Erosion of the Western Roman Empire - Battle of the Catalaunian Plains 451 AD (Part 1/2)

 

Since the latter half of the 4th century AD, the Roman Empire struggled to maintain cohesion.

 The period was marked by widespread social unrest, civil war, and the great migration of peoples from the far side of the Rhine and Danube rivers.

 Pushed west by nomads from the Asian steppe, countless Germanic warbands and tribes, each numbering 10 to 20,000 people, flooded across the border.

 Some sought refuge. Others, plunder.

 In the West, little could be done to stop the encroachment on Roman territory.

 The government was sapped by over a century of economic fragmentation that erased major political, cultural, and economic forces which held the empire together. This gradual process of poor economic policies in turn weakened the military, reducing the Imperial Army to a pale shadow of its former self.

 In addition, the crisis led to the harsh taxation of the poor, tying the populace to the lands of the wealthy. Such was the burden on the people that many found it better to rebel and become outlaws or sell themselves into enslavement.

 As a result, when the pressure along the border became too great, Rome lacked the resources to defeat its old enemies, leading to a complete collapse of the Frontier system.

 The Province of Britain was lost, most of Gaul was overrun, while new kingdoms in Hispania and Northern Africa defied the empire.

 After decades of steady disintegration, Rome was on its last legs.

 Worse, on the heels of the

 Germanic tribes came the nomads from the East, threatening the empire with fire and sword.

 They were; the Huns…

 It is the year 423 AD.

 The Hunnic domain stretches from the river Rhine to the Pontic steppe. Over the years, these nomadic warriors left a trail of untold destruction that reduced countless cities and regions to ruins.

 Their ability to appear out of nowhere made them seemingly impossible to defeat or defend against.

 At this time, the Huns were ruled by Octar in the west and Ruga in the east. It was during their reign that the Hunnic realm reached its territorial zenith.

 And, after Octar’s death in 430, it is thought that Ruga proved himself a capable ruler, managing to significantly centralize the tribes, turning the Huns into a war machine that became the terror of Europe.

 The Eastern Empire was hit particularly hard by Hunnic raids. Emperor Theodosius II found it more pragmatic to pay annual tribute of 350 pounds of gold in exchange for peace, as he often had to contend with Sassanid Persia as well.

 The situation in the West,

 however, was equally troubling.

 The chaotic 30-year rule of Theodosius’ uncle, Emperor Honorius, largely responsible for failing to prevent the erosion of the Western Empire, came to an end with his death in mid-August.

 Having left no heir, influential elites chose a high-ranking officer Joannes, as his successor. However, not being a member of the Theodosian dynasty, he was not recognized by the

 court in Constantinople.

 Wasting no time, Emperor Theodosius made preparations for a military expedition to put his cousin, young Valentinian III, on the western throne. His support for the boy, however, came at a price, and Illyricum was ceded to the Eastern Empire.

 Knowing that war was coming,

 Joannes tasked a certain Aetius, with seeking military help from the Huns.

 Flavius Aetius was born into a prominent family and was groomed for imperial

 service from a young age.

 He spent a part of his young adult life as a 'hostage' of the Huns, a position of great significance that served to build political and diplomatic relations between the barbarians and the empire.

 During his time there, Aetius developed close friendships with the Hunnic ruling elite.

 He played a key role in establishing diplomatic ties that enabled the Western Empire to recruit the invaluable Hun mercenaries, whilst the Hunnic Kings filled their coffers with tribute.

 Most importantly for Aetius, his personal contacts became a valuable political asset.

 Influential Romans not only sought his advice on how to deal with the barbarians, but relied on him to provide barbarian troops when they needed to further their political careers.

 Likewise, Joannes needed an army to hold onto the throne and he enlisted the ambitious Aetius, who used his personal connections with the Hunnic court to bring back an army of horsemen.

 But, he could not make it in time.

 After a hard fought campaign and a fair dose of betrayal, the Eastern Roman army deposed Joannes, and installed Valentinian III on the throne, in May 425.

 Aetius was now in an unusual position.

 By marching against the legitimate emperor of the Theodosian dynasty, he had committed treason. Yet, the wily general used the Hunnic army at his back as political leverage.

