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The Roman Civil War of 425 was a short civil war between the West Roman Emperor Joannes and the East Roman Emperor Theodosius II. After rising tensions, battles took place in Italy between the armies of both halves of the empire.
Internal unrest and Majorian. The Western Roman Empire during the reign of Majorian in AD 460. During his four-year-long reign from 457 to 461, Majorian restored Western Roman authority in Hispania and most of Gaul. Despite his accomplishments, Roman rule in the west would last less than two more decades.
- Prelude
- Forces
- Site of The Catalaunian Fields
- Battle
- Outcome
- Aftermath and Reputation of The Battle
- Historical Importance
- Further Reading
- External Links
By 450 AD, the Romans had restored their authority in much of the province of Gaul, although control over all of the provinces beyond Italy was continuing to diminish. Armorica was only nominally part of the empire, and Germanic tribes occupying Roman territory had been forcibly settled and bound by treaty as Foederati under their own leaders. Nort...
Both armies consisted of combatants from many peoples. Besides the Roman troops, the Alans, and the Visigoths, Jordanes lists Aetius' allies as including the Francii, Sarmatae, Armoriciani, Liticiani, Burgundiones, Saxones, Riparii, and Olibrones (whom he describes as "once Roman soldiers and now the flower of the allied forces"), as well as "other...
The actual location of the Catalaunian Fields has long been considered unclear. As a whole, the current scholarly consensus is that there is no conclusive site, merely being that it is in the vicinity of Châlons-en-Champagne (formerly called Châlons-sur-Marne) or Troyes. Historian Thomas Hodgkin located the site near Méry-sur-Seine. A more recent e...
Upon learning of the invasion, the magister utriusque militiae Flavius Aetius moved his army rapidly from Italy to Gaul. According to Sidonius Apollinaris, he was leading a force consisting of "few and sparse auxiliaries without one regular soldier." The insignificant number of Roman troops reported is probably due to the fact the majority of Aetiu...
The primary sources give little information as to the outcome of the battle, barring Jordanes. All emphasize the casualty count of the battle, and the battle became increasingly seen as a Gothic victory, beginning with Cassiodorusin the early sixth century. Hydatius states: Prosper, contemporary to the battle, states: The Gallic Chronicles of 452 a...
The immediate and long-term effects of the Battle of the Catalaunian Fields are somewhat disputed. Attila returned to invade the Western Roman Empire in 452, which was more successful than his invasion of Gaul. After a 3-month siege of Aquileia, arranged by Aetius in the hopes it would use up his whole campaigning season, Attila razed the city and ...
Traditional view: battle was of macro-historical importance
The Battle of the Catalaunian Plains is given its first modern historical perspective by Edward Gibbon, who called it the last victory achieved in the name of the Western Roman Empire. The first individual historical survey of the battle was given by Edward Shepherd Creasy, who heralded it as a triumph of Christian Europe over the pagan savages of Asia, saving classical heritage and European culture. John Julius Norwich, a historian known for his works on Venice and on Byzantium, somewhat rei...
Opposing view: battle was not of macro-historical importance
However, J.B. Buryexpresses a quite different judgement: This assessment is also corroborated by Hughes, Bachrach, and Kim, all of whom argue that the real turning point of the invasion of Gaul was the successful defense of Orléans.They consider that the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains occurred as Attila was already retreating from Gaul. Bury also considers that as a whole, the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains would not have seriously altered history had it been a Hunnish victory: Despite hi...
Bury, John Bagnall. "History of the Later Roman Empire." Macmillan & Co. Ltd. 1923.Dahm, Murray. "Hunnic Warrior vs. Late Roman Cavalryman: Attila's Wars, AD 440–53." Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2022.Ferril, Arther. "The Fall of the Roman Empire: The Military Explanation." London: Thames & Hudson, 1988.Hodgkin, Thomas. "Italy and Her Invaders." Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1880.Jan 11, 1996 · Despite the importance of warfare in the collapse of the Roman Empire, there is no modern, comprehensive study available. This book discusses the practice of warfare in Europe, from both Roman and barbarian perspectives, in the late fourth and early fifth centuries.
- Hugh Elton
Apr 1, 1999 · Early Independent Britain AD 400-425. by Peter Kessler, 1 April 1999. Updated 16 February 2019. The well-known date of Britain's final official break from Rome is AD 410, but by that stage Roman Britannia had mostly been fighting its own battles for at least thirty years with only occasional support from Rome itself.
Barnish, S. J. B. (1986) ‘ Taxation, land and barbarian settlement in the western empire ’, Papers of the British School at Rome 54 CrossRef Google Scholar Barnish , S. J. B. ( 1988 ) ‘ Transformation and survival in the western senatorial aristocracy, c. A.D. 400–700 ’, Papers of the British School at Rome 33 Google Scholar
Jul 26, 2023 · Warfare in Roman Europe, AD 350-425. The American historian, Mr. Hugh Elton, who currently works in Canada, published a book some time ago, in 1996, entitled “Warfare in Roman Europe, AD 350-425”, in which he thoroughly revised some of the common ideas about the army of the late Roman Empire.
