Revolt of Alaric I
Revolt of Alaric I | ||||||||
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Part of the Fall of the Western Roman Empire | ||||||||
The Roman Empire in 395 | ||||||||
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Belligerents | ||||||||
Alaric's rebels | Western Roman Empire |
Eastern Roman Empire | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | ||||||||
Alaric I Athaulf |
Stilicho | |||||||
Strength | ||||||||
± 20.000 | ± 15,000 | unknown |
The revolt of Alaric I was a military conflict between the
Sources
The main contemporary sources in which this war is reported are the historian
Background
Settlement of the Goths within the empire
In
The arrival of the Goths and the inability of the Romans to invict the threat that the newcomers made for the empire after some time, eventually led to a serious weakening of the military strength of the empire, and worked as a catalyst for the fall of the Western Roman empire in 476-480.
Usurpation of Eugenius
An important occasion in which the Goths had to provide the empire with soldiers, arose during the usurpation of Eugenius in the year 392. Emperor Theodosius (379-395) brought an army together in 393 that a significant contingent includes of Gothic auxiliary troops. These Goths were under the command of their own captains, of which Alaric was the most important. The supremacy over the empire was decided in 394 in the Battle of the Frigidus in favor of Theodosius. His Goths played an important role during the battles but also suffered major losses. The contemporary Roman historian Orosius stated that, since the Goths suffered most of the victims, Theodosius won two battles with Frigidus, one against Eugenius the other against the Goths.[5]
Dispute over Illyricum
Theodosius I died the year after the battle.
There was a dispute between the two parts of the empire over the ownership of the
The revolt
The rebel Army
The great losses suffered in the battle of the Frigidus fed the Goths' mistrust of the Romans. As Emperor Theodosius died in early 395, the Goths were ripe to revolt. The Goths had had enough of their semi-autonomous status within the empire and the Tervingi and Greuthungi sought rapprochement with each other.
In the course of 395, a revolt of the Goths broke out in Moesia. As ancient sources remain vague as to the exact composition of the emerging rebel army, historians continue to dispute whether it was mainly recruited from Gothic settlers or composed of a mixed force of disgruntled veterans of the Frigidus campaign. Proponents of an ethnically mixed uprising point out that many armed, disgruntled groups were known to operate in the Balkans at the time, several of whom were either Roman or non-Gothic Barbarians. It would have made sense of these groups to unite due to their shared interest in land and compensation. Critics of this theory point out that, if the Goths were a minority in the rebellion, the rebels would have probably lost their Gothic identity over time; however, this was not the case.[12] Historians such as Ian Hughes and Herwig Wolfram have instead argued that most of the insurgents were probably Goths, though ones of various backgrounds. As the rebel army then marched across the Roman Empire, it absorbed a great number of volunteers and stragglers of non-Gothic origin. However, these remained a minority, thus maintaining the self-identification of the rebels as "Goths".[13][14] Hughes further posited that Jordanes' description of "Gothi Minores ('Lesser Goths')" in the Balkans suggests a division of the Goths in 395: A large number of Goths in Moesia revolted under Alaric, while the rest refused to join the uprising and thus became the Gothi Minores.[13]
Attack on Constantinople
Once the rebels had gathered under the leadership of Alaric, they set off for the imperial capital
According to historian Thomas Burns, the negotiations with Rufinus meant that Alaric and his men were recruited by the Eastern regime of Rufinus in Constantinople and sent to
Alaric's march in
First campaign of Stilicho and the murder of Rufinus
With the arrival of Stilicho in the fall of 395, the issue regarding the jurisdiction of the Illyrian prefecture became relevant. Rufinus, the strong man of the east, feared losing this area to the west with a victory of Stilicho over the Goths. He persuaded the emperor to cancel Stilicho's campaign. Emperor Arcadius forbade Stilicho to attack Alaric and demanded that Stilicho's army leave the territory of the Eastern Empire, because the emperor had not asked the Western Roman commander to intervene.[16] In addition, the emperor demanded that Stilicho dismiss any Eastern Roman troops who were serving under his command at the time.[17]
The imperial mandate arrived at the Roman camp when they were preparing an attack on the Goths in the valley of
Historian Roger Collins points out that although the rivalry created by the two halves of the empire, that fought for power, worked in the favor of Alaric and that of his people. However, this did not solve the problems of the Gothic people experienced in their food supply. Alaric needed access to Roman authority to be supplied by Roman cities. When he didn't get it, he gave himself access to this.[19]
Looting of Greece
Alaric's army, now without the threat of Stilicho's army, stayed in southern Greece the following year (in 396) without the Eastern Roman government even doing anything against his raids.
