Since the time of Diocletian (late 3rd century), the empire was ruled by a college of emperors - usually there were two, but at times there were more. This form of government was not intended to divide the empire, but to more conveniently exercise local power and effectively protect vast territories. Accordingly, the general decrees of any emperor were valid both in the East and in the West. However, the experience of even our century shows that administrative boundaries established for reasons of temporary political expediency tend to become permanent. Legalized rights lead to the emergence of new political stereotypes and new relationships of loyalty and, moreover, have the ability to exacerbate hitherto almost invisible cultural differences.

Although the administrative division of the Roman Empire did not coincide with the linguistic boundary between Greek and Latin, these languages ​​over time not only acquired a dominant position in their respective parts of the state, but also began to displace each other from their territory. We can see something similar in the division of churches: between the eastern bishoprics, which honored the authority of the Patriarch of Constantinople, and the western ones, which recognized the authority of the pope, the Bishop of Rome, disagreements gradually grew; as a result, the bishoprics lost the ability to be a connecting link between the churches of the eastern and western parts of the empire. However, the most immediate and important consequences came from the separation of financial systems. The Western Emperor, who had barely half the income of his Eastern co-ruler, had to defend a vast frontier stretching from Hadrian's Wall in Northern Britain to the middle reaches of the Danube. In many situations, Eastern emperors shifted their problems to Western ones, without at all constraining themselves with considerations of mutual assistance.

First capture of Rome

To get rid of the Visigoths in Greece and Epirus, the authorities of Constantinople in 397 appointed the Visigothic king Alaric as imperial commander in Illyricum, which roughly corresponded to the territory of the former Yugoslavia. By 401 the Goths had devastated this province and moved into Italy. Stilicho, the commander-in-chief of the Western government, which moved its seat from Rome to the strategically more convenient Ravenna, monitored the movements of the Visigoths for almost ten years. But as a precaution, he had to withdraw the legions from the Rhine border - temporarily, it was hoped. On New Year's Eve, 406, the Germanic tribes of Vandals, Alans and Sueves crossed the frozen Rhine into Gaul. They, like the Visigoths 30 years before, were driven by danger from the Huns, who moved west from their territories in Hungary and Austria. Since the Rhine border had been broken, there was no longer a single suitable line of defense left in the west. The tribes, plundering and destroying everything around, moved south and west, encountering almost no resistance. “The whole of Gaul is smoking like a huge funeral pyre,” wrote a contemporary of those events in despair. In 408–409 Germanic tribes crossed the Pyrenees and invaded Spain, and the Franks and Burgundians poured into Gaul. Britain, which was also abandoned by the Roman legions, was gradually conquered by the Angles, Saxons and Jutes - Germanic tribes from the North Sea coast.

After Stilicho's execution in 408, the imperial government in Ravenna no longer had the means to restrain Alaric. Negotiations to settle the Visigoths in Italy failed, and on August 24, 410, Alaric captured and sacked Rome.

The political consequences of the fall of Rome were relatively subtle. Alaric died in 412, and his successor, Ataulf, led his starving tribe from exhausted Italy to southwestern Gaul. But the moral consequences of the fall of Rome were, of course, enormous: did not Rome stand steadfast for a thousand years? “When the brightest light faded,” exclaimed St. Jerome, who lived in Bethlehem at that time, “when the whole world perished in one city, then I was speechless.” At the same time, the Roman pagans were indignant for the last time against the new Christian god, who so clearly refused to save the eternal city. After 410, the West was gripped by a moral crisis.

However, it took another 66 years before the last Roman emperor was deposed. Germanic tribes, pressed by the Huns and attracted by the riches of the Mediterranean world - its wheat bread and wine, fine textiles and gold, flooded the empire, seeking to take possession of its lands and subjects, but not at all wanting to destroy its political and cultural unity. The Germans concluded more than a hundred different treaties with the imperial authorities; entering the imperial service, they continued to fight with their brothers on the orders of the authorities, and often without orders. It is said that Ataulf wanted to turn the Roman world into Gothia, but since his Goths were too undisciplined, he decided to be the one to restore the "Roman World". The imperial authorities in the West disapproved of his plans. Although the empire suffered from court feuds, provincial rebellions, lack of resources, and often the sheer incompetence of its own officials, it was still able to achieve significant military and political successes. In the 30-40s of the 5th century. Aetius, the commander-in-chief of the Western Empire, demonstrated miracles of ingenuity, sending Germanic tribes and even Huns to defend imperial interests. In one of these operations, he, together with his Hun allies, defeated the kingdom of the Burgundians on the upper Rhine (436). Memories of this catastrophe formed the basis of the most famous German medieval epic, The Songs of the Nibelungs.

But in the end, Aetius was playing a hopeless game: to continue it, the stakes had to be constantly raised, and, as province after province went to pay, the burden that fell on the remaining parts of the empire became unbearable.

The period between the 4th and 7th centuries entered world history as an era in which dozens of peoples, leaving their former territories, set off to meet a fate unknown to them. Among researchers it is hardly possible to find a common point of view on the reasons that gave rise to this large-scale phenomenon. The Germanic tribe that captured Rome in 410 was part of this process that completely changed the map of Europe.

Invasion of the Huns

Even two centuries before the catastrophe, Germanic tribes periodically appeared on the borders of the Great Empire. Having carried out another raid, the barbarians retreated under the onslaught of the Romans, leaving behind plundered and burned villages and taking hundreds of civilians into slavery. But the smoke of the fires cleared, and for some time life returned. Those who were lucky enough to survive the tragedy restored their homes, and after a while everything happened again.

This lasted for almost two centuries, until Europe suffered a real disaster - the invasion of the Huns. Countless hordes of these nomads, emerging from the Asian steppes, set out on a campaign from the borders of China to Europe. Moving at a speed unheard of at that time, they quickly defeated the Germans who occupied the territory of the northern Black Sea region. Some of these tribes (eastern) submitted to the invaders, while the other (western) retreated to lands controlled in the hope of protection by their army.

Under the yoke of Roman officials

Their hopes were partially justified, and they became inaccessible to the Huns. However, having avoided one disaster, they ended up in another. The fact is that this period in the history of the Roman state is rightfully considered its collapse, caused by the moral decay of the ruling elite and the entire bureaucracy. Corruption of incredible scale ate away at all spheres of life in the country.

