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Battles: The Battle of Adrianople
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Posted by Webmaster on September 19 2004, 06:33 AM
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The Battle of Adrianople was one of Rome’s worst defeats on par with the disaster of Cannae. The battle is also considered by many modern historians to be the battle that signified the end of the superiority of heavy infantry and the beginning of the dominance of heavy cavalry.
The trouble that would eventually start the chain of events that lead up to Adrianople began in the early 370s AD. By the early 370s the Huns had conquered an Iranian people known as the Alans and were now in the process of turning towards the Gothic Kingdom of Gruethungia in the Ukraine. Despite a strong and passionate resistance the Gruethungian Goths could not hold out forever and soon the old king of the Gruethungian Goths, Ermanaric killed himself and with his death the Goths left Ukraine. When the Gruethungian Goths broke under pressure from the Huns they fell back and reformed in a new land to the west under a new king, Vithimer. Unfortunately it was about this time the Tervingians (another Gothic people) decided to not get involved in the war with the Huns so when Vithimer was killed the Tervingian leader Athanaric denied them passage into Tervingian lands, thusly forcing the Gruethungians into submission under the Huns. In the summer of 376 AD the Huns turned towards the Tervingians and beat them decisively, causing Athanaric to retreat towards what is now Bessarabia. The Huns beat the Goths in Bessarabia as well, forcing a retreat to Transylvania and with this new defeat dissent began to rack the Tervingian Goths. In Transylvania the bulk of the Tervingian Goths left for the border with the Eastern Roman Empire under Fritigern and Alaviv. At the Danube River, which was the official border between the barbarians and the Eastern Empire Fritigern and Alaviv petitioned for land in the Eastern Empire and were surprising admitted in the Autumn of 376 AD.
In the Autumn of 376 AD the Eastern Emperor Valens allowed the Tervingian Goths into Roman lands and thus started only the beginning of problems for the Goths and Romans alike. When Valens allowed the Goths into Imperial territory he had no idea of the size of the group he was letting into his lands. Valens decided to allow the Goths to settle in Thrace as Dediticii (those who had received the mercy of the Emperor). Because of the sheer size of the group it was hard for Goths to find food especially since the Romans had policy of the feeding of their own people most important. Valens knew from experience that Goths were excellent fighters and mass conscripted many Gothic men for his war with Sassanid Persia over Armenia. Valens however was quick to realize that as long the Goths remained united under Fritigern and Alaviv they would stay strong. With this in mind the Roman commander of Thrace, Lupicinus invited Fritigern, Alaviv, and some of their supporters to the regional capital at Maricanople. During the feast the escort for the Goth leaders was cut down and in the ensuing fight Fritigern managed to escape and Alaviv along many other nobles were killed. When the news of Alaviv’s death spread about the Goth communities in Thrace they rose up in open rebellion against the Romans, the Gothic Rebellion had begun.
News of the rebellion took time to reach Emperor Valens, though it would take many Gothic victories to convince Valens to quash it himself. When news of the revolt reached Emperor Valens in Armenia he did not think it would take much to crush the revolt, but decided to nevertheless send for reinforcements from his nephew and the Western Emperor, Gratian. Gratian sent a large portion of Pannonia Valeria to assist Valens in crushing the revolt, they were later augmented by a Comes Domesticorum from Germania. In the summer of 377 AD the Roman generals made their move and found the Gothic army under Fritigern at a place known only as Ad Salices (At the Willows). The Battle of Ad Salices ended in a stalemate however and following the battle the Romans moved to block all passages from Thrace to the Balkans and gathered vital supplies in heavily fortified cities, but Fritigern still had one trick up his sleeve. Over the last few months Fritigern had been in contact with Alatheus and Safrax who commanded the last remnants of the Gruethungian Goths along with their Hunnic, Sarmatian, Alan, and Taifalian allies. After Ad Salices Fritigern contacted Alatheus and Safrax and asked them to cross over the Danube and join him, they agreed. With the arrival of the forces of Alatheus and Safrax the Goths were able to break out of Thrace and wreak havoc on the Romans. Gratian alarmed at what was happening sent more reinforcements to the East but they were defeated and further more much of his army was tied down fighting the Alamanni. In the Winter of 377/378 Valens tired of his underlings seeming hopeless incompetence quickly made peace with Sassanid Persia and hurried home to show his commanders how to deal with barbarians, he would be in for a big surprise. In July 378 AD Valens arrived in Adrianople with a large army and received news that a Roman infantry force had defeated a Goth column in Rhodope. They also received word that Gratian had finished his war with the Alamanni and had sent another force to assist the East and were now in Bulgaria recuperating from a Goth cavalry attack. On August 6th, 378 AD Valens learned that a small Gothic force of 10,000 under Fritigern was marching towards the town of Nike, despite pleas to wait for the Western reinforcements Valens marched out to intercept Fritigern. Valens was expecting an easy victory over the Goths, he would be proved wrong.
August 9th 378 AD would be a day that would go down in history. On the morning of August 7th 378 Valens learned that Richomer, the captain of Gratian’s guard had arrived in camp outside Adrianople asking one last time for Valens to stop, he did not listen. On August 8th Fritigern sent ambassadors to Valens but he sent them away. Early in the morning of August 9th Valens and his army prepared for battle and marched towards the Gothic position arriving about 2 PM tired and in total disarray. Valens found much to his surprise that not only was the Gothic army larger then 10,00 men he also found the Goths on top of a hill within and outside of a ring of chariots that protected the Gothic women and children. However Valens was not the only one who was surprised for Fritigern had not known that the Romans would move so quickly. Fritigern and his army was encamped on the hill but the entire Gothic cavalry force under Alatheus and Safrax was out foraging and Fritigern knew that he needed to stall for time. Fritigern decided to start negotiations for hostages, while this did buy him some time it also aggravated the already tired, thirsty, and hot Romans. Finally the Romans attacked but the deployment was messy and the soldiers were scorching hot in their armor. The attack was launched when the Iberian Prince Bacurius attacked the Gothic lines with his Scutarii (Skirmishers) without any support. When the Scutarii was pushed back by the Goths who soon launched an attack of their own. The attack was so sudden that the Romans had little time to get into proper order. Without that order, without that famous discipline the Romans lost the advantage that made them so good, that made them the best infantry in Ancient times. Despite this the Romans did manage to push harder than the Goths and were near to breaking the chariot fort when a miracle happened. Out of nowhere came the Gothic cavalry under Alatheus and Safrax, the cavalry quickly swept the pitiful Roman cavalry and then suddenly turned and launched themselves into the Romans left flank. About this time the Gothic infantry launched a counterattack quickly helping the cavalry to completely surround the Roman troops. Finally with casualties mounting and exhaustion increasing the Roman army lost its last remaining shred of order and routed, The Gothic cavalry followed them killing the fleeing Romans in droves. As night fell on that day the Emperor Valens cutoff from his guard was killed in chaotic rout of the Roman forces. The Gothic victory was undoubtedly a complete one as the sun fell that day with a third of the Roman army dead including the Emperor and most of the able commanders.
In the aftermath of Adrianople much changed and happened for both the Goths and Romans. The Gothic victory at Adrianople was a massive blow to both halves of the Roman Empire though they managed to recover in a few years from it. The Goths also suffered however as the large Gothic army soon broke and each part went its separate way. Despite this the war continued until 382 AD when the successor of Valens, Theodosius I signed a treaty with the Goths making them Foederatii cavalry of the Eastern Empire. This did not bring end to the harsh treatment of the Goths and they again rose up this time sacking Rome in 410 AD. |
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