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Flavius Aetius (magister militum) Flavius Aetius [a] (also spelled Aëtius; [b] Latin: [aːˈɛtiʊs]; c. 390 – 454) was a Roman general and statesman of the closing period of the Western Roman Empire. He was a military commander and the most influential man in the Empire for two decades (433–454). He managed policy in regard to the attacks ...
- The Count of Africa
- Divide and Conquer
- Defeating Bonifacius
- Mastering The Roman Frontier
- Fracturing The Barbarian Alliance
- Theodoric’S Foothold in The Roman Empire
- Attila Threatens The Empire
- Attila’s Rouse
- The Battle of Chalons
- Sparing Attila
After returning from the Visigoths, Aetius soon found himself a political hostage once more. This time he was sent to the court of the Hun king Rugila. His time with the Huns was the formative experience of his life. He learned Hun tactics firsthand and became friends with Rugila’s nephew, a young boy named Attila. The two men’s fates, as well as t...
The defeat of Joannes left Aetius in an unusual position. By taking up arms against the new emperor, he had committed treason. On the other hand, the Hun army under his command gave him a great deal of leverage. Afraid that Aetius would use his Hun army to unseat Valentinian, Placidia offered him a truce. If he disbanded his army, she would drop al...
Bonifacius realized that his small African garrison was no match for the imperial legions, and he began looking desperately for an ally. He finally found one in the Vandal king Gaiseric. With the full might of the Vandals behind him, Bonifacius felt he could withstand Placidia’s assault. The Vandals were currently occupying Spain, but Bonifacius of...
Although Aetius had finally seized power, holding onto it was another matter. Rome was beset by enemies on all sides. It would take a masterful combination of diplomacy and military strategy to keep the empire from collapsing. Aetius’s first act was to negotiate a treaty with the Vandal king Gaiseric that secured Rome’s grain supply in Africa and f...
Unfortunately for Rome, Gaiseric was not interested in negotiating. With Aetius occupied in Gaul, he knew that he had a free hand to devour Roman territory. By 439, he had captured Carthage and most of North Africa. His fleet poured into the Mediterranean and invaded Sicily in 440. The Vandal invasion of Sicily sounded alarm bells throughout the Me...
Although Aetius had beaten back many threats to the empire’s northern borders, new ones continued to emerge. One of the most dangerous threats during this period was an uprising of the Bagaudae in 435 in northwestern Gaul. Roman sources dismissed them as little more than brigands and thieves, but the Bagaudae showed a remarkable level of sophistica...
Aetius spent the next six years desperately trying to hold the crumbling empire together. However, an event occurred in 445 that changed his plans and forever altered the course of western history. Attila, tired of sharing power, murdered his brother and became the sole ruler of the Huns. Aetius undoubtedly welcomed this change in leadership. He ha...
Valentinian’s sister, Justa Grata Honoria, was an ambitious and beautiful woman. After being passed over for the Roman throne in favor of her brother, she began scheming to seize power for herself. After a string of scandalous affairs, she eventually seduced Eugenius, Valentinian’s royal chamberlain. The two hatched a plot to assassinate Valentinia...
Aetius linked up with Theodoric in early summer. Their combined armies quickly set out toward Orleans to intercept Attila. They caught Attila’s advance forces inside the city and, after a bloody skirmish, drove away the Huns. Aetius pursued swiftly, and the two armies came together at Chalons, in central Gaul, on June 20, 451. A great famine grippe...
Aetius’s decision to spare Attila is still hotly debated among historians. Why would a cunning and ruthless commander make a decision that endangered himself and the entire Roman Empire? The conventional wisdom is that he was influenced by his long history with the Huns. They had always been there for him whenever he needed help. In many ways, he w...
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Magister militum ( Latin for "master of soldiers"; pl.: magistri militum) was a top-level military command used in the later Roman Empire, dating from the reign of Constantine the Great. The term referred to the senior military officer (equivalent to a war theatre commander, the emperor remaining the supreme commander) of the empire.
Flavius Aetius was a Roman general and statesman of the closing period of the Western Roman Empire. He was a military commander and the most influential man in the Empire for two decades (433–454). He managed policy in regard to the attacks of barbarian federates settled throughout the West. Notably, he mustered a large Roman and allied (foederati) army in the Battle of the Catalaunian ...
Apr 3, 2023 · History Rulers. 3 April 2023. Flavius Aetius was a legendary military commander. A skilled tactician who defeated one of history’s most feared and battle-hardened soldiers in Attila the Hun. But he was more than just a master on the battlefield. He was a ruthless political operative.
Jul 12, 2020 · Father Flavius Gaudentius ( Flavius Gaudentius) made a career in the Roman army. imperial cavalry commander ( magister equitum ), then commander ( comes) in the province of Africa. His military career was almost hereditary, so Aetius went in the same footsteps. Aetius, already as a teenager, thanks to his father’s position, got into the ...
Jul 17, 2017 · Aetius was sent to recruit Huns by Ioannes in 424, not 412, and upon his return the usurpation was over, so Aetius bargained for his (now dead) father’s posting of Magister Militum per Gallias, becoming commander of the Roman cavalry in Gaul in 425 under new western Roman emperor Valentian III (r. 425–455).
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