The Goths, although they received lands for their residence, were very small and unsuitable for either farming or raising livestock. As a result, famine began. In addition, they suffered from the arbitrariness of local officials, who imposed exorbitant taxes on them and unceremoniously interfered in all areas of their lives. As a result, it was these factors that gave impetus to the processes that turned peaceful settlers into a Germanic tribe that captured Rome.

Revolt of the Germans

Events developed rapidly and unexpectedly for the Romans. Just yesterday, the submissive, but now driven to despair, people rose in rebellion. The Germans all took up arms as one and moved to the eastern capital of the empire - Constantinople, where in 378 the Germans met on the battlefield and the regular army was personally led by Emperor Valens.

The Goths in this battle defeated and completely destroyed the best army in the world at that time. They had nowhere to retreat, and they demonstrated miracles of heroism. Among the Romans killed was their emperor. A little more than three decades remained until the day when the Germanic tribe that captured Rome in 410 would celebrate its bloody victory.

The defenselessness of the once formidable capital

This defeat turned out to be disastrous for the empire. Deprived of an army, she was forced from then on to constantly resort to the services of mercenaries, who for the most part consisted of the same Germans. These were skilled, well-trained warriors, but extremely unreliable and ready to sell themselves to anyone if there was a profit. The situation was further aggravated by the fact that a social explosion was brewing among the civilian population, caused by the lawlessness of the corrupt authorities.

Germanic tribes that captured Rome in 410. e., of course, had in the person of their opponents the remnants of a once powerful, but at that time completely decayed state. To top off their troubles, the Romans lost their talented and experienced commander Stilicho - he fell victim to court intrigue. From now on, the capital, deprived of both a reliable army and a skilled military leader, found itself practically defenseless.

Siege of the Eternal City

The Germans did not fail to take advantage of this. Led by their leader Alaric, they took Rome under siege. Unable at that time to storm the well-fortified city walls, the barbarians doomed the inhabitants to starvation. But this time fate turned out to be favorable to the besieged, and the Germanic tribe that captured Rome in 410 agreed to withdraw, having first received a huge ransom.

However, only two years passed, and the insatiable Alaric reappeared under the walls of the Eternal City with his hordes. Encouraged by their recent success, the barbarians were self-confident and arrogant. These were the same Germanic tribes that captured Rome in 410. This time they were not satisfied with any, even the most generous ransom. They did not want to be content with part - they needed to get everything. The capital of the empire that had once captured half the world was doomed.

Alaric's stratagem

Here we should make some digression and ask the question of how the Germanic tribes that captured Rome in 410 managed to overcome the walls of the city, which two years earlier turned out to be impregnable for them? There are two versions about this, set out in the records of contemporaries of these events that have reached us. According to one of them, the leader of the Germans, realizing that the walls were impregnable, undertook a military stratagem.

He very convincingly staged preparations for the retreat and sent his envoys to the emperor, who declared that Alaric, seeing the courage and patriotism of the Romans, did not intend to continue the siege, but was leaving the city, leaving three hundred of his best slaves as a gift to its citizens. Delighted by such an unexpected deliverance, the besieged accepted the generous gift. At night, these “slaves”, having killed the guards, opened the gates to the Germans.

The widow who opened the way for the enemy

Another version tells the story in a different way. An eyewitness writes that in those days when the Goths besieged the city again, a rich widow lived in it, who sympathized with the townspeople with all her heart and was looking for an opportunity to somehow alleviate their suffering. Seeing that there was no hope of salvation and the first cases of cannibalism caused by hunger had appeared, she gave the order to her slaves to open the city gates to the Germans at night, even if this meant killing the guards.

What actually happened in those distant times can now hardly be established. Whether the Romans were so gullible that they allowed the “fifth column” into their city, or whether the venerable matron showed favor to her compatriots, can now hardly be established with complete clarity. Yes, it doesn’t matter. The main thing is that the treacherous Alaric achieved his goal, and the bloodthirsty hordes broke into the city.

Fall of the Roman capital

Many historical chronicles left by witnesses of those events have survived to this day. They describe how the Germanic tribe that captured Rome in 410 indulged in robbery and mayhem for three days. Streams of blood seem to flow from the pages of these documents and the dying cries of the dying can be heard. They tell how slavery became the lot of thousands of civilians, and those who fled the city to escape their enemies found death from hunger and disease in the open air.

Alaric, like a monstrous leech, having sucked the last drops of blood from the capital, left the dying city and moved the Germanic tribe north, which captured Rome in the middle of 410.

This year was destined to become a turning point in the history of all of Europe. Her map was rapidly being redrawn. The seemingly unshakable colossus collapsed, burying the entire

1. The beginning of the war with the Gauls

In 391 BC. Ambassadors from Clusium arrived in Rome and asked for help against the Gauls. This tribe, writes Livy, crossed the Alps (), attracted by the sweetness of Italian fruits, but most of all by wine, a pleasure unknown to them, and occupied the lands that had previously been cultivated by the Etruscans.

The Clusians were afraid of the impending war: they knew how numerous the Gauls were, how incredibly tall they were, and how armed they were; they had heard how often the Etruscan legions fled in front of them both on this side and on the other side of the Padus. And so the Clusians sent ambassadors to Rome. They asked the Senate for help, although they were not bound by any agreement with the Romans, neither on alliance nor on friendship. The only reason could be that they did not at one time come out against the Roman people in defense of the Veians, their fellow tribesmen (). Help was refused, but an embassy was sent to the Gauls - the three sons of Marcus Fabius Ambustus, so that in the name of the Senate and the Roman people they demanded not to attack their friends and allies, who, in addition, did not cause any offense to the Gauls.

This embassy would have been peaceful if the ambassadors themselves had not been violent and more like Gauls than Romans. When they laid out everything that was entrusted to them at the council of the Gauls, they replied: although they were hearing the name of the Romans for the first time, they believed that these were brave men, since it was to them that the Clusians rushed for help when they found themselves in trouble. They, the Gauls, prefer to look for allies during negotiations rather than battles, and do not reject the peace proposed by the ambassadors, but only on one condition: the Clusians must cede part of their arable land to the Gauls who need land, since they still have more of it than they can cultivate. Otherwise they will not agree to peace. Let them immediately, in the presence of the Romans, be given an answer, and if their demand for land is refused, then they will go into battle in the presence of the same Romans, so that the ambassadors can tell at home how much the Gauls are superior in valor to other mortals.

