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The decline of the Roman Empire.
"Not knowing history means always being a child."
Cicero.
The year is 395 from the birth of Christ.
Emperor Theodosius I dies due to illness.
This is the last emperor who ruled the united Roman Empire.
Before him, it was repeatedly divided into parts and united again, but after his death, it will never become a single state.
And as we know from history, a divided state is a weak state.
Before his death, Theodosius bequeaths the empire to two sons at once.
The western part of the empire, with its capital in Mediolan (modern Milan) - to the son of Honorius, and the eastern part (later it would be called the Byzantine Empire), with its capital in Constantinople - to the son of Arkady.
It was the beginning of the end.
The Great Migration of Peoples.
In the second half of the IV century, the Huns came to Europe from Asia - a mysterious nomadic people who lived due to constant raids on their neighbors.
There is a version that the Great Wall of China was built to protect it from the ancestors of the Huns.
And if this is true, then this could be one of the reasons why the Huns were forced to begin their migration to the west.
The Huns.
"They (the Huns - author's note) have brutal morals and disgusting appearance; in childhood they cut their chin, face and cheeks so that their hair could not grow.
With the greatest ugliness of the face, their bones are strong, their shoulders are broad, and moreover they are so ungainly and out of tune that they seem like two legged brutes.
They have no need for fire or spices to make food; they eat wild roots and raw meat, which they put on a horse instead of a saddle and steam it with a quick ride; agriculture is alien to them; they do not know permanent homes, they have been wandering through mountains and forests since childhood and are getting used to enduring cold and hunger.
Their clothing is made of linen or made from the skins of forest mice; they change it only when it falls off the body in rags.
They are inseparable from their small but strong horses, on which they eat, drink, sleep and send all business; even at public meetings, everyone sits on horseback.
They carry their dirty wives and children behind them in carts.
They do not know shame and decency and have no religion; excessive greed for gold encourages them to raid.
Their weapons are spears and arrows with sharpened bones at the end; they are able to skillfully throw lassoes at enemies.
They are extremely fast in their movements, suddenly they fly at the enemy formation from all sides, pick up, scatter, run away and then suddenly attack again…
They boast most of all about killing enemies, and instead of taking off their weapons, they take off their heads, peel off their skin and hang horses with their hair on their chests."
Ammianus Marcellinus, Roman historian.
The Huns are besieging the Great Wall of China.
A picture from the Istanbul Museum.
Looking for new lands for themselves, the Huns, like death with a scythe, swept away everything in their path, even a proverb developed: "Where the Hun horse stepped, there is no grass growing there."
It was their arrival that caused the Great Migration of Peoples, and largely influenced the collapse of the Western Roman Empire.
Coming from the east, the Huns began to push the Goths - the ancient Germanic tribes of farmers.
Back in the middle of the third century, the Goths were divided into two branches: Visigoths and Ostrogoths, that is, western and eastern.
Persecuted by the Huns, the Visigoths fled to the Eastern Roman Empire, asking for protection from the Emperor Valentine.
Most of the Ostrogoths remained in their places and swore allegiance to the Huns, fighting later on their side, which will greatly strengthen the Hun army, since the Huns had absolutely no skills of foot combat.
In search of a home.
The migration of the Visigoths.
Fritigern.
Under the leadership of their leader Fritigern, the Goths go under the protection of Rome (meaning the empire).
According to the treaty, Rome had to allocate new lands to the Goths and provide them with food, in return, the Goths were obliged to protect the northern territories (those below the Danube) of the Eastern Empire.
Such contracts were a frequent occurrence.
But Rome did not keep its promises.
The Goths were starving, they were mercilessly exploited.
The local officials sold them the provisions they were supposed to have at an exorbitant price, despite the fact that the Goths had practically no money; it began to reach the point that they exchanged food for their own children.
Here and there, hunger riots began to break out and at one point, a wave of universal anger swept the Goths.
The uprising was led by Fritigern.
Gathering armed troops under his command, he went around the country, plundering it and taking an increasing number of rebels into his ranks.
The Emperor Valens sent his troops against Fritigern.
The two armies met in a terrible battle near Adrianople in 378.
The Goths completely defeated the Roman army, famous for its military art, killing 2/3 of its personnel, along with the emperor himself.
The outcome of the battle greatly shocked both Roman Empires.