 The young emperor’s formidable mother, Galla Placidia, who was the real power behind the throne during Valentinian’s minority, quickly understood that Aetius could unseat her son and thought it wise to not only forgo all charges of treason, but handed him command over Gaul and paid for his Hunnic troops.

 Meanwhile, from the plains across the Danube, Ruga launched a campaign against the Eastern Empire on the pretext of going to war with the tribes considered to be under his authority, who have fled into Roman territory.

 However, a few months into the campaign he died – some say of the plague, others claim that he was struck by lightning.

 Whatever the case, such a capable leader would’ve been difficult to replace, and Theodosius hoped that the barbarians would fade away, now that they were without Ruga to lead them.

 Indeed, in the years after his death the reach of the decentralized Hunnic domain slowly shrunk, as tribes to the east and north-east gradually slipped from their control.

 By the time his nephews Bleda and Attila inherited the throne, the core of the Hunnic realm was centered around Pannonia, with their sphere of influence primarily extending over the Germanic, Sarmatian and Slavic tribes in the more immediate vicinity, but they nevertheless continued to have a major impact on Roman politics.

 The two brothers proved equally capable to adapt to the ever changing, hectic world of the Late Roman period.

 To conclude Ruga’s campaign, in 435 they forced Theodosius to sign an unfavorable peace.

 The annual tribute paid to the Huns was doubled to 700 pounds of gold, trade routing concessions were made, Hunnic traders were allowed into markets in Roman cities, and Theodosius had to surrender prominent Hunnic fugitives, including two of royal descent, who were subsequently crucified by Attila as punishment for converting to Christianity.

 Born into the most powerful Hunnic family, Bleda’s and Attila’s growing up was far from the rough life usually associated with nomadic tribes.

 Instead, they enjoyed a life no different than the Roman ruling class.

 They received excellent education in military and diplomatic tactics, could read, write, and speak in Gothic and Latin, and were well versed in court intrigue. And, like all Huns of royal blood, they received expert training in archery, sword fighting, lasso use, horse riding and grooming.

 It seems that Bleda ruled as supreme king in the prized eastern wing, while Attila controlled the western reaches, where he expanded the core of Hunnic territorial control towards the Rhine.

 From early in his rule,

 Attila continued to maintain the lucrative alliance with Aetius and, together with his brother, would continue to provide military support to the Roman general for years to come… To repay his Hunnic friends for their assistance against the two Theodosian emperors, Aetius ceded parts of Pannonia, and bestowed Attila with the honorary title of magister militum, which entitled the Hunnic king to a hefty salary and a regular supply of grain for his troops.

 The Roman general then promptly moved to build up his power.

 He killed off political opponents and used the support of the Huns to defeat his Roman rivals in a series of civil wars,

 further destabilizing the West.

 The Vandal king Gaiseric exploited the internal power struggle in Rome to cross from Hispania, overrun Roman Mauretania, and establish a firm foothold in the Province of Africa, eventually capturing Carthage in 439.

 Aetius managed to negotiate a treaty, recognizing Gaiseric as the ruler of the territory he had conquered, in exchange for grain supply and annual tribute to Rome.

 But he had no intention of actually recovering Africa. Similarly, to the north in Britain, still considered part of the empire in the general sense, when the Britons were attacked by the Picts and other barbarians, their pleas for help went unanswered.

 Instead, Aetius made the preservation of Roman Gaul the keystone of his policy.

 He drove back the Visigoths to their holdings in Aquitania,

 successfully stopping their expansion in a series of military engagements over the years.

 In the north, he defeated

 the Franks and the Alans,

 and enlisted them as foederati of the empire, using their cavalry to bolster his forces.

 Rebels in Raetia and Noricum were ruthlessly suppressed, and Roman rule was re-established on the Danube north of the Alps.

 Subsequently he crushed a

 Burgundian army near the Middle Rhine and accepted peace. But just one year later he broke the treaty and invited Attila’s Huns to cross the border to finish off the Burgundians.

 Tens of thousands were killed, while Aetius forcibly resettled the survivors south a few years later, effectively breaking the power of the Burgundian kingdom.

