Gothic War (376–382)

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The Gothic War of 376 to 382 was a conflict between the Goths, who fled the Huns across the Danube, and the emperors of the eastern half of the late Roman Empire, Valens and (after the death of Valens) Theodosius I.

Beginnings

In the late summer / autumn of 376 the Terwingen, fleeing from the Huns, were accepted into the Roman Empire after a formal surrender. Since the Terwingen had only limited supplies with them on their flight, there were soon supply bottlenecks. The Roman harvest had already been brought to the fortified cities and the officials tried to profit from the Terwingen's plight with inflated prices.

Open uprising

When the Roman commander Lupicinus withdrew troops from the Danube in order to force the Terwingen to his headquarters in Marcianopel , some of the Greutungen, who had also fled to the Danube, took the opportunity to cross the river. The Terwingen marched slowly so that the Greutungen could catch up. There was an open uprising when Lupicinus tried to have Alavivus and Fritigern , the leaders of the Goths, killed at a diplomatic banquet . The troops hastily drawn together by Lupicinus were defeated by the Goths. They first plundered the area around Marcianopel, but did not attack any fortified cities as they did not know how to siege. Thereupon they crossed the Balkan Mountains and marched towards Adrianople (today Edirne , Turkey). The Gothic auxiliaries stationed there overflowed to them.

war

The Emperor of the East, Valens , had made peace with Persia in order to be able to withdraw troops from Armenia. These troops, led by Generals Trajanus and Profuturus, reached the Balkans in the summer of 377. The Goths therefore withdrew to the area north of the Balkan Mountains. Reinforced by a small force from the western part of the empire, led by Ricomer, the Romans attacked the Gothic wagon castle at Ad Salices. The battle ended without a clear winner and with heavy losses on both sides.

The Romans now shifted to securing the passes of the Balkan Mountains . However, since they were outnumbered and the Goths were reinforced by groups of Huns and Alans hoping for prey, they had to retreat, allowing the Goths to plunder the areas south of the mountains again. They reached Constantinople , but were pushed back by Arab auxiliary troops.

The battle of Adrianople

Main article → Battle of Adrianople (378)

In early 378, the Eastern Emperor Valens gathered his field army near Constantinople. The western emperor Gratian had promised to lead his field army to Thrace as well, but had to turn back when a group of Alemanni crossed the frozen Rhine.

Valen's generals attacked Gothic looters at Adrianople , which prompted Fritigern to order the majority of his troops there. When, despite repeated promises, in August still no troops came from the west, Valens decided to venture the battle without Gratian so as not to give him a share in the victory. His troops marched in battle order to Adrianople. On the night of August 8th to 9th, Fritigern sent an offer of peace, which Valens refused. The Roman army marched north at dusk and reached the Gothic wagon castle at 2 p.m.

When, after two further offers of peace, the hostages were being exchanged, two regiments of the Roman Right Wing began to attack the Goths without orders. The left wing of the Romans was not fully formed at the beginning, but made the fastest progress at the beginning. The Romans had not expected the intervention of the Greutung cavalry, under whose onslaught the left wing collapsed and thus exposed the flank of the Roman center. The heavy infantry there was far too tightly formed to defend itself against the cavalry. The Emperor Valens died on the battlefield with two thirds of his army.

Remaining course of the war

After the Battle of Adrianople, the entire Balkans were open to the Goths. They first marched towards Constantinople. However, they still had no opportunity to take fortified cities. Since they continued to rely on looting to provide for themselves, they now moved their operations to Illyria , Dacia and Moesia .

The Terwingen and Greutungen now separated from each other. The Greutungen under Alatheus and Saphrax were defeated in Pannonia by Gratian's troops. The Terwingen under Fritigern moved to Thessaly and Macedonia . The new Eastern Emperor Theodosius I tried to oppose them in the summer of 380, but initially failed. Only after the reinforcements sent by Gratian to Theodosius could the Terwingen be pushed back to Thrace in the summer of 381 .

peace contract

On October 3, 382, ​​Theodosius concluded a peace treaty with the Goths, the exact content of which is difficult to reconstruct and is also controversial in research (see article Theodosius I ). The Gothic Treaty guaranteed the Goths land between the Danube and the Balkan Mountains without formal submission ( deditio ). According to the Roman law of the Constitutio Antoniniana , they were equal to a Roman. They remained under the rule of their own princes, were free from tax obligations and had to provide military aid within the framework of their federal status.

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