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Odoacer, also known as Odovacar or Audawakrs, was a mercenary chieftain during the final days of the Western Roman Empire, living from c.435-493 AD. This Germanic leader, ruling over the Heruli and other barbarian tribes in Western Europe, was responsible for the final downfall of the Roman Empire in 476.

The empire was a pathetic remnant of its former glory by this late age, having been whittled away to a collection of holdings around Italy proper, in addition to fragmentary territories in the Balkans, and had not been in any position to defend itself for generations. As such, they were forced to make use of mercenary armies during those final years. The service of Odoacer and his mercenaries came to an abrupt end in 476, when he revolted against Roman authority - such as it was - and deposed the final emperor, Romulus Augustulus, sending him into obscure exile.

Alright, Odoacer may have thought on that day, I'm ruler of Italy. Cool. Now what? It wasn't a simple question. Odoacer certainly wanted to continue his rule over Italy, even adopting the title of Rex Italiae, but if he was too arrogant in his new position of power he risked angering the still-mighty Eastern Roman Empire, which loomed across the Adriatic. The new king decided to compromise with Constantinople, returning the imperial regalia and requesting recognition as dux of Italy from the eastern emperor, Zeno. Zeno agreed - not without reluctance, as he wanted the west for himself - and conferred upon Odoacer the title of patrician. This title no longer referred to the patrician class of the Roman Republic or early empire, but was used to name the de facto (or de jure) power behind (or on) the throne. Although Julius Nepos would continue to be the "official" emperor, even issuing coinage, the real power lay in Odoacer's hands, as it would for the rest of his life.

Thus secure on the throne, Odoacer set about trying to consolidate his new kingdom. He secured Italy proper, and then signed a treaty (probably in the same year he took power) with the Vandals which recovered Sicily, siezed from the Romans in 439. With a secure south and a resurgent military force at home, the Rex Italiae set about expanding his power in the north. Between 481 and 487, Odoacer fought several victorious campaigns against the Dalmatians, the Rugians, and other groups. Constantinople grew concerned, and Zeno began seeking a way to deal with this new threat before it could strike at the Eastern Empire itself.

In 488, Zeno convinced Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths and ally of the Eastern Empire, to attack Odoacer's growing kingdom. The war was an unmitigated disaster for Odoacer, who was defeated repeatedly - at the Isonzo and Milan in 489, again at the Adda the following year, and a final time in a lengthly siege at Ravenna in 493, where Odoacer and his surviving forces realized they were defeated. Odoacer negotiated an honourable surrender with Theodoric, and was invited to a banquet to consummate the treaty. Once there, however, Theodoric slew Odoacer with his own sword, and took Odoacer's dominions for himself. Thus did Rome pass through the hands of three seperate kingdoms in the space of only twenty years. Sic transit gloria mundi.

The gallowglass, known in Gaelic as Gall Oglaighs (or any of a nigh-infinite number of other spellings) or "young foreign warrior," was a type of Irish heavy infantry which fought from the medieval to the early modern period. The origin of the term itself is lost to history; a number of theories about the word exist, connecting the original gallowglasses to anything from stranded Vikings in the eighth and ninth centuries to Knights Templar who made a convinient appearance at the Battle of Bannockburn two years after their 1312 AD excommunication. The last theory holds rather little to no water, however, and the best guesses place the gallowglass as entering into the world sometime in the tenth or eleventh centuries.

Debates about the origin of the gallowglasses aside, one thing is certain: they were scary, scary fellows in battle. Having a reputation in the medieval era as mercenaries, they tended to be used as shock troops in battle. Known for a distinctive kit including a long coat of maille (or a well-made gambeson for poorer gallowglasses) and a conical helmet, they charged into battle with a greatsword that is generally seen as the precursor to the claymore, or a large battleaxe known as the sparth. It is said that the morale of opposing armies would break at the mere sight of these half-crazed warriors, charging towards their enemies with pointed and edged objects as long as a man was tall.

The gallowglass fought throughout the British Isles for centuries, earning mentions in literature such as William Shakespeare's MacBeth, and a particular fear and respect among the English. The twilight of the gallowglass came with the introduction of gunpowder weapons in the late medieval period, particularly after the 1601 Battle of Kinsale. In the wake of that battle, which saw the Irish defeated by the English, the gallowglass faded into history and legend.