And thanks to this, the Goths were equalized in rights with the rest of the inhabitants of the empire.
But they were equalized only in words, and therefore the peace did not last long.
The Goths were introduced into the Roman army, they began to be used in constant wars with the Huns and with the Western Roman Empire.
Here it is necessary to emphasize the use of words, since the Goths were allocated the role of" cannon fodder " - the Roman generals threw them into the very fervor, covering their regular units with them.
And a new wave of anger was not long in coming.
Alaric I.
The new uprising will be associated with the name of Alaric I - the name that terrified the hearts of the Romans, the first king of the Visigoths.
Taking advantage of the death of Emperor Theodosius in 395, Alaric raises a rebellion and begins to plunder Greece.
A little about the Western Empire and the commander Stilicho.
Flavius Stilicho.
After Theodosius I died, Honorius became the emperor of the Western Roman Empire, but he became it only formally.
In fact, the country was ruled by Stilicho , the commander in chief of the Western Roman troops, who was increasingly gaining strength and expressing claims to the Eastern part of the empire.
In response, Constantinople incites Alaric to attack Italy, if only he would leave them alone, which Alaric willingly does.
In 401, he invaded the north of Italy, forcing the emperor Honorius to flee in terror from Mediolan (Milan) to Ravenna, where the capital of the empire was also moved.
Alaric's attack forced people to seek shelter: some settled on the Venetian islands, the province of Venetia, where there had been only a small number of fishing huts before, and some moved towards Rome.
Stilicho manages to repel the attack of the Visigoths, he concludes a peace treaty with them, wanting to unite for a joint action against the Eastern Empire, but his plans were not destined to come true.
Emperor Honorius, concerned about the above mentioned treaty with the Goths, as well as the growing influence of his general, orders his courtiers to kill Stilicho, apparently the last person who wanted to unite the empire.
As will be seen later, nothing good came out of this murder.
Stilicho was the best general of the Western Empire and the only one who could resist Alaric.
Taking advantage of the execution of Stilicho, the Visigoths ask the emperor for settlement in Pannonia and monetary payments, to which Honorius responds with a categorical refusal.
Dissatisfied with the refusal, Alaric again goes to war on Italy, and all that the Emperor Honorius can do is lock himself in his Rabbinical Palace and not show his nose from there.
Alaric enters Rome.
In 410, the troops of Alaric almost without encountering resistance, reach Rome in just a month.
Rome was taken.
The empire was thrown into horror, because Rome was a symbol of the greatness of the empire, a symbol of its power and invincibility, and then some wild and uncouth barbarians easily took it and ruined it.
Alaric was in Rome for only 3 days, after which he planned to go across Italy towards Sicily.
There he wanted to cross to Carthage, in order to finally find fertile lands for his people where they could stay to live.
But by the end of 410, having reached the south of Italy, the "Powerful King" (as his name is literally translated from the Gothic) dies.
After the death of Alaric, the Visigoths still find shelter.
They settle in Gaul.
Attila the Conqueror.
The legendary leader of the Huns.
Attila.
Delacroix fresco, 1840.
"He (Attila author's note) was proud of his gait, darted his eyes here and there and by his very gestures revealed his highly exalted power.
A lover of war, he himself was moderate in hand, very strong in common sense, accessible to those who ask and merciful to those whom he once trusted.
In appearance, short, with a broad chest, with a large head and small eyes, with a sparse beard, touched with gray, with a flattened nose, with a disgusting color [of the skin], he showed all the signs of his origin."
Jordan, a Gothic historian of the VI century.
Since the first half of the fifth century, the leader of the Huns was an outstanding king of Rua (or Rugila), who made constant raids on the Eastern Roman Empire, demanding tribute from them.
From the deceased brother, Rua left two nephews - Bleda and Attila, whom he began to raise himself.
Over time, when the nephews grew up, Attila began to gain military fame, participating in numerous battles.
At this point, the Huns are allies of the Western Roman Empire and periodically act on their side in wars against the Goths.
Attila takes power.
"Attila is a man who was born to shake the world."
Priscus of Pania, a fifth century Byzantine historian.
Artist Alibek Koylakaev.
two thousand twelve
With the death of King Rua, in 434, the power passes immediately to both brothers Bleda and Attila.
