Between the years 409 and 411, the Germanic peoples of the Vandals and the Suebi, similarly like the Iranian Alans, migrated into the Iberian Peninsula via the Pyrenees Mountains after having already conquered the Gallo-Roman province of Gaul and subjected it to a three year system of plunder and pillage. Seeing that the forces of the Western Roman Empire were unable to effectively respond to new threats due to local uprisings led by Maximus of Hispania and Gerontius, the Germanic tribes saw an opportunity to invade the peninsula and carve out territory for themselves, starting the period of the Germanic Invasion of Iberia.