Kinsale may have signalled the twilight of the gallowglass, but these men, among the last of the great ancient warriors of Europe, lived on in culture and memory. The old literature lives on in plays, movies and fiction, and innumerable people, places and things share their name. (Bands and pubs are particularly enamored with the word.) The gallowglasses themselves, and their descendants, slowly merged into the growing national armies of the time, lending their distinctive style to the British military as late as the First World War, where many Irish and Scottish regiments were noted for their particularly enthusiastic charges. The last of the gallowglasses are likely to be outlived by their legends for some time to come.

In the pre-Norman days of Ireland, young warriors who left home to join warrior cults would often band together, forming groups known as ceithearn, or warbands. The individual soldiers, known as ceithearnach, would typically be lightly armed, and rarely wore armor of any kind. This would form the template for the island’s native light infantry for years to come.

After the arrival of the English, the term became kern, which could refer to either the lightly armed mercenary forces in the region, or the soldiers that made up those forces. In the late 12th century, a kern was a small band of about twenty mercenaries under an independent captain. These kerns would travel the countryside looking for employment, intimidating the peasantry to make ends meet. Over time, kern came to simply mean “troops”, and referred to the bulk of the Irish military, particularly those skirmishers who fought largely unarmored, armed with a sword and throwing darts. Paid half of what was earned by foot archers, the kerns were at their best when set to harassing civilians, plundering cattle, and burning houses.

By the late 16th century, English authors described the Irish forces as consisting of kerns, native cavalry, and foreign mercenaries known as Gallowglasses. The latter two groups were well respected by the English. The kerns, however, were not. One author’s contempt led him to refer to them as “scum” and “a generation not fit to live”.

On their helmets and shields Duna’s warriours ring
The hail-storm of war from the bow and the sling.
Nor shun the close conflict–but what may avail
The kerns’ naked breasts ‘gainst the knights clad in mail?

-William Hamilton Drummond, Bruce’s Invasion of Ireland; A Poem 1826

The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were the high points of trans-Atlantic immigration for North America. Many of us are familiar with Ellis Island, the main American immigration centre in New York City where millions traveled from Europe in the hopes of finding something new. The stories of the great ocean liners and other passenger ships of the day making the crossing to the New World. However, there were many other immigration centres in both the United States and Canada. Pier 21, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, functioned as Canada's equivalent to Ellis Island for forty-three years.

Up until 1917, one of the main immigration terminals in Canada, in addition to others located up the Saint Lawrence, was Pier 2, also located in Halifax. However, the Halifax Explosion of December 6 damaged and weakened the facility, reducing the amount of immigrants it could handle at any given time. The damaged facility was not enough to handle the postwar economic boom, however, as 130,000 people arrived every year in the late 1920s, many of whom went through Halifax. Something larger had to be built to replace it. In 1928, "something larger" arrived, with the opening of Pier 21 at Halifax's South Terminal.

By the standards of the 1920s, the new "Immigration Service Facility" was quite modern. The building was, first of all, tremendous - a two-story, 180-meter-long building with space for a variety of facilities. In addition to the large waiting area, it contained immigration processing areas, a hospital, customs agencies, a detention centre, a nursery, canteens, galleys, dormitories, and a pair of covered ramps connecting it to the nearby railway station to speed immigrants' way into the country once they left the terminal.

The timing of Pier 21's opening could have been better; the year after it opened, the Great Depression brought North America crashing down and slowed immigration to a mere trickle for a decade. The facility continued to operate, however, and got the shot in the arm it needed in 1939, with the beginning of the Second World War.

During the war, the facility was taken over by Canada's Department of National Defence and became the primary departure point for almost all Canadian soldiers and airmen who went abroad during the war. Over five hundred thousand departed for Europe from Pier 21; fifty thousand of those did not return. During the war, the pier also saw arrivals from Europe other than the Allied soldiers, as German prisoners of war arrived, in addition to British children went abroad by their parents to escape ahead of anticipated German air raids. Several thousand "Evacuee Children" entered Canada through Pier 21 and lived with foster parents until the end of the war. The evacuee program, however, was cancelled by the British government when two ships, the Volendam and the City of Benares, were torpedoed, killing nearly a hundred of the children. At the end of the war, Pier 21 picked up again at a great pace. The soldiers returned home, bringing 50,000 war brides and their 22,000 children with them.

