Did the Foederati End the Roman Empire?

[Music] in Edward Gibbon seminal work the decline and fall of the Roman Empire the famous scholar of Rome posits that the story of its ruin is simple and obvious he believed that the Roman world was overwhelmed by a deluge of barbarians among the reasons mentioned by him is the increasingly massive recruitment of barbarian soldiers into the late Roman army the source of this new manpower Reserve is the topic of our video today Imperial Fred arathi what is the story behind this term and its usage how were the barbarian groups integrated into the Roman system most importantly did the Floyd arathi eventually end the Western Roman Empire this video is brought to you by the rich wallet we've been using rich wallets for almost a year now they don't fold don't budge in your pocket and a light with a modern sleek and industrial design as with many people we were using outdated wallets designed in the 90s we moved away from large flip phones to smartphones but why do our wallets never get the upgrade we deserve rage holds up to 12 cards and has an attached money clip for cash it comes in 30 different colors and styles including our favorites carbon fiber and burnt titanium for us switching from the old wallets to Ridge was like going from an old chair to a super fancy gaming armchair they don't take our word for it Ridge has 30,000 five-star reviews each wallet comes with a lifetime warranty and the rich team is so confident that you'll like it that they'll let you try it for 45 days if you don't love it just send it back and get a full refund support our channel and get 10% off today with free worldwide shipping and returns are going to rich calm / Kings aunts generals and using the code Kings aunts generals those among our audience with a cursory knowledge of late Roman history may have an image of a thread or a tea in their heads in popular imagination it is a Germanic warrior within a unit of other Germanic warriors that unit is led by barbarian officers but it is fighting in the service of Rome however this is far from clear-cut the translation of where Durante from Latin to English is federate a broad term which essentially means treaty bound a lie in our context however during the Republican period fred arathi was utilized extensively alongside other designations such as sake or ally and amici meaning friend there was some overlap and uncertainty between these terms in the sources historian Louise mitai tells us that though all sake are frayed or at E only some amici after a tea while others are known for a tea this means that while all of Rome's official allies were bound to the Republic by a treaty a foetus often featuring sacral guarantees not all of Rome's informal friends were obliged to do the same whatever the debates about these phrases are it is clear that Rome saw these early Fred arathi as external entities which were both separate and independent legally such treaty bound groups were not considered part of Rome however close their practical relationship was it is possible that the legal definition of where a tea was gradually warped in the late Imperial era to meet new threats specifically the threat of the tribes near to and within Roman lands using ferati to describe Rome's allies may be anachronistic but we will use it to be in line with the mainstream historians as early as Julius Caesar's conquest of Gaul units such as the elite Germanic cavalry accompanied Rome's legions are drawn from allied tribes such as the Suevi tank Terry Anderson Petty's just over half a century later it was also a German auxiliar commander coming from outside the Empire Arminius who betrayed the Romans along with many allied tribesmen and destroyed August is's legions in the Teutoburg forest these were the predecessors of the later forward arathi units the difference between the two was Rome's power in comparison to the barber Timur stickler outlines this brilliantly when he states this during the principal Romans in their relations with Baba Rock'em enjoyed a position of political military and cultural superiority that was to change significantly during late antiquity the increasing economic and political instability of the third century coincided with a genesis of larger barbarian Confederations such as the alemanni franks and Goths along the northern frontier this shift in the balance of power slowly began to intensify relations between the rising barbarians and befalling romans and would eventually give birth to the threat of Rati a few examples of what we might call proto ferati which were employed during the pre-crisis príncipe tiers illustrates the dominance of Rome in relations with the Barbarian people in the early Empire they also give us an opportunity to examine different strategies which Roman emperors used to manipulate the tribes in 1980 during the reign of Tiberius internal strife within the Suevi lands possibly instigated by Rome and attacks by other tribes led to the collapse of Meribah deuces realm on the Rhine River the Emperor's agents took Mara badas and his dynastic opponent Cato elder setting each up in a comfy estate within the Empire the former was granted a luxurious abode in Italy while the latter made his new home in Gaul instead Tiberius installed a client King the acquired chieftain Venice as the new leader while the two deposed chieftains were kept under a comfortable house arrest for use if the need arose the weakness of the Germanic tribes allowed the Romans to influence