When the Romans asked by what right the Gauls demanded land from its owners, threatening them with weapons, and what kind of affairs they had in Etruria, they arrogantly declared that their right was in weapons and that there were no prohibitions for brave men. Both sides flared up, everyone grabbed their swords, and a battle ensued. The ambassadors, in violation of the law of nations, also took up arms. And this could not go unnoticed, since three of the noblest and bravest Roman youths fought in front of the Etruscan banners - the valor of these foreigners was striking. Quintus Fabius, riding out of ranks on horseback, killed the Gallic leader, who was frantically rushing to the Etruscan banners. He pierced his side with a spear, and when he began to take off his armor, the Gauls recognized him, and it was spread throughout all the ranks that he was the Roman ambassador.

The Clusians were immediately forgotten; Sending threats to the Romans, the Gauls sounded the all-clear. Among them there were those who proposed to immediately march on Rome, but the elders prevailed. They decided to first send ambassadors to complain about the insult and demand the extradition of the Fabii for desecrating the law of nations. When the Gallic ambassadors conveyed what they had been entrusted with, the Senate did not approve of the Fabi's action and considered the barbarians' demand legitimate. But since we were talking about such noble men, servility blocked the path to duty and the decision was not made. The Senate transferred this matter to the people's assembly in order to relieve itself of responsibility for possible defeats in the war with the Gauls. And there partiality and bribery prevailed so much that those who were going to be punished were elected military tribunes with consular powers for the next year. After this, the Gauls became embittered and, openly threatening war, returned to their own.

2. Battle of Allia. Defeat of the Roman army

The Gauls immediately raised their banners and quickly marched towards Rome. The moving columns occupied a huge space; the masses of people and horses stretched both in length and width. Rumors about them rushed ahead of the enemies, followed by messengers from the Clusians, and then from other nations in turn - and yet the greatest fear was caused in Rome by the swiftness of the enemy: the hastily assembled army that came out to meet him, no matter how in a hurry, met him only eleven miles from the city, where the Allia River, running through a deep hollow from the Crustumeria Mountains, flows into the Tiber slightly below the road.

Here the military tribunes, without choosing a place for the camp in advance, without building a rampart in advance in case of retreat, formed a battle formation. They did not take care not only of earthly, but also of divine affairs, neglecting auspices and sacrifices. The Roman formation was stretched in both directions so that hordes of enemies could not enter from the rear, but it was still inferior in length to the enemy - meanwhile, in the middle this stretched formation turned out to be weak and barely closed.

Fear of an unknown enemy and the thought of escape reigned in all souls. The horror was so great that the soldiers fled as soon as they heard the cry of the Gauls. The Romans fled without even trying to measure their strength with the enemy, without receiving a single scratch and without answering his cry. No one died in the battle; all those killed were hit in the back when the stampede began, and the crush made escape difficult. A terrible massacre occurred on the banks of the Tiber, where, throwing away their weapons, the entire left wing fled. Many who could not swim or were weakened by the weight of armor and clothing were swallowed up by the abyss. Nevertheless, the vast majority reached Vei without difficulty, from where they did not send not only help to Rome, but even news of defeat. From the right wing, which stood far from the river, under the mountain, everyone rushed to the City, where they took refuge in the Fortress.

3. Surrender of the City

Since most of the army fled to Veii and only a few to Rome, the townspeople decided that almost no one had escaped. The whole City was filled with lamentations for both the dead and the living. But when it became known that the enemy was approaching, everyone’s personal grief receded in the face of general horror. Soon the howls and discordant songs of the barbarians began to be heard, prowling around the walls in gangs.

There was no hope of defending the City with such small forces remaining, and therefore the Romans decided that the young men capable of fighting, as well as the strongest of the senators, should, together with their wives and children, retire to the Fortress and the Capitol, bring weapons and food there and from there, from the fortified places, protect the gods, citizens and the Roman name. They decided that if the Fortress and the Capitol, the abode of the gods, survived the destruction that threatened the City, if the combat-ready youth and the Senate, the center of state wisdom, survived, then it would be easy to sacrifice the crowd of old people left in the City to certain death. And in order for the mob to bear this more calmly, the old men - triumphers and former consuls - openly declared that they were ready to die with them: superfluous people, unable to bear arms and defend the fatherland, should not burden the combatants, who will already be in need of everything.

For those who left, the thought was terrible that they were taking with them the last hope and shovel of those remaining; they did not even dare to look at the people who decided to die along with the captured city. But when women’s crying began, when the matrons began to rush about unconsciously, rushing first to one, then to the other, asking their husbands and sons what fate they were dooming them to, then human grief reached its final limit. Still, most of the women followed their loved ones to the Fortress. No one called them, but no one stopped them: if there were fewer unsuitable for war, this would provide benefits to the besieged, but it would be too inhumane. The rest of the people, most of them plebeians, who would not have had enough space on such a small hill or food, poured out of the City and, in a dense crowd, like a column, rushed to the Janiculum. From there, some scattered to the villages, and some rushed to neighboring cities. They had neither a leader nor coherence in their actions, but each sought salvation as best he could and was guided by his own interests, giving up on the common ones.

4. The Gauls occupy Rome

During the night, the belligerence of the Gauls subsided somewhat. Moreover, they did not have to fight, did not have to fear defeat in battle, did not have to take the City by storm or by force at all - so the next day they entered Rome without malice or zeal. Through the open Collin Gate they reached the forum, looking around the temples of the gods and the Fortress, which alone looked like it was preparing to resist. Leaving a small guard against them, the invaders rushed for their prey through the deserted streets. Some crowds broke into nearby houses, others rushed to those further away, as if that was where all the loot was collected intact. But then, frightened by the strange desertion, fearing that the enemies might be planning some trick against those who wander alone, the Gauls began to gather in groups and return to the forum, as well as to the neighborhoods in the neighborhood. The houses of the plebeians were locked there, and the houses of the nobles stood open, and yet they entered them almost with more caution than the closed ones. The Gauls looked with reverence at those men who sat on the threshold of their houses: in addition to decorations and clothes, more solemn than mortals wear, these people also resembled gods in the majestic severity that was reflected on their faces. The barbarians marveled at them as if at statues. But one of the old men, Marcus Papirius, struck with an ivory rod the Gaul who decided to stroke his beard. He flew into a rage, and Papirius was killed first. Other old people also died in their chairs. After their murder, no mortals were spared; houses were robbed and then set on fire.

