Hmmm...Not everything is measured by defeats.
You mentioned the Romans being defeated by the Northern German Tribes, that may be true of the western Roman empire but the eastern Roman empire based in Bysantium( Constantinople, Istanbul)survived until 1453 when it was taken by the turks from the South.
The Southern states (Florida,Ohio) won Dubya the Last two elections (much to my dismay).
America was defeated by the NVA. North beats North.
Prussia kicked *** I will give ya that.
Purely from a cultural viewpoint, and only looking at Europe mediteranean area you have the Empires of Egypt, Greece and Rome all in the south these bad boys have so much influence on our lives today (Roman Law, Greek Philosophy, Egyptian ...ahh..Monuments).
I could go on.
Lastly I come from the South of Australia and Australia Roooolz.
We have the biggest Reef in the world, Deserts, Rainforest, Snow, wierd@$$ Fauna like the Platypus, 8 of the top ten most deadly snakes, poisonous Spiders, jellyfish which will kill you in two minutes, great white sharks that dont actually eat you but kill you seeing if they can and a little Octopus that will kill ya as well.
No wonder there is only 20 million of us.
And you dont know how much that line about studying history made me laugh.