The abrupt irruption of the Huns in the fourth century caused the Visigoths who were on the eastern bank of the Danube to treat to cross the river to its western bank. But that meant crossing the border (limes ) of the Roman Empire. After desperately begging to be allowed to enter Imperial territory, Emperor Valens finally granted his permission. But he imposed two conditions:that they hand over their weapons and that they also hand over their children.
What initially seemed like a condition to guarantee that the Visigoths would not rise up against Rome ended up becoming a drama for the Visigoth children:those who were not sold as slaves by Roman officials or used as concubines were abandoned to their fate, overcrowded, and a good part of them perished from the cold and contagious diseases.
This provoked the wrath of the Visigoths, who rebelled against the Romans and headed towards the city of Adrianople. Emperor Valens was determined to put an end to the problem personally, but he made two fatal mistakes.
First of all, he ordered that all the Goths who were part of the imperial army be removed from the area; those affected, who were soldiers loyal to Rome and Christianized by Ulfilas, felt insulted; when, in addition, they were denied payment of their pay and food for the trip before leaving, they reacted by joining the rebel forces.
The Goths were unable to take Adrianople, but they sacked and ravaged the Roman province of Thrace in 377 and 378 until Valens led his army to crush the rebels; and this was where he made his second mistake. Valens proceeded towards Adrianople from the east and petitioned the western emperor, his nephew Gratian, to join him in command of his army. In this way they would surround the Goths in a pincer movement and could defeat them.
However, misinformed about the enemy's forces and about the possibility that part of the Gothic army led by Fridigern might initiate peace talks if pressured, Valens decided to attack with his army without waiting for Gratian. The possibility of gaining for himself all the glory of victory and denying it to his nephew, who was reputed to be a very capable general despite his youth, also influenced Valens, who was jealous of Gratian's fame. /p>
Be that as it may, Valente attacked the Goths; it was a complete disaster, riddled with tactical errors on the emperor's part. Adrianople became the worst defeat of the army of the Roman Empire. Two-thirds of Valens' troops remained on the battlefield, including thirty-seven of his generals. The emperor himself perished when the Goths burned down the hut where he had taken refuge.
With the defeat of Adrianople and the loss of human life in the Roman army, the future of the Empire did not look very promising. Then two figures emerged capable of stopping the fall of Rome, even for a while:the Western emperor Gratian and a general who had retired to his possessions in Hispania, called Theodosius... but that's another story.