-known for his ambush and defeat of the Romans, who believed he was a friend, at the battle of Teutoburger Wald in 9 AD.
In contrast to other Germanic tribes such as the Goths and Lombards, the Nordwestblock tribes mostly did not take part in the Völkerwanderung or migration of the peoples in the 5th century. They generally remained in their homelands, defined roughly by the rivers Werra, Aller, Somme and Oise. The Franks were the descendants of these peoples who did take part in the invasion.