Germanian became Christians

[Franconicus]

Why did they convert? I know that some converted when they beged to get some Roman land. But others converted after they had managed to conquer Roman provinces. Why did they do it?

And why did they accept the dominance of the bishop of Rome?

[Gurkhal]

What I've read was that the Germans mostly wanted to become part of the Empire and enjoy all the advantages from.

Even after the Western Empire fell they didn't want to become enemies or go to much against the Romans. For all they knew it could easily lead to a big Eastern Roman army landing and kicking them out from their newly accuired rich lands, better to play it safe.

And so to adopt Christianity was probably just a thing both to make it look good but also because Christanity had lots of advantages, such as providing the Germans with a free and already established burocracy (sorry for the spelling ).

[Hurin_Rules]

And why did they accept the dominance of the bishop of Rome?

They didn't.

The bishops of the later Roman church were nowhere near as powerful as the popes of the high Middle Ages came to be. Sure, you had the odd Gregory the Great, but for most of the early Middle Ages the popes had very little control over what happened in the dioceses of Britain, France or Germany. The popes of the 9th and 10th centuries were often the playthings of the local nobility, dominated by and subordinated to local interests. Only in the eleventh century do we start to see the papacy emerging as a political force capable of challenging an emperor for dominance.

One reason why some of the barbarians converted was because it gave them an ally within the foreign populations they were now ruling. The church tended to support the barbarians who converted (so long as they converted to the right strain of christianity and weren't heretics), and the church held a lot of sway with the people.

[nokhor]

the acceptance of a state religion by a tribal people usually had a lot of positives alongside the personal needs of the chieftain who brought it to his people. within the package of christianity, the germans were also getting literacy in the form of monks and priests who were also scribes, historians, accountants, and all the other good things of a bureaucracy as Gurkhal also mentioned. it usually give them an edge in thier conflicts with the other tribes. a corrollary of this was that the tribe would usually choose a sect of the religion that was different from that of thier principal foes so that they still retain some freedom from undue interference. therefore, a lot of the original germanic tribes that broke through the roman empire were arrian christians. because their enemies [the romans], were usually catholic/orthodox. and one of the reasons the franks chose catholicism, was that as latecomers to the empire, most of their enemies were those same arrian christian germanic tribes, and this of course facilitated their conquest of gaul and helped the assimiliation into france.

[Meneldil]

If you consider the Franks as being Germanian, they converted because the major part of the inhabitant of Gaul were Christians. The Franks in Gaul quickly adopted the romano-gallic and gallic customs, as they understood they couldn't rule the country while being considered as foreign invaders.

And there was obviously a diplomatic benefit. The Pope officialised the rule of the Franks over northern France when they converted to christianism.

[Franconicus]

Meneldil: If you consider the Franks as being Germanian, (what else?)they converted because the major part of the inhabitant of Gaul were Christians. The Franks in Gaul quickly adopted the romano-gallic and gallic customs, as they understood they couldn't rule the country while being considered as foreign invaders. why didn't they force the people to join their religion. The Macedonians did not convert to the religion of the Persians, did they? The Germans would not have converted to Russian orthodoxy if they had won WW2. Why convert to the religion of the loosers?
And there was obviously a diplomatic benefit. The Pope officialised the rule of the Franks over northern France when they converted to christianism. The pope had no real power. They could have installed their own religious leader.

nokhor: ... within the package of christianity, the germans were also getting literacy in the form of monks and priests who were also scribes, historians, accountants, and all the other good things of a bureaucracy ...
They changed their gods for - books

[Brutus]

Meneldil: If you consider the Franks as being Germanian, (what else?)they converted because the major part of the inhabitant of Gaul were Christians. The Franks in Gaul quickly adopted the romano-gallic and gallic customs, as they understood they couldn't rule the country while being considered as foreign invaders. why didn't they force the people to join their religion. The Macedonians did not convert to the religion of the Persians, did they? The Germans would not have converted to Russian orthodoxy if they had won WW2. Why convert to the religion of the loosers?
And there was obviously a diplomatic benefit. The Pope officialised the rule of the Franks over northern France when they converted to christianism. The pope had no real power. They could have installed their own religious leader.

