Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The Battle of Adrianople

Starting point is 00:00:00 On August 9th in the year 378, one of the most important battles in world history took place. While largely forgotten today, it was a critical battle that contributed to the collapse of the Roman Empire. And it wasn't just a loss for the Roman army. It also resulted in the death of an emperor, and it also contributed to the rise of a group known as the Visigoths, who would go on to spread throughout much of Europe over the next several centuries. Learn more about the Battle of Adrianople and how it changed the course of history on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. What if your perceptions about the past were wrong? ThruLine is a podcast that takes you back in time to uncover the parts of the story

Starting point is 00:00:54 that may have gone unnoticed. It effectively turned day into night. And how it shaped the world now. Time travel with us every week on the ThruLine podcast from NPR. There's a very good chance that many of you have never even heard of the Battle of Adrianople. And if you have heard of it, there's a very good chance that you probably don't know much about it. The Battle of Adrianople took place during a time in the late Roman Empire that doesn't get nearly the attention of the early Roman Empire. It was fought against an opponent

Starting point is 00:01:33 known as the Goths that, again, many people might have heard of, but they don't know much about. Nonetheless, the Battle of Adrianople played a pivotal role in the decline of the empire. To understand What happened and why it was so important, we first have to understand the situation in the late 4th century. In the 3rd century, Rome suffered through it was known as the crisis of the 3rd century. It was a period of great instability that saw invasions, rebellions, and a continual succession of short-term emperors, most of whom died violently. This all almost resulted in the collapse of the empire. It eventually ended with the reign of the Emperor Diocletian, who reorganized the empire between East and West, and established separate, co-equal emperors that governed each part of the

Starting point is 00:02:21 empire. There's actually a bit more to it than that, but that will suffice for the purposes of this episode. The system of Eastern and Western emperors remained mostly intact for most of the next century, and it was still the case by the later part of the 4th century. In the year 364, the Emperor Valentinian I assumed control of the Western half of the empire after being elected by his legions, and afterwards, he installed his younger brother, Valens, as Emperor in the East. Valen was a Christian, but he was an Aryan Christian, a sect that was considered heretical by the dominant Nicene Christians.

Starting point is 00:02:58 The Aryan heresy was one of the most important issues during that period, and will be the subject of a future episode. But for the purposes of this episode, Valen's religion caused conflict with other Christians in his empire. The other major issue that colored the rule of Valens were foreign wars, in particular wars against two groups, the Sasanid Persian Empire in the east and the Goths to the north. I've covered the Sasanid Empire in a previous episode. What is relevant to this episode are the Goths.

Starting point is 00:03:30 Despite the contemporary use of the word, the Goths weren't a bunch of kids who hung out underneath bleachers who wore dark clothing, heavy eyeliner, and listened to the cure. The Goths were a group of Germanic tribes that played a crucial role in the history of the late Roman Empire in the early medieval period. They were originally from Scandinavia and migrated southwards over the course of centuries, eventually becoming a dominant force in the Roman territories. The goss were eventually divided into two main branches, the Visagoths or Western Goss and the Austrogoths or Eastern Goths. They migrated down the Vistola River in Poland and eventually settled in areas. along the western Black Sea in what is today modern-day Ukraine, Romania, and Bulgaria. From the year 367 to 369, Valens fought the Goths in what became known as the First Gothic War.

Starting point is 00:04:21 An army of 30,000 Goths, led by their king, Arminarek, invaded Thrace, what is today northeastern Greece, southeastern Bulgaria, and European Turkey. Valens counterattacked, but the war was brought to a standstill with no real resolution. Ultimately, in the year 369, peace was negotiated as Valen's attention was turned to the Sasanids in Persia. In 375, Valentinian, Valentian, Valen's co-emperor and older brother died and was replaced in the West by his 16-year-old son, Gratian. While Valen's attention was directed towards the east, events were transpiring with the Goths north of the border. They had been invaded by another group from the Eurasian steppes, the Huns. The Huns would go on to cause problems for the Romans for the next century, but this was one of the first times that they actually appeared on the historical radar.

Starting point is 00:05:15 The Huns caused the Goths to flee, so they crossed the Danube and headed to the Roman province of Thrace. In the year 376, the co-kings of the Goths, Alevivis and Fritigern, appealed to Valens to let the Goths settle there, and Valens consented. The idea behind letting the goth settle in Roman lands was that they would become farmers and soldiers and eventually become part of the empire. The goffs were also mostly Aryan Christians at the time, just like Valens. The idea actually wasn't a bad one in theory. The Roman Empire was enormous and encompassed many different ethnic groups. Having the goth settled in Roman lands could provide an established population that could defend the land from invaders. There were approximately 200,000 Goths,

Starting point is 00:06:02 that migrated to Thrace. The problem came with the implementation of the plan. The settlement of the Goffs was overseen by a military magistrate by the name of Lu Pecanus. Lubachinus was incredibly corrupt and used his position to enrich himself at the expense of the Goths. He extorted the goths and withheld food, which initiated a famine. The Goths were so hungry that at one point Lupekinis offered to trade the Goths a slaughtered dog for every boy that they would sell into slavery. Eventually, the Goths became fed up with their situation under the Romans and revolted. They began raiding the Thracian countryside for food and supplies. For about two years, the Goss and the Romans fought without any real resolution to the conflict. Vailens had been

Starting point is 00:06:51 tied down in the east fighting the Persians, and in the summer of 378, he returned to Constantinople and requested the aid from his co-emperor Gratian in the West to counter the new Gothic threat. After two years of no success, Valens decided to take matters into his own hands. In late July and early August, 378, he waited for reinforcements to arrive from the West. As they were waiting, Valens was informed that the Goths were approaching with a force of about 10,000 men. Valens felt that this was his opportunity. He felt he could vastly outnumber the Goss and could defeat them in one fell swoop. Valence decided that he would personally lead his troops into battle.

