It wasn't peaceful, but the fall of the western empire wasn't the barbarian fueled armageddon many portray it as either.

People seem to forget that the barbarian tribes were just that -- not one group. Many of the Germanic tribes (who are the ones principally remembered -- Attila notwithstanding) were Christianized, many had served in the legions (prior to the fall, but a fact many like to forget: Arminius was fighting against his own brother, Flavus) and were partially Romanized; a lot of them took to Romanization fairly quickly as it had some definite perks.

As with everything else, I'd say it was a bit of all -- the good and the bad.