Second campaign of Stilicho
Stilicho made his army ready, saved himself a difficult trip over land, and in the spring of 397 he put his troops by boat across the Adriatic Sea and landed in Corinth where the Gothic army of Alaric was located.[22] After a first victorious confrontation, the Romans managed to circle the Gothic army camp, where they were at the mercy of their grace. [22]
Nevertheless, Stilicho waited to hand out the final blow. He kept his power over Alaric as a trump card in the political slit-off between the two parts of the empire that arose when Stilicho decided to pressure the emperor to send Eutropius away and accept him as counsel. Arcadius (i.e. Eutropius) rejected this proposal and ordered Stilicho again to withdraw. This time he refused to follow up on this. The Roman general then was declared as 'public enemy' and all his belongings in the east were taken off of him. [23] Faced with this rejection, Stilicho now chose the defeated Alaric as his new ally. Meanwhile, tensions between the two parts of the empire run up while Stilicho was informed that an uprising had broken out in the western part. In the province Africa the Gildonian uprising had broken out by the Comes Africae Gildo at the instigation of Eutropius.[24] The grain supply of Rome was in danger and at the end of 397 the Roman general decided to return with his army.
Back in Italy, in 398, Stilicho sent an army of 5,000 veterans to Africa to suppress Gildo's uprising. Again he extracts a number of troops from the Rhine border and continued to campaign indecisively against the Eastern Empire. In doing so, he encountered opposition from the Gothic troops of Alaric.
Aftermath
After Stilicho let the Goths go, the Goths stayed in Epirus. Because the Eastern Empire did not have enough manpower to face them alone, the eastern half made a peace agreement with the Goths in 398. In doing so, the Eastern Empire made all kinds of commitments to the Goths and granted them better conditions and additional guarantees of local products. Alaric obtained the title of magister militum per Illyricum,[25] which meant that he held the highest military rank in this province. They also agreed to the settlement of the Goths in the Illyricum prefecture which was disputed with Western Empire.[26] With the prefecture under his control, Alaric was able to impose the cities his will and plunder their arsenals so that he could deliver and improve the weapons of his troops. [26]
This peace agreement was very negative for the western half, as they got the Goths as neighbors in the adjacent Illyricum. The Goths thus obtained a base from which they could easily invade the west. What actually happened from the year
References
- ^ Ammianus 31.4.3, Heather 2005, p. 152–153.
- ^ Heather 2005, p. 158.
- ^ Wolfram 2001, pp. 49–54.
- ^ Wolfram 2001, pp. 54–57.
- ^ Orosius 7. 35. 19, Heather 2010, p. 194.
- ^ Bury 1923, p. 106.
- ^ a b Bury 1923, p. 107.
- ^ a b c Bury 1923, pp. 110–111.
- ^ a b Heather 2005, pp. 153–160.
- ^ a b Wolfram 2001, pp. 54–55.
- ^ Hughes 2010, p. 77.
- ^ Hughes 2010, pp. 77–78.
- ^ a b Hughes 2010, p. 78.
- ^ Wolfram 2001, pp. 56–57.
- ^ Burns 1994, p. 159.
- ^ Schreiber 1979, p. 118.
- ^ Burns 1994, p. 154.
- ^ a b Bury 1923, p. 112.
- ^ Collins 1999, p. 54–55.
- ^ a b c d Bury 1923, p. 119.
- ^ Schreiber 1979, p. 121.
- ^ a b Bury 1923, p. 120.
- ^ Schreiber 1979, p. 122.
- ^ Wijnendaele 2017, p. 395.
- ^ Kulikowski 2019, p. 126.
- ^ a b Blockley 1998, p. 115.
Literature
- Primary sources
- Claudianus
- Orosius, Historiae adversum Paganos, 7.29; 7.42.10–12
- Zosimus, Historia Nova, 5.37; 6.7–11
- Jordanes, The Origins and Deeds of the Goths (On the Origin and Deeds of the Goths), translated by Charles C. Mierow.
- Secondary sources
- Bury, J.B. (1889), A History of the Later Roman Empire from Arcadius to Irene, Vol. I
- Bury, J.B. (1923). The History of the Later Roman Empire: from the death of Theodosius I to the death of Justinian (A.D. 395 to A.D. 565). Vol. 1. London: Macmillan.
- ISBN 978-0-25331-288-4.
- ISBN 978-0-31221-885-0.
- ISBN 3406447791.
- Hughes, Ian (2010). Stilicho. The Vandal who saved Rome. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Military. ISBN 978-1-84415-969-7.
- Blockley, R.C. (1998). "The dynasty of Theodosius". The Cambridge Ancient History. Vol. XIII: the Late Empire AD 337–425. Cambridge University Press. pp. 111–137.
- ISBN 978-0-19-515954-7.
- J.W.P. Wijnendaele (2017), The Career and 'Revolt' of Gildo, comes et magister utriusque militiae per Africam
- Kulikowski, Michael (2019). The Tragedy of Empire: From Constantine to the Destruction of Roman Italy. Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University.
- Schreiber, Hermann (1979). De Goten, vorsten en vazalen. Amsterdam-Brussel: H. Meulenhof.
Further reading
- ISBN 978-0199735600.
- Hollway, Don (2010). At the Gates of Rome: The Battle for a Dying Empire. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1472849977.
- ISBN 978-0521608688.