But Attila was extremely ambitious since childhood, his dream was to unite all the Huns and conquer the world.
As a result, Attila kills his own brother Bleda in order to concentrate all the power in his hands.
"Attila, the king of the Huns, killed Bleda, his brother and colleague in the kingdom, and forced his peoples to obey him."
Prosper of Aquitaine, a fifth century Roman historian.
He begins to unite first the scattered tribes of the Huns, and then all other peoples under his command, building an empire from the Black Sea to the banks of the Rhine.
The Empire of Attila.
The scope of his empire is really impressive.
Having united numerous tribes and peoples, he turned his gaze to a rich and militarily weakened empire - the Roman Empire.
"In a terrible war, much more severe than the first one [in 441-442], Attila wiped almost all of Europe into dust."
Marcellinus Comitus, sixth century Byzantine historian.
From 441 to 448, Attila makes two military campaigns against the Eastern Empire, capturing a huge number of cities.
When his troops approached the walls of Constantinople itself, a peace treaty was signed, according to which Byzantium paid a huge tribute.
Attila drained Byzantium of blood, because of which it did not pose a threat for a long time.
Attila goes to Gaul.
"Civilization!
What is it?
Bribery, intrigue, slavery, an empire of weak people, and an emperor who paints himself!"
From the k/f.
Attila the Conqueror.
1954.
Heavy Hun cavalry.
In the Western Roman Empire, at that time, the young and frivolous emperor Valentinian III was in power, completely oblivious to the needs of the empire and caring only about his entertainment.
His mother, Galla Placidia, actually ruled for him, who enlisted the support of the commander and commander in chief of the Roman troops Flavius Aetius (after all, according to Roman laws, a woman could not rule the state), who, by the way, also led his game for power.
Flavius Aetius deserves special attention.
The best of the generals of the Western Empire at that time, he was given as a child to the political captivity of the Huns, where he spent three years, and therefore knew firsthand about their customs, lifestyle and military tactics.
This gave Aetius a great price.
The Western empire was extremely weakened and increasingly represented an appetizing piece for the conquerors.
Back in 439, the king of the Vandals (the union of East German tribes) Geyserich captures Carthage and north Africa, creating a threat from the south.
Rome can do nothing to oppose him, since there are barely enough troops to guard all the borders.
And then Attila has a pretext for an invasion.
Around 450, the sister of the emperor Valentinian - Honoria, exiled to Constantinople, it is believed, because of an affair with an official Eugene, writes a letter to Attila, in which she offers her hand, and as a dowry - half of the Western Empire.
"Honoria, the sister of the emperor Valentinian, molested by her procurator Eugene, conceived [a child], and, sent from Italy to the Princeps Theodosius, prompted Attila to [act] against the Western state."
Marcellinus Comitus, sixth century Byzantine historian.
We didnot have to wait long, in 451 Attila declared war on the Western Roman Empire - he went to Gaul, which by that time was torn by numerous strife.
The battle of the Catalaunian fields.
An engraving of the XIV century.
"The Lord has firmly decided that the Huns should come to Gaul and, like a great storm, devastate it."
Gregory of Tours, a Frankish historian of the VI century.
They took the cities of Cologne, Reims, Troyes, Metz, Trier, Tongeren, but during the siege of Orleans, Attila is rebuffed.
Flavius Aetius puts his forces against him, united with the forces of the Visigoth King Theodoric I, against whom Aetius had previously fought together with the Huns.
The main battle took place on the Catalaunian fields.
According to some sources, more than 500,000 soldiers came out from Attila's side.
The light has not seen such a cabin for a long time.
"Although none of the [rivals] lost in this clash, there were incalculable exterminations of those who died on both sides, but the Huns were considered defeated because those who survived, having lost hope of [success in] the battle, returned home."
Prosper of Aquitaine, a fifth century Roman historian.
According to the historian Jordan, 180,000 people were killed in the battle on both sides.
The Gothic king Theodoric also laid down his head there .
Attila retreated, it was his first military defeat.
Attila is marching on Rome.
"They were the wrath of the Lord.
As often as his indignation grows against the believers, he punishes them with Huns, so that, having been cleansed in suffering, the believers will reject the temptations of the world and its sins and enter the heavenly kingdom."
Isidore of Seville, seventh century Archbishop of Seville.
