The origin of the Vandals is certainly Scandinavian. The Sillings are said to have originated from northern Jutland, while the Hasdings from the Gulf of Oslo, which they leave for Jutland as well:they are mentioned for the first time by Tacitus.
Between the 1st and 3rd centuries, they were established in eastern Germany, in a region between the Vistula and the Oder, on the shores of the Baltic Sea. They are then very close to other barbarian peoples such as the Goths and the Gepids. The name of Vandals, which could designate several barbarian peoples, was soon carried by two brother peoples:the Sillings, who gave their name to Silesia, and the Hasdings, who reached Slovakia:it is possible that the name of "Hasdings was then only worn by the royal family.
Be that as it may, the Vandals who settled during the 3rd century in Slovakia, north of the Danube, facing Pannonia and Illyria, were in contact for nearly two centuries with other non-Germanic peoples such as the Sarmatians. . It was during this period of residence in the Russian steppes that the Vandals became, like the Goths, a people of renowned horsemen. They are associated with the Sarmatians, a nomadic nation of Iranian origin, and in particular with their main tribe, that of the Alans. From the middle of the 3rd century, the Vandals become a component of the pressure of peoples migrating to the Danube regions. Allied with their neighbors Goths and Sarmatians, they launch from 248 numerous attacks on the Danubian Roman provinces.
In 271, the Roman Emperor Aurelian defeated the Goths and Vandals on the Danube, and entered into a treaty with the Vandals for the supply of 2,000 horsemen serving as auxiliary troops for the legions.
Groups of Vandals thus established themselves in the Empire, receiving authorization to settle on abandoned lands, subject to the provision of contingents of auxiliary soldiers. This process explains why one of the last great generals of the Stilicho empire is of Vandal origin. But the anti-Germanism of the Roman ruling circles led to his execution in 408.