nokhor: ... within the package of christianity, the germans were also getting literacy in the form of monks and priests who were also scribes, historians, accountants, and all the other good things of a bureaucracy ...
They changed their gods for - books

I would like to respond as well. First of all, we should establish that the idea of a whole (germanic) people converting at once or within a very short period of time is an illusion. Until the 10th and 11th centuries, pagan practices and beliefs were commonplace amongst many people in Europe (some of these beliefs endured even until the 19th century or later). Nokhor, though your view seems rather justified, it's actually a bit teleological. It's reasoning backwards that the germanics knew in advance they would eventually be getting learning and literacy out of becoming Christian. So it might seem as a good reason to us now, but I seriously doubt if it would have been viewed by themselves as that. I would however have to admit that the Germanic leadership (for example in Gaul) readily made use of the bishops and monks present as bureaucratic personnel.

As to why the germanic peoples converted (even amongst the germanic leadership, this was a process of hundreds of years), it must have been a combination of personal convictions of leaders, power of persuasion of missionaries, admiration of Roman ways and practical considerations.

Franconicus, your example of Macedonians not converting to the religion of the Persians seems out of context to me. It has long been established that polytheistic religions do not take a exclusivistic stance towards each other (as monotheistic religions ususally do), so the Macodonians had no reason whatsoever to convert to 'Persian religion' (what that may have been anyway). The Germans would not have converted to orthodox Christendom if they had won WWII? Well, first of all the official 'religion' of Russia at the time would have been communism, making this indeed unlikely, but because what you say has never actually happened there is no way of telling if that might not have happened over a longer period of time. Also, it is absolutely nót unlikely for conquerors to take over the conquered's beliefs and ideals. The Romans and their adoption of many Greek (and later, middle-eastern) ways and beliefs offer the most ready example.

As to the Franks forcing the people of Gaul to join their religion, lets not forget tht the Franks were actually a tiny minority within Gaul, most of the population (in the cities, mainly) being Catholic Gallo-Romans. It would most certainly have been a severe problem for them not to take into consideration the convictions of the population and older elites. The Visigoths of Spain, for example, stayed Arians for more then a century (I don't remember the exact amount of time) after the conquered Roman Spain, whose population was also mainly of the Catholic conviction. Not only did the Visigoths not succeed in converting the Spanish to their beliefs, but they actually had considerable problems with the local population as well.

On the question about the pope, I think Hurin_Rules is quite right. Papal influence in this period was minimal, regional synods mainly governing the churches in the former Western Empire and beyond. It wasn't even until centuries later that the popes could commence with making, for example, all rites and liturgies uniform throughout 'Catholic' Christendom. So a religious leader in the sence as it is used here is not a reality at the time. The Franks installing their own religious 'pagan pope' of sorts would have been without precedent (the old pagan german beliefs had no need for such a figure) and anachronistic.

[Meneldil]

why didn't they force the people to join their religion. The Macedonians did not convert to the religion of the Persians, did they? The Germans would not have converted to Russian orthodoxy if they had won WW2. Why convert to the religion of the loosers?

As Brutus said, there's a huge difference between polytheist and monotheist religions. Furthermore, I'm fairly sure people from Ptolemy's dynasty were represented as Egyptian divinities.
And the german wouldn't have converted to orthodoxism because they would have pretty much eradicated russian orthodoxism from the face of earth.
And obviously, the fact the Franks were pretty much a minority of Pagans among a large majority of Christian was a serious issue. And, as offensive as it may sounds, the Franks customs were quite backward compared with romano-gallic or even gallic ones (thus why the franks quickly adopted a lot of the customs of conquered regions).

Brutus, ancient sources explain that not only Clovis converted to Christianism, but also that his whole army, his whole family did so. Now, of course, some of the Frankish customs were still in effect long after the conversion (as you said, germanic law was still used in northern France before Napoleon created the Civil Code) but I'm doubtful about the 'First of all, we should establish that the idea of a whole (germanic) people converting at once or within a very short period of time is an illusion.' part. The fact people were still using some old (pagan) customs didn't make them pagans. Imposing the christianism 'way of life' upon previous barbarian customs took what ? One century, maybe two, but 4 or 5 ? That sounds a bit much.