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The main threat to the empire came not from the Persians but from bordering barbarian tribes, such as the Goths, the Vandals and the Alans, which all began to encroach on Roman territory. Traditionally Rome had attempted to manage these tribes by paying off their leaders – especially during periods when they were concerned about internal threats – by trading with some and by subjugating others. Barbarian fighters were often used as a source of manpower26 to fight Rome’s battles, both internal and external. For example, it was a Vandal who became a Roman general and sought to defend the Roman Empire against the invading Goths.
What gave a greater urgency to the situation was the rise of the Huns, nomadic pastoralists from the great Eurasian Steppe located between the fringes of Europe and the western borders of China. The westward movement of the Huns was the outcome of three centuries of chaos in China between the end of the 3rd and the end of the 6th centuries AD, commonly referred to as the ‘Age of Disunity’. Invading the lands of various Germanic tribes, the Huns conquered some and pushed others to seek shelter within the confines of the Roman Empire.
In AD 376, a large group of Goths fleeing the Huns turned up en masse at the river Danube and requested permission from the Eastern Roman emperor, Valens, to move into Roman territory. Thinking they might serve both as a valuable supply of manpower in his war against the Persians, as well as a buffer against the new invaders from the east, Valens granted them permission to settle on lands near the Danube. The issue he faced, however, was that the neighbouring Roman garrisons, unprepared for such a large number of immigrants, were not willing, or able, to share their valuable food and supplies. This led to an increasingly hungry and exhausted mass of barbarian troops on Roman territory, and they eventually rebelled two years later.
When Emperor Valens accompanied his troops to Adrianople, not far from Constantinople, to bring order, he led his army into one of the greatest defeats ever suffered by the Roman Empire, and was killed in the process. The defeat of the Roman army and the death of the emperor by the Goths removed the Roman army’s aura of invincibility and encouraged other more fearful Germanic barbarian tribes to grow in confidence.
Emperor Theodosius, who succeeded Valens, attempted to pacify the Goths following the debacle of Adrianople by giving them lands in modern-day Bulgaria. However, by using them as cannon fodder in his battles, he ultimately succeeded only in inflaming the situation. Under their leader, Alaric, the Goths rebelled in the early part of the 5th century and marched on Italy, sacking Rome – the heart of the western world – in AD 410.27
There was also no let up by the Huns who, encouraged by their new leader, Attila, continued their westward march, only retreating in AD 451 when they were defeated deep in Gaul by a combined army of Romans and Goths. Attila died a few years later and a succession struggle destroyed the Hunnic Empire, which gradually faded from history.