Barbarian Victory and the Fall of the Western Roman Empire 325–476

Threatened Borders of the Roman Empire

The Roman Empire, with a frontier stretching sixteen thousand kilometers, was exposed at every point to the attacks of tribes whose civilization had not yet corrupted them, yet who hungered for its fruits.

Iran formed only one section of this vast border. The Persians were becoming stronger rather than weaker, and seemed destined to reconquer almost all the territories that Darius the First had held a thousand years earlier.

In western Iran lived the Arabs, mostly poor nomads. Even the wisest statesmen of the time would have laughed at the idea that these desert dwellers would one day conquer half the Roman Empire and all of Iran. In the southern Roman provinces of Africa, Ethiopians, Libyans, Berbers, Numidians, and Moors waited patiently with suppressed anger for the collapse of Roman military power or moral strength.

Spain, protected by its rugged mountains and surrounding seas, appeared safe and stable to the empire. No one imagined that in the fourth century it would fall to the Germans, and in the eighth century to the Muslims. Gaul, with its order, wealth, and Latin poetry and prose, was a greater source of pride for the empire than Italy itself, yet every generation had to defend itself against the Teutons, whose women were more fertile than their fields.

The Roman colony in Britain was constantly threatened by the Scots and Picts in the west and north, and by Norse and Saxon pirates in the west and south. The empire could spare only a small garrison for its defense. The coasts of Norway were a chain of pirate lairs, and its people found war easier than agriculture, regarding the plunder of foreign shores as an honorable occupation to fill their hungry stomachs or occupy their leisure time.

The Goths claimed their ancient homeland was southern Sweden and its islands. Part of the tribe, known as the Visigoths, moved south toward the Danube, while the Ostrogoths spread between the Dniester and the Don. In the heart of Europe, between the Vistula, Danube, and Rhine rivers, restless tribes lived that would later reshape the map of Europe and rename its nations. These tribes included the Thuringians, Burgundians, Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Frisians, Gepids, Quadi, Vandals, Alamanni, Suebi, Lombards, and Franks.

Against these racial waves, the Roman Empire had no real defensive wall except in Britain. Only scattered forts and garrisons along roads and rivers marked its boundaries. High birth rates outside the empire and high living standards inside made migration and invasion inevitable — much like the situation of the United States today regarding external immigration.

Barbarians: Historical Label or Reality

The term barbarian applied to these Germanic tribes perhaps needs some moderation. The Roman and Greek use of barbari was certainly not meant as praise. The word may be related to the Sanskrit varvara, meaning uncultured or wild.

However, over five centuries of trade and war, the Germans had absorbed much from Roman culture. Long before the fourth century, many had learned to write and to govern according to fixed laws. Except for the Merovingian Franks, their sexual morality was often superior to that of the Greeks and Romans. Though lacking the refinement of cultured people, they frequently shamed the Romans with their courage, hospitality, and honor.

They were ruthless, but not more so than the Romans. They were extremely individualistic, while Romans had grown accustomed to social order. Many Germans, such as Stilicho and Ricimer, fully entered Roman cultural life and wrote Latin that even Symmachus enjoyed. Overall, the invaders — especially the Goths — respected Roman civilization enough to want to acquire rather than destroy it. For two centuries they asked only for permission to enter the empire and use its unused lands, and they actively participated in its defense.

Peaceful Migration and the Germanization of the Roman Army

From the time of Augustus, the policy of settling barbarians inside the empire began to fill the empty ranks of the legions, which Romans — increasingly unwarlike and childless — could no longer replenish. Aurelius, Aurelian, and Probus continued this practice.

By the end of the fourth century, the inhabitants of the Balkan and eastern Gallic provinces were largely Germanized. The Roman army itself had become predominantly German, and many high political and military offices were held by Teutons. Previously the empire had Romanized these elements; now the newcomers were barbarizing the Romans. Romans began wearing fur tunics in barbarian style, growing their hair long, and even adopting trousers, prompting strict imperial edicts in 397 and 416.

The Hunnic Invasion and the Disaster at Adrianople

The great assault on the Roman Empire originated from the distant Mongolian steppes. The Huns, a branch of the Turanian race, occupied the region north of the Aral Sea in the third century. According to Jordanes, their main weapon was their terrifying appearance.

They defeated the Alans and absorbed them, crossed the Volga around 372, and attacked the nearly civilized Ostrogoths. King Ermanaric fought bravely but was defeated. Some Ostrogoths submitted to the Huns, while others fled westward to the Visigoths north of the Danube.