The sight of Rome being consumed by flames, however, did not break the spirit of the besieged. Even if the fires and destruction before their eyes razed the city to the ground, even if the hill they occupied was poor and small - they were still preparing to bravely defend this last shred of freedom.

At dawn, hordes of Gauls lined up on command in the forum; from there they, forming a “turtle”, moved screaming to the foot of the hill. The Romans acted against the enemy without timidity, but not recklessly either: all the ascents to the Fortress, on which the advance of the Gauls was observed, were fortified, and the most selected warriors were stationed there. However, the enemy was not prevented from climbing up, believing that the higher he climbed, the easier it would be to throw him off the steep. The Romans held out approximately in the middle of the slope, where the steepness itself seemed to push the warrior towards the enemy. From there they suddenly attacked the Gauls, beating them and pushing them down. The defeat was so crushing that the enemy never again dared to undertake such enterprises, either as a separate detachment or as an entire army. So, having lost hope of winning by force of arms, the Gauls began to prepare for a siege, which they had not thought of until that moment. But there was no longer any food either in the City, where it was destroyed by fire, or in the surrounding area, from where it was taken to Veii just at that time. Then it was decided to divide the army, so that part of it would plunder the surrounding peoples, and part would besiege the Fortress. In this way, the devastators of the fields would supply provisions to the besiegers.

5. Camillus repels the Gauls from Ardaea

Plundering the outskirts of Rome, the Gauls soon reached Ardea, where Camillus, expelled from his hometown, settled. Grieving over public misfortune much more than over his own, he grew old there in reproaches to the gods and people. He was outraged and amazed where those brave men had gone who had taken Veii and Falerii with him, who had always won wars thanks to courage and not luck. And suddenly he learned about the approach of the Gallic army and that the Ardeans, frightened by this, were gathering for a council. Previously, Camillus had always refrained from participating in meetings, but here he resolutely went to the meeting, as if led by divine inspiration.

Speaking to the townspeople, Camille tried to breathe courage into their hearts. He pointed out that the Ardeans had an opportunity to thank the Roman people for their many services. But they shouldn’t be afraid of the enemy. After all, the Gauls approaching their city in a discordant crowd, not expecting to meet resistance. The easier it is to fight them back! “If you are going to defend your native walls,” said Camillus, “if you do not want to put up with the fact that all this will become Gallic, then arm yourself at the first watch and follow me without exception. Not for battle - for beating. If I do not hand over my sleep-deprived enemies into your hands, if you do not slaughter them like cattle, then let them treat me in Ardea the same way as they did in Rome.” This proposal was accepted by the Ardeans, who immediately perked up. Both Camille's friends and his enemies were convinced that there was no other such military leader anywhere at that time. Therefore, after the meeting closed, they all began to gather their strength and just tensely waited for the signal. When it sounded, the Ardeans converged in full combat readiness at the city gates and Camillus led them. There was such silence around as there is at the beginning of the night. Soon after leaving the city, the warriors, as predicted, came across a Gallic camp, unprotected and unguarded on either side. With a loud cry they attacked him and gave his enemies a cruel beating. There was no battle - there was massacre everywhere: the Gauls, engulfed in sleep, unarmed, were simply hacked to pieces by the attackers.

6. Camille is proclaimed dictator

Meanwhile, in Veii, the Romans gained not only courage, but also strength. People who had scattered around the area after the ill-fated battle and the disastrous fall of the City gathered there, and volunteers from Latium flocked in who wanted to take part in the division of the spoils. It was clear that the hour of liberation of the homeland was ripening, that it was time to wrest it from the hands of the enemy. But so far there was only a strong body, which lacked a head. With general consent, it was decided to summon Camillus from Ardea, but first to request the Senate, located in Rome, to drop all charges against the exile.

Penetrating through enemy posts into the besieged Fortress was a risky business - for this achievement the brave young man Pontius Cominius offered his services. Wrapping himself in tree bark, he entrusted himself to the flow of the Tiber and was brought to the City, and there he climbed up the cliff closest to the shore, so steep that it never occurred to the enemies to guard it. He managed to climb the Capitol and submit the troops' request for consideration by officials. In response to it, an order was received from the Senate, according to which Camillus, returned from exile by the curiat comitia, was immediately proclaimed dictator on behalf of the people; the soldiers received the right to choose the commander they wanted. And with this the messenger, going down the same road, hurried back.

7. Night assault on the Capitol. The feat of Marcus Manlius

This is what happened in Veii, and in Rome, meanwhile, the Fortress and the Capitol were in terrible danger. The fact is that the Gauls either noticed human traces where the messenger from Wei passed, or they themselves noticed that at the temple of Carmenta a gentle climb up the rock began. Under the cover of darkness, they first sent an unarmed spy ahead to reconnoiter the road, and then they all climbed up. Where it was cool, they passed weapons from hand to hand; some offered their shoulders, others climbed on them in order to then pull the first out; if necessary, everyone pulled each other up and made their way to the top so quietly that they not only deceived the vigilance of the guards, but did not even wake up the dogs, animals so sensitive to night rustles. But their approach was not hidden from the geese, which, despite the acute shortage of food, had not yet been eaten, since they were dedicated to Juno. This circumstance turned out to be saving. Their cackling and flapping of wings awoke Marcus Manlius, the famous warrior who had been consul three years ago. Grabbing his weapon and at the same time calling the others to arms, he, amid general confusion, rushed forward and, with a blow from his shield, knocked down the Gaul, who was already standing on the top. Having rolled down, the Gaul, in his fall, carried away with him those who rose after him, and Manlius began to strike the rest - they, in fear, having thrown away their weapons, clung to the rocks with their hands. Other Romans also came running: they began to throw arrows and stones, throwing enemies off the cliffs. Amidst the general collapse, the Gallic detachment rolled towards the abyss and fell down. After the alarm ended, everyone tried to sleep for the rest of the night, although with the excitement that reigned in their minds it was not easy - the past danger was taking its toll.

