The Great Wall of China

Beyond the borders of the empire lived many peoples that the Romans called barbarians, that is, foreigners. Some, such as the Gauls and the Britons, had already been conquered for some time and had become part of the empire. Others did not know the laws of Rome, they did justice for themselves in long chains of crimes called feuds. Many were nomads.

The Western Roman Empire, increasingly weak and poor, allowed the more civilized barbarian populations to settle within their own borders. In exchange for lands, foreigners became soldiers of Rome.

At the same time, an empire similar to the Roman one flourished in China, also threatened by barbarian peoples, the Mongols, brave and ferocious little knights. The Chinese emperors, to defend themselves from the Mongols, had built a wall two thousand kilometers long, starting from 215 BC. about. Later enlarged under the Ming dynasty, the wall was erected by Emperor Qin Shi Huang — the same to which the so-called Terracotta Army of Xi’an is owed -, costing perhaps a million lives, but did not prevent the entry of the Mongols into China. Many Mongolian tribes settled there, but others were driven back to the west and Europe.

The barbarians of Europe thus found themselves in fear of the barbarians of Asia and sought refuge in the Roman Empire. They entered as invaders and no longer as allies.