Another wave of immigrants followed, as the "DPs" - displaced persons who were left without homes and desperate to escape the ruins of Europe, arriving in Canada through the pier by the tens of thousands between 1947 and 1951. Five years later, 40,000 refugees arrived from Hungary during the revolution against the Soviet Union, most of whom passed through Halifax on their way into the country. In 1967-68, the last significant migration arrived: refugees, once again fleeing the Soviets, from Czechoslovakia.

By the 1960s, with aircraft becoming more and more popular, it was becoming obvious that the era of ocean-based immigration was coming to an end. Fewer and fewer ships were arriving at Pier 21 every year, with two immigrants arriving at Montreal's Dorval Airport for every one arriving in Halifax. When Cunard abandoned their passenger trips to Halifax in 1968, it had become obvious that things were coming to an end. In March of 1971, Pier 21 was closed and locked "without ceremony or attention."

The last time Pier 21 was used for immigration, oddly, was after this, when a ship arrived in the following year with refugees from Uganda. Customs representatives and other personnel came in from Halifax International Airport, unlocked the building, and processed its final immigrants.

After the facility's closure, the Pier 21 Society was formed as a non-profit organization with the goal of reopening the facility, this time as a museum and national historic site. After eleven years of lobbying, the Society achieved its goal at the climax of a fundraising campaign. On July 1, 1999, Pier 21 reopened as Canada's immigration museum. After some time spent repairing the facility, parts of which spent much of the interim period as a warehouse for art materials, the Society - about a dozen fulltime staff and vast hordes of volunteers - now presides over a museum consisting of exhibit halls, a theatre, a growing resource centre with immigration records and a modest library, and various other features. Despite the shoestring budget, the immigration-shed-turned-museum is in a steady state of growth as it expands and refines its exhibits and resources.

Well over one million people passed through Pier 21 on their way into Canada during the two generations the facility spent in operation, in addition to half a million soldiers, helped along by hundreds of organizations and thousands of volunteers, from the obligatory Red Cross to the seven Sisters of Service who spent decades - from 1925 until the facility closed - giving their compassion and considerable language skills to countless individuals. There were bad times to the facility as well, largely results of the Cold War and the explicitly racist immigration policies so predominant in North America in the early decades of the century, but the general experience surrounding Pier 21 was positive, and many of the volunteers on-site today were individuals who had first entered the country through the second-floor processing hall.

Overall, Pier 21 manages to live on as a symbol of Canada's (mostly) open-door policy which made it a gateway into the nation for forty-three years. It will admit no more immigrants; they arrive through other places now. Pier 21, the Immigration Service Facility, is no more, but in its place stands Pier 21, the monument to a million people and millions of their descendants who arrived, often with nothing but the clothes on their backs and about twenty dollars, and stayed to help build a nation.

The Pier 21 society maintains a Web page at www.pier21.ca.

The Vandals were a Germanic tribe that first appeared in C.E. 166, settling between the Elbe and Vistula, in the east of Germany. Their origins are uncertain and there are widely differing opinions on this subject. It seems the most popular theory is that they originated from Poland, but it is also claimed that they originated from Denmark, Sweden or Norway. Their name is derived from the Latin term Vandilli, the name by which Tacitus referred to the tribe in his book Germania. While their beginnings are nothing to marvel over, they would become the strongest German tribe to challenge Roman imperialism, and would eventually be the final push to tip Rome over the edge.

Early Vandal history is rather mundane. They did not engage in much activity with Rome, posed no threat and were simply one of the free Germanic tribes. This all began to change in c. 370 C.E. as the warlike Huns from Central Asia began to move through Southern Russia. They first conquered and subjugated the Alans, a Russian tribe of Scythian descent. Most fell under Hun rule, but a small portion managed to flee westward into Vandal territory. Disturbed by this migration and fearing they would be next for the Huns to conquer, the Vandals began to stir. The Ostrogoths, whose kingdom was next in line for the Huns to conquer, sent a force to prevent any further Hunnic expansion, but were defeated and forced to flee. When the Huns pushed forward, the Ostrogoths began to migrate westwards too, pushing the Angles, Saxons, Franks and Visigoths into Roman Gaul. Fearing war, Rome sought to appease the tribes it saw as a threat and opened its borders to the Franks and Visigoths. Seeing this migration, and already frightened, the Vandals fled and began pressing towards Gaul.