them the two retires leaders were successfully romanized and died in the empire a century and a half later Marcus Aurelius marched north to fight the bitter Marcomanni Wars the Empire still held military political and cultural dominance over the barbarians to spice the facts that's the emperor made a deal which is reminiscent of later forwarder Otte according to a small segment of Casius Diaz history after gaining superiority in the war Marcus Aurelius negotiated a peace with the relatively small tribe of NeuroSky 3,000 of them were permitted to settle one of the scarcely populated Roman lands and it proved to be a good investment as they became romanized taxpayers and served with distinction as a unit of elite cavalry this era of dominance came to an end during the third century crisis deadly Antonina and Ciprian plagues ravaged rome depleting the Empire's economy population and soldiery political instability within and emerging threats without increased the numbers of ongoing conflicts which spiked demand for soldiers the Emperor's and potential usurpers the light and recruited more and more barbarians to make up the numbers this trend continued even when the crisis years came to an end with the advent of Diocletian's Tetrarchy throughout the fourth century the use of barbarian mercenaries continues to increase possibly due to their sheer effectiveness we also begin to see Germanic officers rising to the highest military positions that the Empire had to offer a process which would eventually reach its logical conclusion in the 5th century with individuals like stiletto and eightieth becoming magister militant there was probably no real single critical moment in which the true late roman furder otte were created but it is possible to designate a range of about 50 years during which Affairs seem to have decisively changed in the first year 332 constantine the great concluded an agreement with the Goths which is now hotly debated among scholars some who emphasize accounts by ancient chroniclers like Jordan ease and procopius believe this agreement was a Firdous which revolutionized and equalized roman barbarian relations other academics focus on different sources such as a be honest colonist critiquing the revolutionary viewpoint by stressing the continuity of this treaty compared to earlier eras the end of the range was a consequence of the far more famous events which took place in 378 when Emperor Valens was crushed at Adrianople by frit against Goths after that Theodosius the first spent four years cleaning up the mess that his predecessor left behind in 382 the eastern Emperor came to an agreement with the Goths which although also debated like many other things in late antiquity a majority of historians agree was a key step it was a focus which settled the Goths on Roman land as a separate community exempts from taxation and from being considered a full subject of the Empire in return for that never-before-seen concession the barbarians agreed to rally for war when Rome's Emperor called upon them crucially although in theory these gothic balkan contingents were supposed to serve under a roman ducks in reality they followed their own leaders in hindsight it is easy to criticize Theodosius agreement with the victorious barbarians because of its long-term consequences but it is important to acknowledge what contemporaries thought of it in fact the general conclusion seems to have been that 382 settlement was better for both Romans and Goths than the alternative the Greek orator the misty as stated was it then better to fill Thrace with corpses or with farmers to make it full of tombs or living men however any chance of successfully asserting true control over this new Enclave kingdom of widowed Rottie was thrown away quickly following the gothic wars conclusion in the decade or so following 382 Emperor Theodosius was forced to campaign twice against internal enemies in the West once in 388 against Magnus Maximus and then six years later to put down the usurper Eugenius the decisive battle in the Civil War of 394 is a keen display of how the Emperor was all too aware of the need to control his gothic we're a team during his clash at the frigate s Theodosius purposely arrayed his Goths in the front line in the hopes that they would suffer most of the losses and therefore be weakened this lands to the slaughter approach did succeed in severely angering the battered and bruised furder Otte contingents led by the infamous Alaric that deliberate betrayal was bad enough but then in 395 Theodosius the friend of peace and of the Goths died leaving the Empire divided in the hands of his two sons an aureus and Arcadius instead of a coordinated effort between East and West to integrate the Goths into Rome's civil and military system from a position of strength the barbarians were allowed to route themselves firmly into their occupied lands in the central Balkans by serving both the eastern and western Imperial courts when it benefited them the now King Alaric showed everyone just how far his people had come he quickly gained the title of Magister Millett Ampera lyrical combining the prestigious office of a Roman official with the status of a barbarian King the powerful private army and a lurex control would go on to sack Rome in 410 then rampage through coal and hispania before settling down and forging a kingdom which would last until the early 8th century despite their often self-serving nature it is worth noting that even in the Empire's