Cole Thomas.
"The Way of the Empire.
The crash."
In the summer of 452, Attila attacks the north of Italy.
The first he captures the city of Aquileia, one of the largest cities in Italy at that time.
Some of the fleeing people settle on the Venetian Islands, which have already been partially inhabited since the invasion of Alaric I.
The remaining refugees on the islands, later found the city of Venice, which will become an independent state and will not suffer the common fate of the Western Roman Empire.
Then Mediolan falls, Aetius ' troops do not give the Huns a rebuff, and Attila plans to reach Rome itself, as Alaric once did.
After Attila had coped with the losses suffered in Gaul, he decided to attack Italy through Pannonia.
Our general [Aetius] did not take any measures that he carried out in the first war, did not even protect the passes in the Alps, where the enemy could be stopped.
Perhaps he was preoccupied with only one hope — to escape from Italy with the emperor.
But because it seemed so shameful and dangerous, the sense of honor overcame fear."
Prosper of Aquitaine, a fifth century Roman historian.
But Attila was not destined to reach Rome.
It is believed that "God took his hand away", to this motif Raphael even painted a fresco in the Vatican, in 1514.
Pope Leo I (on the left on a horse), God (in the form of two angels from above) and Attila (on the right on a horse).
Raphael fresco.
A terrible epidemic broke out among the Huns, which, by the way, is not surprising because they did not wash for years, and often went to the toilet under themselves without getting off the horse.
All plans for a campaign against Rome had to be abandoned, Attila retreated.
The death of Attila is "the scourge of God".
The end of the history of the Huns.
The death of Attila.
For some time Attila, the" scourge of God", as the pope called him, annoyed Gaul with his raids.
But already in 453, on the day of his wedding, he was poisoned and died in his own bed.
Thus ended the life of a powerful and terrible man, whose arrival was long predicted by the prophets.
Attila had many sons from many wives.
And after his death, they inherited the empire, each grabbed a piece.
The Hunnic tribes were divided again and a wave of civil strife swept out of them.
The Empire of the Huns existed by inertia for some time and soon disappeared.
The Huns, later, dissolved among other peoples.
The people who terrified the whole of Europe disappeared as suddenly as they appeared...
The last breath of the empire.
"Those are mistaken who, during the time of prosperity, think that they have got rid of adversity forever."
Cicero.
Rome's nightmare was over, as it seemed to many.
Now the empire should have taken a deep breath, if not for one thing...
In 454, the emperor Valentinian III summoned Aetius to his audience, personally stabbed him with his sword.
The emperor was afraid of a conspiracy, because Aetius had acquired great power, and, as he believed, he no longer needed him, since Attila was dead.
Exactly one year after the death of Aetius, as a result of a coup d'etat, the emperor Valentinian is killed, and a little more than 20 years later, the Roman Empire itself will cease to exist.
Taking advantage of a good moment, the Vandal king Geyserich, in 455, crossed from Carthage to Italy, which he captured, and just like Alaric earlier, captured Rome.
Geyserich plunders Rome.
Vandals have looted the city clean.
What they could not take away with them, they destroyed on the spot.
It is from here that the concept of "vandalism" originates.
The Dark Ages.
year 476.
Odoacer overthrows Romulus Augustulus.
The barbarian commander Odoacer put an end to our history.
In 476, he overthrew Romulus Augustus and became king of Italy, on the territory of which, later, the Kingdom of the Ostrogoths would be founded.
The Western Roman Empire ceases to exist.
The "dark ages" are coming...
Version of the article in LiveJournal - http://sheshbesh144.livejournal.com/8304.html
Related Video:
Secrets of antiquity : Barbarians (Huns).
Secrets of antiquity : Barbarians (Goths).
Author:
Andrey Michurin
Date:
10/12/2014
Placemarks:
Great generals
,
World history
,
The Roman Empire
2 comments :
Alex18 October 2014, 19: 41 Protest, Odoacer did not kill the emperor.
Romulus Augustus (ul) after his deposition lived for quite a long time in some villa as a private person (the exact date of death is unknown).
By the way, he was not even the last emperor — earlier (475), the deposed Julius Nepos continued to carry this title even until his assassination in 480.
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Andrey Michurin21 June 2015, 18: 33 Thank you, comments are taken into account.
I corrected the article.
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