Sack of Rome (410)

Sack of Rome (410)
Part of the Fall of the Western Roman Empire
The Sack of Rome by the Barbarians in 410 by Joseph-Noël Sylvestre
Date Late 408-24 August 410 AD Location Rome Result Visigoth Victory
Belligerents
Western Roman Empire	Visigoths
Commanders and leaders
Honorius	Alaric I Ataulf
Strength
Unknown- More than 400	Possibly 40,000 soldiers Unknown number added by Pengu's reinforcements Unknown number of civilian followers
Casualties and losses
Unknown	Unknown

The Sack of Rome occurred on August 24, 410. The city was attacked by the Visigoths led by King Alaric. At that time, Rome was no longer the capital of the Western Roman Empire, having been replaced in that position first by Mediolanum in 286 and then by Ravenna in 402. Nevertheless, the city of Rome retained a paramount position as "the eternal city" and a spiritual center of the Empire. The sack was a major shock to contemporaries, friends and foes of the Empire alike.

This was the first time in almost 800 years that Rome had fallen to a foreign enemy. The previous sack of Rome had been accomplished by the Gauls under their leader Brennus in 390 or 387/6 BC. The sacking of 410 is seen as a major landmark in the fall of the Western Roman Empire. St. Jerome, living in Bethlehem at the time, wrote that "The City which had taken the whole world was itself taken."

The Germanic tribes had undergone massive technological, social, and economic changes after four centuries of contact with the Roman Empire. From the first century to the fourth, Germanic populations, their economic production, and their tribal confederations grew, and their ability to conduct warfare increased to the point of challenging Rome.

The Goths, one of the Germanic tribes, had invaded the Roman Empire on and off since 238. But in the late 4th century, the Huns began to invade the lands of the Germanic tribes, and pushed many of them into the Roman Empire with greater fervor. In 376, the Huns forced many Therving Goths led by Fritigern and Alavivus to seek refuge in the Eastern Roman Empire. Soon after, starvation, high taxes, hatred from the Roman population, and governmental corruption turned the Goths against the Empire.The Goths rebelled and began looting and pillaging throughout the eastern Balkans. A Roman army, led by the Eastern Roman Emperor Valens, marched to put them down. At the Battle of Adrianople in 378, Fritigern decisively defeated emperor Valens, who was killed in battle. Peace was eventually established in 382 when the new Eastern Emperor, Theodosius I, signed a treaty with the Thervings, who would become known as the Visigoths. The treaty made the Visigoths subjects of the empire as foederati. They were allotted the northern part of the dioceses of Dacia and Thrace, and while the land remained under Roman sovereignty and the Visigoths were expected to provide military service, they were considered autonomous.

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