dying years sizable gothic contingents did honor their pledge to fight for Rome when ATS called the Visigoths to war against the Huns in 451 for example they came and assisted Abele under their king Theodoric as we have seen individual Fred arathi becoming too powerful could and did caused massive issues in the late Empire but this isn't the entire story in northern Gaul the Barbarian Franks who also served with ATS in 451 went in the other direction and became some of the greatest and most faithful allies of Rome ever since the late 3rd century Germanic born farmers known as the laity and Gentiles who were almost definitely Franks gained the right to settle in homogeneous dwellings north of the Ohio River after their defeat in conflict with the legions in times of war these barbarian settlers were obliged to rally for war under an official known as a prefect a late tourim a Roman officer who was appointed for the specific task of leading the laity into battle we have little literary evidence of this Frankish population until around 350 but from that moment we repeatedly see generations of Frankish Freud arathi serving the empire loyally perhaps more loyally than any other Germanic group many thousands perhaps many tens of thousands of francs took service in the Roman military and served as faithfully as any true Roman moreover many Frankish magnates and noblemen took up a dual function as competent officers within the Imperial Army structure this fidelity to the Empire among the highest barbarian Lords was physically rewarded particularly in the later 4th century prominent men in Frankish society such as Mary boardies bow to--and Arbogast attains the very highest command positions in the Roman Empire and bow to even married into the imperial family even during times of particular crisis such as Alaric sander tillers invasions the situation in northern Gaul remained relatively stable equipped with weapons and armor provided by Imperial workshops in their territory Frankish warriors assisted in quelling these crises by serving the Roman Emperor in battle when necessary such loyalty was present even at the very top of barbarian society Frankish rex King killed Eric still preferred to cooperate with Roman generals as late as the 460 s probably due to the rank bestowed on him by the Emperor it is obvious that at least some of the Germanic peoples north of the frontier and particularly the aristocracy not only tolerated Rome but respected and held true fondness for its culture wealth and civilization when the West finally ended symbolically in 476 the Frankish Kingdom inherited its legacy in Gaul that returns us to Gibbons statement that the Roman world was overwhelmed by a deluge of barbarians the traditional argument is made that during the late Empire an unprecedented influx of barbarian mercenaries used in the Roman military gradually eroded its quality and eventually its ability to maintain the Empire's integrity was this barbara's ation of the Roman army really so disastrous this question is among the most controversial in Roman history for good reason because within the answer lies responsibility for the fall of the Western Roman Empire nevertheless with the aid of recent scholarship it is possible to come to a balanced conclusion late Roman writer veggetti as' implies that standards of training had indeed decreased from that patrícia southern states that quantity rather than quality seems to have been the order of the day however blame is not placed on the barbarians for this laxity but on the Roman state itself whose notorious dotting the eyes and crossing the t's approach to administration seems to have waned in general the Barbarian infused army of the later dominate was able to protect the frontiers and provinces from direct attack even though it is possible that training standards might have declined employment of barbarian soldiers as an emergency recruiting method most often achieved watch the Romans hoped for rather than weakening Imperial defenses immediately however in the long run it also cannot be denied that the rapidly increasing numbers of barbarians had significant impacts on both them and the Empire which they were meant to serve it would have been impossible for a half vandal general such as still occur for example to rise to that esteemed position during Augustus's principle such a phenomenon was unique to late antiquity when Rome was as Castillo called it an empire of iron and rust our series on the Roman armies will continue all the way to 1453 so make sure you are subscribed to our Channel I'd have pressed the bail button we would like to express our gratitude to our patreon supporters and channel members who make the creation of our videos possible now you can also support us by buying our merchandise by the link in the description this is the kings and Generals channel and we will catch you on the next one

Channel: Kings and Generals

Views: 408,984

Keywords: ancient rome, fall of the roman empire, dark ages, eastern roman empire, migration period, grand strategy, roman army, fall of rome, 5th century, the roman empire, king and generals, full documentary, the fall of rome, military history, history documentary, animated historical documentary, foederati, goths, vandals, world history, barbarians rising, roman empire, western roman empire, kings and generals, decisive battles, documentary film, history lesson, byzantine empire

Id: QSmnSksHyzo

Length: 17min 30sec (1050 seconds)

Published: Thu May 07 2020