 A major insurrection of the Bagaudae rebels was suppressed in Armorica, a place of refuge for brigands, migrants who escaped the chaos in Britain impoverished peasants, and runaway slaves, deserters, all banded together in open resistance to the Roman proto-feudal exploitation.

 The ever-unstable region continued to be a problem, causing a constant manpower drain.

 To free up his troops, Aetius resettled the Alans along the Loire Valley, tasking them with containing the Bagaudae in the north and pressing the Visigoths in the south.

 By now, Aetius emerged as the most powerful man in the West. He treated Gaul as his personal fiefdom, defending it from internal and external threats at the expense of all other regions of the Western Empire.

 Realizing that Rome’s resources were committed in Gaul, the Vandals went on the offensive.

 First, Gaiseric married his son Huneric to the daughter of the Visigothic King Theodoric.

 Not only could such an alliance overpower the Western Empire, but the grain supply and trade revenue from Africa were cut off. Aetius would no longer be able to pay his troops, which would leave the empire defenseless.

 Then, in 440, Gaiseric invaded Sicily.

 The captured Roman ports and vessels in Africa now served to transport Vandal troops to Italy.

 News of barbarians pouring across the Mediterranean alarmed the Roman world.

 A year later, Theodosius dispatched a massive armada to bring the Vandals to heel. However, to mount the expedition, the Emperor pulled significant forces from the Imperial borders, and this hadn’t gone unnoticed by Rome’s neighbors.

 In the East, Sassanid armies invaded.

 Nearly two years of small scale fighting ended inconclusively, but contributed to the draining of Rome’s resources, before Theodosius agreed to pay tribute.

 Back on the Danube frontier, the Huns invaded in 441. This time, walled cities posed no obstacle.

 Battering rams, scaling ladders, and mobile towers were used to mount assaults. The ability to take fortified cities set the Huns apart from other tribal armies, as major city centers in the Balkans were reduced to ruins one by one.

 By 442, having gathered more plunder than they could carry, Attila and Bleda headed back across the Danube, after sending their demands to Theodosius.

 However, the Emperor rejected the peace offer.

 He recalled the troops from Sicily and ordered large amounts of new coins to be minted, to finance the war against the Huns, determined to defeat the nomads in battle.

 In 443, the Huns responded with another campaign. Major fortified urban centers were heavily damaged, with entire populations slaughtered or enslaved. Attila and Bleda reached as far south as Thermopylae in Greece, and destroyed a Roman army outside Constantinople.

 The Eastern capital was safe behind its walls, but another Roman army was defeated near Kallipolis.

 Unable to deal with the onslaught, the humiliated Theodosius sued for peace, agreeing to hand over 6,000 pounds of gold as punishment for missed payments during the invasion, and the annual tribute was

 tripled to 2,100 pounds in gold, with the ransom for every captured Roman soldier set at 12 solidi.

 As the Huns retreated back to their territory in 445, Bleda reportedly died, possibly a victim of assassination.

 Attila was now the sole ruler of the Huns.

 Meanwhile in the West, the

 Visigothic-Vandal alliance bore fruit.

 They tied down Roman forces in Gaul and took Sicily in the south. It was only a matter of time before they would overrun the empire.

 Political infighting certainly didn’t help Rome’s cause. Valentinian has grown, but he was Emperor in name only, with his power limited even within Italy itself. But, what little influence he had, he used to prevent any help from going to Aetius in his fight against the barbarians, clearly resentful of the general’s unlimited power.

 True to form, Aetius freely

 pulled the imperial strings.

 To consolidate his own position in Gaul, he offered an alliance to Gaiseric and proposed a marriage between Valentinian’s daughter and Gaiseric’s son.

 It was a brilliant move. He was well aware that Gaiseric’s son was already married to Theodoric’s daughter, and if his offer was accepted it would drive a wedge between the Vandals and the Visigoths, and potentially break up their alliance.

 The ploy worked.

 Aetius’ offer was too

 tempting for Gaiseric. He would now have time to rebuild his forces that became overextended, and to consolidate his grip over his territorial gains.

 More importantly, the opportunity to marry his son Huneric into the Roman royal line was too good to pass up. The Vandal King cared little that Huneric was already married to Theodoric’s daughter.