At dawn, the trumpet called the soldiers to a council before the tribunes: after all, it was necessary to repay what they deserved both for the feat and for the crime. First of all, Manlius received gratitude for his courage; gifts were made to him from the military tribunes, and by the unanimous decision of all the soldiers, each brought to his house, located in the Fortress, half a pound of spelt and a quart of wine. In conditions of famine, this gift became the greatest proof of love, because in order to honor one single person, everyone had to snatch away from their own basic needs, denying themselves food.

8. Negotiations and payment of ransom

Most of all the horrors of war and siege, both sides were tormented by hunger, and the Gauls were also plagued, since their camp lay between the hills, in an area burned by fire and filled with fumes. Whenever the wind blew, ash rose along with the dust. The Gauls could not tolerate all this at all, since their tribe was accustomed to a wet and cold climate. They were tormented by suffocating heat, decimated by disease, and they died like cattle. There was no longer any strength to bury the dead separately - their bodies were piled up in heaps and burned indiscriminately.

The besieged were no less depressed than the enemy. No matter how exhausted the soldiers and guards on the Capitol were, they overcame all human suffering - nature did not allow hunger alone to overcome them. Day after day, the warriors peered into the distance for help from the dictator, and in the end they lost not only food, but also hope. Since everything remained the same, and the exhausted warriors were already almost falling under the weight of their own weapons, they demanded either surrender or pay a ransom on any terms, especially since the Gauls made it clear that for a small sum they could easily be persuaded to end the siege . Meanwhile, just at this time, the dictator was preparing everything to match his strength with the enemy: he personally recruited in Ardea and ordered the chief of cavalry, Lucius Valerius, to lead the army from Veii. However, by this time the Senate had already met and instructed the military tribunes to make peace. The military tribune Quintus Sulpicius and the Gallic leader Brennus agreed on the ransom amount, and the people who were to rule the whole world in the future were valued at a thousand pounds of gold. The Romans had to endure other humiliations. When they began to weigh out the established amount, the Gallic leader unfastened his heavy sword and threw it onto the bowl with weights. To the reproaches of the Romans that he was acting illegally, the barbarian arrogantly replied: “Woe to the vanquished!”

9. Defeat of the Gauls

“But neither gods nor people, writes Titus Livius, allowed the lives of the Romans to be ransomed for money.” Even before the reward was paid, the dictator suddenly appeared. He ordered the gold to be taken away and the Gauls to be removed. They began to resist, citing the fact that they were acting under an agreement, but Camillus declared that the latter had no legal force, since it was concluded after he was elected dictator, without his permission, by a low-ranking official. Camillus ordered the Gauls to line up for battle, and his own to put their camping equipment in a pile and prepare their weapons for battle. It is necessary to liberate the fatherland with iron, not gold, with the temples of the gods before our eyes, with the thought of wives, children, of the native land disfigured by the horrors of war, of all that sacred duty commands us to defend, conquer, avenge! Then the dictator lined up his army, as far as the uneven nature of the terrain and the ruins of the dilapidated city allowed. He foresaw everything that the art of war could help him in these conditions. Frightened by the new turn of affairs, the Gauls also took up arms, but they attacked the Romans more out of anger than out of common sense. At the first clash, the Gauls were overthrown as quickly as they had won at Allia.

Under the leadership and command of the same Camillus, the barbarians were defeated in the next battle, which, unlike the first, unfolded according to all the rules of the art of war. The battle took place at the eighth mile of the Gabi road, where the enemies gathered after their flight. All the Gauls were cut off there, and their camp was captured. There was no one left among the enemies who could report defeat.

10. Bill on resettlement in Veii

Having saved his homeland in the war, Camillus saved it a second time later, during the days of peace: he prevented the resettlement to Veii, although after the burning of Rome the tribunes very strongly advocated this, and the plebeians themselves were more inclined than before to this plan. Seeing this, Camillus, after his triumph, did not relinquish his dictatorial powers and gave in to the requests of the Senate, who begged him not to leave the state in a threatening position.

Since the tribunes at the assemblies tirelessly incited the plebeians to abandon the ruins and move to the city of Veii, ready for habitation, the dictator, accompanied by the entire Senate, appeared at the assembly and addressed his fellow citizens with a heated speech.
“Why did we fight for the City? - he asked, - why did we rescue the fatherland from the siege, snatch it from the hands of the enemy, if now we ourselves abandon what we liberated? When the Gauls were the winners, when the entire city belonged to them, the Capitol and the Fortress still remained with the Roman gods and citizens, they continued to live there. So, now that the Romans have won, when the City has been recaptured, should we leave the Fortress and the Capitol? Will our success really bring greater desolation to the City than our failure? Our ancestors, strangers and shepherds, built this city in a short time, but then there was nothing in this place except forests and swamps - now the Capitol and the Fortress are intact, the temples of the gods stand undamaged, and we are too lazy to rebuild on the burnt one. If one of us had a house burn down, he would build a new one, so why don’t we all want to cope with the consequences of a common fire?”

Livy writes that Camillus' speech made a great impression, especially the part that spoke of fear of God. However, the last doubts were resolved by one aptly spoken phrase. Here is how it was. After some time, the Senate met in the Gostilian Curia to discuss the issue of resettlement. It happened that at the same time the cohorts returning from guard duty passed through the forum. At the Comitia, the centurion exclaimed: “Standard bearer, set up the banner! We're staying here." Hearing this command, the senators hastened from the curia, exclaiming that they recognized it as a happy omen. The plebeians who crowded around immediately approved their decision. After this, the resettlement bill was rejected, and everyone began to rebuild the City together. (3) The tiles were provided by the state; everyone was given the right to extract stone and wood from wherever they wanted, but with a guarantee that the house would be built within a year. (Livy; V; 35 - 55).

