Which group most increased its power when the Roman Empire fell?

When the

western part of the Roman Empire fell, the Germanic peoples who had

invaded it formed their own kingdoms in areas of this empire. The

Vandals established a kingdom in northwestern Africa, the Visigoths

established one in Spain and southwestern France and the

Burgundians established one in Burgundy and Savoy in eastern

France, while the Alemanni of southern Germany took over Alsace (in

northeastern France) and the Swiss plateau.

The group

which increased it power the most was the Franks, but that was

after the fall of the western part of the Roman Empire and they did

so gradually. They had been allowed to settle in Holland south if

the river Rhine by the Romans. They took over a break away Roman

state in central Gaul in 486, the territories of the Alemanni in

496 or 506, the territory of the Visigoths in Gaul in 507 and the

territory of the Burgunians in 533. Thus they formed the largest

kingdom in Europe which covered the original Frankish lands in

Central Germany, Southern Germany, Switzerland and most of Gaul.

Later they expanded further, taking over the last territories in

Gaul by 778 and Bavaria and Austria in 778.

Later still

Charlemagne established the Carolingian empire. Pope Leo III gave

him Italy and crowned him emperor in exchange for ending Lombards

rule in Italy The then invaded northern Germany and a part of

northern Spain in the early 9th century. Thus, the Franks

eventually came to rule most of continental Western Europe.