During this period there were two tribes of Vandals, much like there were two tribes of Goths. While sharing a line of descent, the two Vandal tribes, Asding and Siling, were distinct. The Asding Vandals fled first, provoking another Germanic tribe, the Suebi, to flee with them. When the Huns finally arrived near Vandal territory, the Siling Vandals, fled also, the Alan refugees moving with them. The Huns chased the migrating Vandals, Suebi, and Alans, but ceased when they came into close proximity with the river Rhine, the Huns still fearing war with Rome. The tribes were now pressed between the Huns, on one front, and the Roman guard on the other, which protected Roman lands from unauthorized German migration. They chose to press on regardless, and the might of the four migrating tribes with nothing to lose defeated the thinned defenses the Romans had along the river in C.E. 406. For months the four tribes wandered Gaul as more and more Germans flooded through the gap they had made in the Roman defences. Angered, the Romans hired the Franks to chase the Vandals out of Gaul. After a defeat, they migrated south into Spain. The Siling Vandals and Alans settled in Baetica to the south and the Asding and Suebi settled Galicia to the north. The tribes absorbed the local culture, becoming Arian.

This was not to last, however, as the Romans soon decided that they wanted the Siling Vandals and Alans out of Southern Spain. They hired the Visigoths, and they crushed the united tribes. The Alan Chief was killed, and what remained of the Alans pledged themselves to the Siling Vandal Chief, Gunderic. It seemed the end of the Siling Vandals and Alans; however, Rome realised its mistake in allowing the Visigoths unchallenged dominance of Spain and so offered the Vandals to resettle in south eastern Gaul, with the intention that they would keep the Visigoths in check. The surviving Siling and Alans settled from Galicia to the south eastern coast of Gaul, and the Asding united with their brethren, establishing the Vandal kingdom in C.E. 420 under King Gunderic of the Vandals and Alans; the Suebi remaining independent, but would later be conquered by the Visigoths. After several victories against the Visigoths, the Vandal kingdom was expanded and consolidated. Many ports were captured with many galleys within, and the Vandals now had a powerful fleet and were the first Germanic tribe with a Mediterranean navy.

In C.E. 428 Gunderic died and was succeeded by Gaiseric. He made peace with the Huns, then led the Vandals to war, winning several victories against the Visigoths and Romans in Spain. Yet they were now to abandon their kingdom and migrate yet again. The reasons for this are uncertain, and there seems to be three theories. The first was because the war turned against them and pressure from the Visigoths became too great; the second was because rebellious Roman governor of North Africa, Boniface, invited them there; the third was because King Gaiseric had injured himself, no longer able to ride in battle, and thirsted for the raid, so deigned to do so by sea. Whatever the reason, the same year Gaiseric came to power he migrated from Spain with approxiametely 80,000 men consisting of Vandals, Alans, Romano-Iberians and ex-slaves. He conquered from the eastern coast of North Africa, as far south as Mauritania, to Tingi (modern day Tangiers). While they had been fairly lenient in Spain, King Gaiseric was a staunch Arian and did not tolerate Roman Catholicism. Catholics were tortured and killed, churces looted and destroyed, Catholic art and literature burnt, and hence we see where the modern day meaning of vandal comes from. The Vandals did not, however, senselessly destroy; there was always a point to it, and they could indeed be appeased by riches and land from Rome.

Byzantium sent troops to defeat the Vandals, but were defeated repeatedly. By C.E. 430 the Vandals had expanded across to Hippo Regius, consolidated their kingdom and established a seat of power at Hippo Regius. King Gaiseric made good relations with the Berbers (native, nomadic Africans) and Moors (Mauritanian Africans), recruiting many to his side, and an uneasy peace was made with Byzantium. The Vandals began raiding the Meditteranean, allowing any under their domain (Berber, Moor, Romano, Vandal etc.) to raid Rome by their flag, sending back a portion of the plunder to the Vandals. This raiding was, at times, very destructive, hence perpetuating the misconception that Vandals destroyed senselessly. However, it must be noted that these raiders, while acting under the Vandal flag, were still independent, and were not ordered to destroy by the Vandal crown. In C.E. 434 Byzantium withdrew its army from Carthage and officially recognised the new Vandal kingdom - this was a huge blunder. Carthage was still a major port, and had a large amount of Galleys in it. Seeing this, and noticing it was weakly garrisoned, Gaiseric made a surprise attack in C.E. 439, capturing the city. The Vandals were now the strongest Germanic tribe and posed a huge threat to Rome.