Patricians and plebeians. Rome's conquest of Italy

Capture of Rome by the Goths (Alaric)

Around 390, Alaric became the leader of the Visigoths, the victors at Adrianople. Born around 370, in his early childhood he witnessed the difficult migration of the Goths to Thrace and Moesia, and with his people he experienced famine and disasters provoked by Roman policy. This, of course, could not help but affect his views: Alaric was a fierce opponent of Rome throughout his life. Even in his youth, he fought, and not unsuccessfully, with Theodosius the Great himself, and after the death of this emperor he was proclaimed the first king of the Visigoths. Already in this capacity, Alaric made a series of campaigns against Italy, tried to capture Constantinople, but, defeated by the talented Roman commander Stilicho, he was forced to temporarily abandon his plans to crush Roman power. The murder of Stilicho in 408 by order of Emperor Honorius freed Alaric's hands.

Having received news of Stilicho's death, the Visigothic king marched with his army towards Rome.

In the fall of 408, Alaric from Noricum crossed the Alps, crossed the Po River unhindered in the area of ​​Cremona and headed towards Rome, without stopping for sieges of large cities. In October 408, he appeared under the walls of a city of a million people, cutting off all supply routes. The Roman Senate, without waiting for help from the emperor of the Western Roman Empire, Honorius, who was holed up in impregnable Ravenna, decided to negotiate with Alaric. By this time, according to the historian Zosima, the streets of Rome were filled with the corpses of those who had died from starvation and related diseases. The diet was reduced by two thirds.

When discussing peace terms, Alaric demanded all the gold and silver in Rome, as well as all the property of the townspeople and all the barbarian slaves. When asked what he would leave to the Romans then, Alaric answered briefly: “Life.” Finally, after difficult negotiations, Alaric agreed to lift the siege on the terms of paying him five thousand pounds (one thousand six hundred kilograms) of gold, thirty thousand pounds of silver, four thousand silk tunics, three thousand purple hides and three thousand pounds of pepper. According to the terms of the agreement, all foreign slaves who wanted to could leave Rome, and more than forty thousand slaves went to Alaric, significantly replenishing his army.

Alaric's army retreated to Etruria, and long negotiations began with Honorius for peace. Despite the fact that Alaric gradually softened the terms of the peace treaty, Honorius, who received significant reinforcements, refused to conclude peace. In response, Alaric approached the walls of the Eternal City for the second time. The second siege was short-lived - before it began, the Visigoths captured the Roman harbor of Ostia with all its grain reserves. Frightened by the threat of famine, the Roman Senate, at the request of Alaric, elects a new emperor to counterbalance Honorius, the prefect of Rome, Attalus. The Gothic king lifts the siege again and, together with Attalus, moves to Ravenna. But this extremely fortified fortress did not submit to him; In addition, Attalus, believing in his imperial greatness, made attempts to pursue his own policy. In the summer of 410, Alaric publicly deprived Attalus of the title of emperor and resumed negotiations with Honorius. But in the midst of quite successfully progressing negotiations - it was even possible to organize a personal meeting between the emperor and the Visigothic king - a large detachment of Germans serving in the Roman army attacked Alaric’s camp. The Visigoth, of course, blamed Honorius for everything (today his guilt seems unlikely) and marched on Rome for the third time.

Alaric's entry into Rome

In August 410, Alaric besieged Rome for the third time. This time the king was determined to take the capital of the once mighty empire. He promised his soldiers to give the city up for plunder. The Senate decided on desperate resistance, but hunger in the city - cannibalism even arose among the population - and the hopelessness of the situation provoked social protest among the population, rushing between the powerless Senate, the distant and uninfluential emperor and the barbarian leader who seemed to be bringing some kind of liberation. Roman slaves went over to Alaric's side in droves.

Most likely, it was the slaves who opened the Salarian gates of the city to the Goths on August 24, 410. Another well-known legend names the culprit for the surrender of the city as a certain pious Proba, who, wanting to end the famine, ordered the gates to be opened and thereby accelerated the victory of the besiegers.

The Gothic army broke into the Eternal City. Soon the magnificent imperial palace was on fire. At the dawn of the fires, Alaric's soldiers devastated Rome for three days and three nights. Warriors invaded palaces, temples and homes, tore expensive decorations from the walls, dumped precious fabrics, gold and silver utensils onto carts, and smashed statues of Roman gods in search of gold. Many Romans were killed, and many more were captured and sold into slavery. The slaves and columns who joined the Gothic army took cruel revenge on their former masters. At the same time, as all historians of that time note, Alaric spared Christian churches, and in one case even forced his soldiers to return looted utensils to the church. Many Romans saved themselves by locking themselves in Christian churches.

At the end of the third day, the Gothic army, burdened with exorbitant booty, began to leave the plundered city. Alaric was probably afraid to remain in a city filled with decaying corpses; Moreover, in Rome there was practically no food needed for his army. Alaric goes to the south of Italy, but his attempt to cross to grain-rich Africa ended in failure. And in the midst of all these events, Alaric himself dies from an unknown disease. The new king of the Visigoths, Ataulf, leads his army from Italy to Gaul, where he establishes one of the first barbarian kingdoms.

The fall of the Eternal City made a devastating impression on the society of that time. The city, which had not been visited by a conqueror for eight hundred years, fell under the onslaught of an army of barbarians. A contemporary of the events, the famous Christian theologian Jerome, expressed his shock at what happened: “My voice gets stuck in my throat, and while I dictate, sobs interrupt my presentation. The city that captured the whole world was itself captured; moreover, famine preceded the sword, and only a few of the townspeople survived to become prisoners.” The fall of Rome was a harbinger of the final collapse of the empire. A new era was beginning - an era that would later be called the Dark Ages, although before its onset the Western Roman Empire would enter the arena of history one more time, for the last time, and then finally disappear into oblivion.

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Ancient civilizations

In 410, an extremely significant event for the entire Mediterranean occurred. It went down in history as the capture of Rome by the Goths. At that time, the “eternal city” was no longer the capital of the empire. And the empire itself split into Western and Eastern. But Rome continued to retain enormous political weight. We must also not forget that for 800 years no enemy soldier had set foot on its streets. The last time this happened was in 390 or 387 BC. e., when the Gauls burst into the city. And so the “eternal city” fell. On this occasion, Saint Jerome of Bethlehem wrote: “The city that captured the whole world was itself captured.”