 To get rid of her, he accused her of trying to poison him, then cut her nose and ears off, before sending her back to Theodoric.

 The Visigothic-Vandal alliance was broken.

 To the west, in Hispania, Aetius was slowly losing grip on the situation. Nevertheless, he schemed by keeping the Visigoths busy with promises of land south of the Pyrenees if they aided Rome in putting down a revolt of the Bagaudae in Tarraconensis and in reducing the power of the Suebi, who had by now greatly expanded their territory on the peninsula.

 The expedition, however, was defeated, but it succeeded in diverting significant Visigothic forces away from

 Aetius’ domains in Gaul.

 By 447, his two-pronged diplomatic mission to neutralize both the Vandals and the Visigoths succeeded completely - it was a true political masterstroke.

 Aetius’ scheming continued in Italy, when he betrothed his son to Valentinian’s younger daughter. Not only did this further strengthen his position in the empire, Emperor, Marcian, in 450. He immediately adopted a stronger policy towards the Huns and put a stop to the ruinous tribute paid by his indecisive predecessor.

 be a more determined opponent under his rule.

 Attila was angered, but did not renew the and began preparing for a confrontation with his childhood friend and ally. Good but marrying into the Theodosian line would greatly increase the legitimacy of his house.

 However, in the east, storm

 clouds were gathering…

 In 447, the Huns crossed the Danube yet again.

 Two years of poor harvests, outbreaks of plague and a succession of earthquakes, spread devastation throughout the Eastern Empire, and Theodosius was forced to

 stop paying the annual tribute.

 And now, Attila came to collect what he was owed.

 This time he set his sights on Constantinople, who’s walls have been severely damaged during the strong earthquakes earlier in the year.

 An army marched out to meet the invaders, while the populace scrambled to repair the defenses.

 However, the Romans suffered

 a crushing defeat at the river Utus, but not without inflicting heavy casualties on the invaders.

 Left unopposed, the Huns laid waste to Thrace, with some cities suffering such destruction that they remained desolate until the reign of Justinian, some 70 years later.

 But, the walls of Constantinople were repaired just in time.

 Once again, the city’s formidable defenses left Attila no choice but to turn back. However, Theodosius was again forced to buy peace with the Huns and agreed to abandon much of the lower Danube frontier as a buffer wasteland. Forcing the abandonment of lands that were controlled by the empire for centuries was Attila’s way of reminding everyone of his power and ability to get concessions from the Romans.

 But, things soon changed with the death of Theodosius,

 and the accession of the new

 Eastern Emperor Marcian, in 450.

 He immediately adopted a stronger policy towards the Huns

 and put a stop to the ruinous tribute paid by his indecisive predecessor.

 The new emperor's comprehensive military preparations made it clear that the East would be a more determined opponent under his rule.

 Attila was angered,

 but did not renew the war.

 Instead, the Hunnic king turned west.

 He forbade the Hun mercenaries from serving Rome,

 and began preparing for a confrontation with his childhood friend and ally.

 Good relations between Attila and Aetius were coming to an end,

 and the Roman general would no longer be able to use the Huns as his iron fist in Gaul.

 A few reasons are suggested for Attila’s sudden sh ift in strategy, but it is not entirely clear why he abandoned long-standing diplomatic ties with the West.

 Whatever his reasons, a direct invasion of Rome risked alienating the barbarian allies that formed the bulk of his army. He needed a pretext for war. And he found two.

 One was the recent death of the Frankish King Chlodio that left his sons fighting over the throne, splitting the kingdom in two, with one son seeking assistance from Aetius and the other from Attila. But the Frankish internal dispute was not reason enough for all out war.

 The other was Justa Grata Honoria, Valentinian’s ambitious sister. She schemed to assassinate the emperor and seize power, but the plot was uncovered and she was forcibly married to a senator loyal to the emperor, who could keep an eye on her. Faced with an unwanted marriage, she went as far as sending a letter and A RING to Attila, begging him to set her free.

 This may or may not have been a marriage proposal, but Attila chose to interpret it as such.

 He accepted and asked for half of the Western Empire as dowry. Valentinian disputed the marriage proposal and refused Attila’s demands.

 This was the pretext that the Hunnic king needed.

 The war had begun…