In C.E. 441 Gaiseric moved again, capturing Sicily. Now Gaiseric set his eyes on Rome. He began raiding Corsica, Sardinia and the eastern coast of Italy. By C.E. 455 Rome had been sacked three times, first by the Huns, then the Franks, then the Visigoths. Seeing its weakened state, Gaiseric now stood at the gates of Rome. Terrified, Emperor Maximus fled, but the people noticed him as he tried to slip out and stoned him to death. The Pope, fearing destruction and death in Rome, approached Gaiseric and made a deal with him. The gates of Rome were opened and the Vandals allowed in without resistance so long as there was no pillaging, slavery or killing. Gaiseric agreed and the Vandals loaded their fleet up with the treasures of Rome. Furious at the Vandal occupation of Italy, a Roman general, Majorian, rallied an army and drove them from Italy in C.E. 459. He then built a fleet to defeat the Vandals once and for all but was unsuccesful. The Vandals continued to raid and expand, capturing Corsica and Sardinia in C.E. 461. It was this looting of Rome, and the continuing raids since then, that was the final catalyst to the fall of Rome. The Vandals deprived the Romans of such wealth that in C.E. 476 the Ostrogoths marched into Rome, virtually without resistance, and Theodric the Goth sat upon the Roman throne.

Now the Byzantines began to fear the Vandals, and so deigned to aid Rome once again. Emperor Leo ordered the construction of an immense fleet that drained the coffers of Byzantium and sent the Empire into bankruptcy for years to come. He sent the fleet out under the command of General Basiliscus in C.E. 468, and they were initially succesful in driving the Vandals back and capturing Carthage. Gaiseric retreated to Hippo Regius, then arranged a cease fire with Byzantine - this was yet another mistake. Under the cover of night, Gaiseric broke the cease fire and made a sneak attack on the Byzantine ships in port at Carthage. The fleet was decimated and the Byzantine troops were forced to flee. Carthage was recaptured. In order to prevent Rome or Byzantium from ever gaining such a strong foot hold again, Gaiseric ordered the destruction of all Roman fortifications (again perpetuating the impression of senseless destructiveness). Gaiseric managed to properly consolidate his kingdom and arrange a peace with Rome and Byzantium once more before he died in C.E. 477. After this the Vandal Kingdom only began to dwindle, the Ostrogoths slowly capturing Sicily and reducing Corsica and Sardinia. King Huneric ruled from C.E. 477 - 484, King Gunthamund from C.E. 484 - 496, King Thrasamund from C.E. 496 - 523, and finally, after a period of political unrest, King Gelimer from C.E. 530 - 533. All this quick shifting of Kings was from political intrigue within the kingdom, the King being overthrown several times in quick succession. This weakened the kingdom and, coupled with the fact that none of these Kings had the statesmanship of Gaiseric, turned their subject peoples against them, the Moors putting presure on the kingdom.

After securing peace with the Sassanids (the tribe that had overthrown the Parthians, or Persians), Emperor Justinian, or Justinian the Great, gave the orders to construct a fleet to defeat the Vandals once and for all. In C.E. 533 the Byzantine fleet set sail under the command of General Belisarius and with a force half the size of the Vandals managed to dislodge them from Carthage at the Battle of Ad Decium. The Vandals retreated into Numidia, then after regathering their forces marched back on Carthage, but were defeated yet again at the Battle of Ticameron. King Gelimer attempted to take what was left of the Vandals, along with the Roman treasure, and seek refuge with the Visigoths in Spain, but was intercepted by the Byzantines. He then fled into the mountains and was harboured by a Moor tribe, but was discovered and captured by the Byzantines as they conquered the remainder of the Vandal kingdom in December C.E. 533, marking the end of the Vandals once and for all.

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Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vandals
http://www.roman-empire.net/articles/article-016.html
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/procopius-vandals.html
Tacitus' Germania