Background

The last emperor of a unified Roman Empire, Theodosius I the Great, died on January 17, 395. Before his death, he divided the once great power into 2 parts. The eastern one, with its capital in Constantinople, went to his eldest son Arkady. Subsequently, it began to be called Byzantium, and it existed for more than a thousand years, becoming the successor to the Roman Empire.

The western part went to the 10-year-old youngest son Honorius. The boy was assigned a guardian, Flavius ​​Stilicho, who became the de facto ruler of the Western Roman Empire. But this state lasted only 80 years and fell under the onslaught of barbarians.

The Barbarians are Germanic tribes who were in constant contact with the Roman Empire for 400 years. As a result of this, they acquired certain cultural skills, they had their own craft production, but most importantly, they learned to competently conduct military operations.

The barbarians included the East Germanic tribes or Goths. They consisted of 2 branches - the Ostrogoths and the Visigoths. They played a decisive role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the emergence of medieval Europe. Under Emperor Theodosius, they were allocated lands in Thrace and Dacia in the Balkans. These lands were under Roman sovereignty and had the status of autonomy.

Lecture 13: The Barbarian Invasion and the Collapse of the Roman Empire

It was assumed that the Goths would provide military protection to these territories.

However, Theodosius the Great died, the empire fell apart, and the scattered tribes united into a single force. In 395, they chose a king, who became one of the main leaders, Alaric I. He is more often called the leader of the Visigoths, rather than the Goths. The Visigoths are the western branch of the Goths, and it was these people who made up the bulk of the subjects of the newly-made king. But he also had other peoples subordinate to him, who also belonged to the Gothic tribes.

Having concentrated sole power in his hands, Alaric began to pursue an aggressive policy towards both Roman empires. He moved at the head of his army to Greece, where he destroyed and devastated many cities. Flavius ​​Stilicho, who commanded the still united Roman forces, tried to resist him. But Emperor Arkady did not like this initiative. He concluded an agreement with Alaric, and he turned his attention to Italy.

At the end of 401, the Goths found themselves on the lands of the Apennine Peninsula. Stilicho came out to meet them with his legions. Military operations took place in the Po Valley in northern Italy, and this campaign ended extremely unsuccessfully for the Goths. The Romans could have destroyed the invaders, but they let them go, making them allies.

For Stilicho, the barbarians were needed to be used in the political struggle with the Eastern Roman Empire. He wanted to annex Illyria (the western part of the Balkan Peninsula) to his state, and intended to make the Goths the main striking force in this military campaign.

However, the capture of Illyria was thwarted by the invasion of Italian territory by barbarians under the command of Radagais. In 406 they were defeated, but the very next year Flavius ​​Constantine from Britain tried to usurp imperial power. He captured a large region in Gaul and demanded that Honorius recognize him as emperor.

All these internal turmoil had a negative impact on Stilicho's alliance with Alaric. The latter commanded an army that subsisted on plunder. And here we had to sit and wait since 403 for the Western Roman Empire to solve its internal problems. This could not continue further: Alaric would simply be replaced by another king.

In 408, the Goths captured the Roman province of Noricum and demanded monetary compensation for so many years of inaction. But Stilicho was no longer able to resolve this conflict. Emperor Honorius, who by this time had noticeably matured, intervened. In Stilicho, he saw a real threat to his power, and therefore, relying on part of the aristocracy, he decided to put an end to his guardian.

In August 408, Stilicho was arrested and executed, accused of treason. After this, many of the barbarians who settled in the lands of the empire after the alliance of Alaric with Stilicho were killed and their property plundered. Having learned about this, the Goths decided to move on Rome and capture the “eternal city.”

It must be said that by that time Rome was no longer the capital of the empire. In 402, Ravenna became it and remained in this capacity until 476, when the Western Roman Empire ceased to exist. But the “eternal city” retained its primary position and was considered the spiritual center of Italy. Its population was 800 thousand people, which was a lot at that time.

The Goths burst into Italy and quickly marched, without stopping anywhere, towards Rome. In October 408, they were already under the walls of the city and surrounded it, isolating it from the outside world. Honorius settled in Ravenna, carefully fortifying his capital, and Rome was left to the mercy of fate.

Honorius - first emperor of the Western Roman Empire

Disease and famine began in the big city, and the Roman Senate was forced to send ambassadors to Alaric. He set a condition: to give up all the gold, silver, household items and slaves. The Romans asked: “What remains for us?” To this the formidable conqueror replied: “Your lives.” The city agreed to these demands; pagan statues, which were an integral part of the greatness of the former capital, were even melted. Having received everything they needed, the Goths lifted the siege and left. This happened in December 408.

After the siege of Rome was lifted, a time of troubles began in Italy. Alaric feared only Stilicho, but he was executed, and therefore the king of the Goths felt like master of the Apennine Peninsula. In such a situation, the most reasonable thing for Honorius was to ask for peace. He entrusted the negotiations to the patrician Jovius.

The conquering king demanded gold, grain, and the right to settle the lands of Norik, Dalmatia and Venice as tribute. Jovius decided to moderate the appetites of the Goths by playing on Alaric’s pride. In his letter to the emperor, he proposed that he be given the honorary title of commander of the Roman infantry and cavalry. But the emperor refused, which outraged the proud king. After this, he broke off the negotiations and marched on Rome a second time.

At the end of 409, the invaders besieged the city and captured Ostia, the main harbor of Rome. It contained large supplies of food, and the huge city was on the verge of famine. And then an unheard of event happened: the enemy, the invader, intervened in the holy of holies - the internal politics of the empire. In exchange for food, Alaric invited the Senate to choose a new emperor. The senators had no choice, and they clothed the Greek nationality Priscus Attalus in purple.

The newly made emperor, together with the king of the Goths, moved with a large army to Ravenna, where Honoria was hiding behind strong walls. In this critical situation, the legal ruler was saved by the Eastern Roman Empire. She sent 2 legions of selected soldiers to Ravenna. Thus, the military garrison of the capital of the Western Roman Empire strengthened, and it became impregnable.

Attal and Alahir found themselves in a difficult position, and political differences soon arose between them. The African province, which was the main supplier of grain to Rome, also played an important role. She refused to recognize Attalus as emperor, and the flow of grain to the “eternal city” stopped.

