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Message:: [QUOTE="Sallent, post: 2717454, member: 76194"]Many falsely believe that the Western Half of the Roman Empire began it's decline in the 3rd Century, and decline accelerated in the 4rth Century with Christianity becoming the religion of the Empire. This is mostly due to the largely outdated accounts of the great British 18th Century historian, Edward Gibbon. But the reality, according to modern scholarship, is very different. According to the historian Peter Heather in his account  on "The Fall of the Roman Empire", modern archeological evidence dispels Gibbon's views, and the Western Roman Empire as late as 375 CE was in fact stable, prosperous, and far from collapse.  In his book, Peter Heather explains how Roman Africa, and most of the provinces of the Western Empire were undergoing a financial boom, and modern archeological evidence of massive villas and large scale  farming and commerce show that the provinces in the west were stable and doing well despite nearly a century of heavy taxation. CRISIS OF 376 CE [ATTACH=full]614746[/ATTACH] As you can see from the map above, although many of the familiar tribes in the story of the collapse of the West had made their way to the Roman frontiers by 200 CE, they had failed to challenge the borders of the Roman world in any significant way prior to 376 CE. The Empire, even the western half, were just too strong and well organized for any barbarians to stand a chance...until 376 CE. What happened? [ATTACH=full]614747[/ATTACH]Late Roman soldier Historical sources tell us that in 376 CE the entire Visigothic world showed up at the Roman frontier. Hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children. And behind them were many other tribes. They came out of desperation, speaking of unspeakable horrors visited upon them by a migrating Asian tribe known as the Huns. [ATTACH=full]614751[/ATTACH] Valens, AD 364-378.AR Siliqua, Treveri, 367-378.Obv.: D N VALEN-S P F AVG; Pearl-diademed, draped, cuirassed bust right.Rev.: VRBS ROMA; Roma seated left on cuirass, holding Victory set on globe in her right hand and spear in her left // TRPS•Reference: RIC IX 27b and 45a. Emperor Valens, emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, could not cope with the sudden large scale waves of migration, so he allowed the barbarians access to the Empire with the hope he could wipe them out at a later date. While Valens made plans with Gratian, Emperor of the Western Roman Empire, to send a combined Eastern and Western Army to wipe out these hundreds of thousands of barbarian intruders, Valens reneged on promises of food and aid to the Visigoths and other tribes, and as a result they began to starve. BATTLE OF ADRIANOPLE By 378 CE, the barbarians had enough and rose in a massive revolt against the Roman authorities. Valens sent word to Gratian to send Western soldiers to the East as the key battle was at hand. [ATTACH=full]614757[/ATTACH]Portrait of Gratian from Solidus **NOT MINE** But Gratian instead sent his troops to mop up minor border skirmishes in his side of the Empire, leaving Valens in the battlefield hopelessly awaiting the promised reinforcements. Gratian never showed up, and Valens went to battle with a much smaller force than anticipated, and the results were calamitous for the Roman world. [ATTACH=full]614769[/ATTACH]Battle of Adrianople Valens, outnumbered and not wearing a helmet, was either struck in the head and killed, or was seriously wounded and evacuated from the field, only to die when a barn housing retreating Roman soldiers was burned by the Visigoths. A large portion of the Roman army laid dead in the field. ROOTS OF THE COLLAPSE OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE With the massive defeat at Adrianople of the Eastern Roman forces, the word spread throughout the Barbarian world and the tribes sensed Roman weakness and opportunities for territory and wealth, and suddenly the paths into the Roman world lay open. It wasn't long before the Franks, Vandals, Lombards, and other desperate barbarian tribes fleeing the Hunic onslaught desided it was worth taking their chances within the borders of the Roman Empire, rather than staying behind and facing the formidable Huns. Although the Eastern half, thanks to capable Emperors, were able to more or less stand up to this onslaught, and the Western half managed to also hold off the mass migrations for a while too, the western half had the misfortune from 393 CE forwards of being ruled by a weak child Emperor, Honorius. As western court officials battled one another for the favor of this child Emperor, the Vandals, Franks and other tribes broke through to Gaul and Hispania, and the inevitable path to decline set in as one province after another was ravaged and lost to the Empire, thus depriving the Western half of much needed wealth to maintain an army capable of dealing with the Barbarian threat. The Western half would never recover. *Source material is my listening to Peter Heather's audio book on "The Fall of the Roman Empire." It is also available through Amazon Kindle. And yes, also available in book form for those of you who are old fashioned.[/QUOTE]

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