Starting point is 00:07:35 Moreover, he wasn't going to wait for Gratian to show up with reinforcements. He was going to hog all of the glory for himself. His advisors told him, quote, to make all haste in order that Gratian might not have a share of the victory, which was already but won, end quote. The fact that he had received word that Gratian, had won victories on his way to relieving him only made his desire for glory all the greater. On August 9, 378, he set out with his army of approximately 15 to 30,000 men from the city

Starting point is 00:08:09 of Adrianople to meet the Gothic army. And here I should note that it was an extremely hot day. The region was suffering a heat wave, and it's been estimated by historians that temperatures reached above 100 degrees Fahrenheit or around 40 degrees Celsius. And I should also note that the day before the army set out, the Gothic commander Fritigern sent an envoy to Valen offering peace in exchange for land, which was pretty much the original deal they had anyhow before Lupinius ruined everything. Also, Valen had received word from Gratian to wait for his reinforcements, and this had been reiterated by his top commanders.

Starting point is 00:08:49 The Roman army under Valens marched over eight miles in this temperature over exposed terrain. By the time they encountered the goss, they were exhausted and dehydrated. The goss began by starting grass fires to confuse the Romans and to reduce visibility. They also had fortified themselves into defensive positions on high ground. The Romans, in a highly unusual move, began an unorganized attack on the goss. Usually, Roman forces were highly disciplined, especially compared to Germanic forces. Just as they were approaching the Gothic lines, they were hit by something unexpected. A large force of Gothic heavy cavalry.

Starting point is 00:09:34 It began a route of the Roman forces. The disorganized attack was pushed back by the cavalry attack, as well as by the Gothic infantry, which may have actually outnumbered the Romans. As the Roman lines fell apart, they were picked apart by Gothic archers. When the lines fell apart, they fell apart so completely that Valen's personal guards fled, leaving the Emperor unprotected. No one knows exactly what happened to Valens, other than he was killed on the battlefield and never seen again.

Starting point is 00:10:06 There were different stories told as to what happened to him. One held that he retreated to a village where he was captured and killed by the Goths and ultimately burned alive. Another says that he was hit in the head by a projectile, which killed him because he wasn't wearing a helmet in battle. And yet another story is that he was surrounded by Goths once his bodyguard fled and killed on the spot. The Battle of Adrianople was the Roman's worst battlefield defeat in centuries. Historians considered it on a paris with the defeat at Canny by the Carthaginians or at Carthaginians. An estimated two-thirds of the Roman forces in the

Starting point is 00:10:42 East were killed in a single day. However, it wasn't just a major defeat. the Battle of Adrianople had long-term repercussions. For starters, the Goths eventually did come to peace with Valen's successor, Theodosius I. However, they never integrated into Roman society. They remained culturally and linguistically separate. The Goths and Thrace eventually became known as the Visigoths, or the Western Goths. After the fall of the Roman Empire in the late 5th century, the Visigoths spread throughout much of Europe. They established a kingdom in France, and later on.

Starting point is 00:11:18 occupied Spain and parts of North Africa. The Visigoth kingdoms in Spain and North Africa would exist until the Islamic conquest of the 8th century. Some historians consider the performance of the Gothic cavalry to be the beginning of heavy cavalry and the origin of European knights. Granted, these were a far cry from the fully armed knights with lances and heavy warhorses that would appear centuries later, but the Gothic shielded cavalry was also a significant departure from the way cavalry had been used by the Romans for centuries.

Starting point is 00:11:50 But perhaps the biggest implication of the Battle of Adrianople was that it was the beginning of the end of the Roman Empire. Even though the battle was fought in the eastern part of the Empire and the Eastern Emperor was killed, the Goths eventually caused more problems in the West than in the East. Historians debate exactly when the decline of the Roman Empire started, but the Battle of Adrianopal is often given as an inflection point in history. The death of an emperor on the battlefield was an incredible blow to morale and destroyed the myth of an invincible Roman Empire. The loss of such a huge part of the Roman army materially weakened Rome in a way that it may never have

Starting point is 00:12:32 completely recovered from, even if the ranks of the army were eventually restored. Finally, the battle established what was once just a barbarian force on the edge of the empire as a permanent presence within the empire. A presence that would eventually grow and spread until it ultimately caused the destruction of the Roman Empire itself. The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The associate producers are Ben Long and Cameron Kiever. Today's review comes from listener,

Starting point is 00:13:06 he-he-he-he-he-he-he over on Apple Podcasts in the United States. They write, Amazing Pod. I always watch for a new podcast to come out. I especially love the ones about aircraft. Could you do more of those? Well, thanks, he, he, he, he, he, he. I certainly do have more aircraft episodes on my list of future shows. I don't know when the next one will be released, but rest assured, they're on the list. Remember that if you leave a review or semi-a-bustagram, you too can have it read on the show.

Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The Battle of Adrianople

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