The Visigoths crossed the Danube after seeking permission from Emperor Valens, but Roman officials shamelessly exploited and starved them. When signs of revolt appeared, the Roman general invited their leader Fritigern to a banquet with the intention of killing him. Fritigern escaped and incited the desperate Goths to war. They devastated Thrace.

In 378, Valens confronted them at Adrianople with a weak army. The Gothic cavalry overwhelmed the Roman infantry in what Ammianus called the most disastrous defeat since the Battle of Cannae (594 years earlier). Two-thirds of the Roman army perished, and Valens himself was burned to death in a hut. From then on, cavalry dominated warfare until the fourteenth century.

Saving Emperors: Valentinian and Theodosius the Great

In this crisis, the Roman Empire still produced capable rulers. After Jovian’s death, Valentinian I was chosen. A simple and harsh soldier, he strengthened the frontiers of Italy and Gaul, disciplined the army, and drove back the invading Germans across the Rhine. He issued edicts against infanticide, founded schools, expanded public medical services, reduced taxes, and proclaimed freedom of belief.

His brother Valens ruled the East. After Valentinian’s early death in 375, his son Gratian ruled the West but soon fell into pleasure and delegated power to corrupt officials. Theodosius I the Great, a Spaniard of noble character, restored order. He encouraged the victorious Goths to join the Roman army rather than fight it.

In Thessalonica, after a terrible massacre ordered in anger, Theodosius publicly repented before Saint Ambrose and was temporarily barred from the church. This event marked a historic victory of the Church over the State.

Theodosius died in 395, and the empire was permanently divided between his sons Arcadius in the East and Honorius in the West.

Stilicho, Alaric, and the Sack of Rome in 410

Stilicho, a Vandal-born general, defended the West against Alaric but was executed on Honorius’s orders in 408. Alaric, leader of the Visigoths, invaded Italy. After a long siege and failed negotiations, the Goths entered Rome in 410.

Rome was sacked for three days, but the churches of St. Peter and St. Paul were spared, and those who took refuge there were protected.

This was the first time in 800 years that the eternal city had fallen to a foreign enemy.

The Internal Condition of Italy in the Fifth Century

By the late fourth century, Italy suffered from a complex mix of splendor and decay. Its population had declined sharply due to low birth rates, famine, disease, heavy taxation, and war. Large areas of farmland lay uncultivated. The middle classes were ruined, and many peasants surrendered their land to wealthy landlords, becoming serfs — an early form of feudalism.

Slavery declined because slaves had become expensive and difficult to control. The rich increasingly lived in rural villas to escape urban chaos. Rome remained the social and intellectual center of the West, but corruption, tax farming, and moral decay were rampant.

Salvian, a priest from Marseilles, harshly criticized Roman society, claiming that the poor and even some rich preferred to live under barbarian rule because Roman tax collectors were more terrifying than the barbarians themselves.

The Vandal Invasion and the Sack of Rome in 455

The Vandals, under their brilliant and ruthless king Gaiseric, crossed from Spain into Africa in 429. They captured Carthage in 439 and established a powerful kingdom. In 455, Gaiseric sailed to Italy and sacked Rome for four days. Churches were largely spared, but immense wealth was carried off to Carthage.

Attila the Hun and the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains

Attila, king of the Huns, became the most powerful man in Europe. He devastated the Balkans and in 451 invaded Gaul. A massive battle took place on the Catalaunian Plains near Troyes, where Roman general Aetius and Visigothic king Theodoric I halted the Huns. The following year Attila invaded Italy but withdrew after meeting Pope Leo I. He died in 453, and his empire quickly disintegrated.

The Final Fall of the Western Empire in 476

After the murder of Aetius and Valentinian III, chaos reigned. In 476, the Germanic chieftain Odoacer deposed the last Western emperor, Romulus Augustulus. Instead of declaring himself emperor, Odoacer sent the imperial insignia to Zeno in Constantinople and ruled Italy as king under nominal Eastern authority.

The Western Roman Empire had effectively come to an end. The Germans had conquered Italy, the Visigoths ruled Spain, the Vandals held Africa, the Franks were taking Gaul, and the Anglo-Saxons were settling Britain. Urban civilization gave way to rural life for seven centuries, and the nations of modern Europe were born from the ruins.