"'...Ermanaric is a historical figure, prominent in his era. The date and manner of his death are a matter of record. What came immediately afterward shook the world.'"(Time Patrol, p. 450)
I read and reread that passage on previous occasions without being exactly clear about what did come immediately afterward! But it didn't matter. We were reading a fictional account of the real people behind a big event, big enough to get into both Eddas, the Icelandic Volsungasaga and the German Nibelungenlied and to inspire Wagner, Morris, Tolkien and Poul Anderson. That was enough.
But what did happen was that Ermanaric's realm, fatally weakened by internal strife, could not withstand "...the Hunnish midnight..." (p. 465) and the Volkerwanderung began.
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