This caused food shortages not only among the Romans, but also among the barbarians. As a result, the invaders' problems began to snowball. To defuse the situation, the king was ready to strip Attalus of the title of emperor and send the regalia of power to Ravenna. After this, Honorius agreed to begin negotiations with the Goths.

Capture of Rome by the Goths in 410

The Emperor of the Western Roman Empire planned to meet with the king of the Goths in an open area 12 km from Ravenna. But this historic meeting did not take place. When Alahir arrived at the agreed upon place, the emperor was not yet there. But then a detachment of barbarians appeared under the command of Sara. This Gothic leader had already served the Romans for several years, leading a military unit consisting of Goths like himself.

The peace treaty was unfavorable for Sar, and he, with three hundred people loyal to him, attacked Alahir and his retinue. A felling ensued, in which several people died. The king of the Goths left the place of the failed meeting, and attributed the attack to the treachery of Honorius. After this, he gave the order to attack Rome for the third time.

To this day, it is unclear how the Goths captured Rome. The invaders approached the city and besieged it. At that time, the townspeople were already experiencing severe hunger, since there were no food supplies from the African province. Therefore, the siege did not last long. The Goths burst into the streets of the “eternal city” on August 24, 410.

The barbarians passed through the Salarian Gate, which was made in the Aurelian walls. But who opened these gates to the enemy is not clear. It is assumed that such an unenviable act was committed by slaves. However, they carried it out of mercy towards the townspeople dying of hunger. But be that as it may, the barbarians broke into the “eternal city” and plundered it for 3 days.

The capture of Rome by the Goths was accompanied by arson, looting and beating of the townspeople. Many of the greatest buildings were looted. In particular, the mausoleums of Augustus and Hadrian. They contained urns containing the ashes of Roman emperors. The urns were smashed and the ashes were scattered into the air. All the goods were stolen, the most valuable jewelry was stolen. The gardens of Sallust were burned. Subsequently they were never restored.

The people of Rome suffered greatly. Some were taken captive to receive a ransom for them, others were made slaves, and those who were no good for anything were killed. Some residents were tortured in an attempt to find out where they hid their valuables. At the same time, neither old men nor old women were spared.

At the same time, it should be noted that there was no massacre. Those residents who took refuge in the churches of Peter and Paul were not touched. Subsequently they settled the devastated city. Many monuments and buildings have also been preserved. But everything valuable was taken out of such buildings. After the capture of Rome by the Goths, many refugees appeared in the provinces. They were robbed, killed, and the women were sold to brothels.

The historian Procopius of Caesarea subsequently wrote that when Emperor Honorius was told that Rome had perished, he at first thought that they were talking about a rooster from the henhouse who bore such a nickname. But when the true meaning of the message reached the ruler, he fell into a state of stupor and for a long time could not believe that this had happened.

After 3 days, the Goths stopped plundering the “eternal city” and left it. Inspired by victory, they moved south, planning to invade Sicily and Africa. But they were unable to cross the Strait of Messina, as the storm scattered the ships they had collected. After this, the invaders turned north. But Alahir fell ill and died at the end of 410 in the city of Cosenza in Calibria. Thus, the main culprit in the capture of Rome by the Goths left this mortal coil, and history dispassionately continued its course, only with different heroes and events.

Leonid Serov

STORMS ON THE EDGE

Back in 395, Emperor Theodosius I bequeathed to divide the Roman Empire between his sons. The eldest, Arkady, then inherited its eastern half with its capital in Constantinople. The younger, Honorius, received all the lands west of the Adriatic Sea, the capital of which he decided to make Ravenna.

Since then, the paths of the two parts of the Roman Empire began to diverge further and further. In the West, under the pressure of numerous barbarian tribes, the Roman state collapsed already at the end of the 5th century. Barbarian kingdoms took its place. In the East, even in the 6th century. strength was found for the rise under Justinian I.

However, in the 7th century. A new religion appeared in Arabia - Islam. Its adherents created a powerful power, depriving Byzantium of many of its possessions and subjugating vast territories from the Atlantic Ocean to the borders of China.

What important processes took place in Western Europe and the Middle East during the rise and prosperity of Byzantium?

How did the new religion, Islam, arise and spread?

§ 3. BARBARIAN CONQUERORS

1. The Great Migration of Peoples. In the IV-VI centuries. Many large and small tribes, for various reasons, left their native lands in search of new lands to settle. Historians call this time the era of the Great Migration. In Byzantium, the authorities dealt with crowds of dangerous aliens. Some were defeated in battle, others were paid off, others were given empty lands in the borderlands and forced to serve the emperor. But the rulers of the western part of the empire (Italy, Spain, North Africa, Gaul, Britain) increasingly lacked funds for border fortifications and troops. Meanwhile, dangerous attacks by barbarians became more frequent. The most persistent and dangerous were the populous tribes of the Germans who inhabited Northern Europe. The imperial army by that time itself consisted mainly of barbarians. They were ready to serve the empire for a good reward, but if they were not paid, they could easily turn into its enemies.

Roman border city. Lead medallion. Turn of the 3rd-4th centuries.

Shown here is the city of Moguntiak (now Mainz) on the banks of the Rhine.

What are city fortifications?

This often happened, for example, with the Germanic tribes of the Goths. In 410, Visigoth warriors led by their leader Alaric broke into the city of Rome and devastated it. The fall of Rome shocked contemporaries. After the sack of Rome, the Visigoths moved to the south of Gaul, where they created their own kingdom. Later they extended their power to the entire Iberian Peninsula.

Another Germanic tribe, the Vandals, traveled an even longer route. From the eastern borders of Germany they reached the Strait of Gibraltar, crossed to North Africa and settled in the vicinity of ancient Carthage. In 455, the Vandal fleet delivered their army to the walls of the Eternal City. The Romans surrendered the city without a fight, and for two weeks in a row the Vandals mercilessly plundered it.

The Saxons, Angles and Jutes landed in Britain. Roman Gaul was captured by the Franks. Other parts of the empire were occupied by the Burgundians, Suevi, Alamanni and other Germanic tribes.

The Great Migration of Peoples and the Formation of Barbarian Kingdoms

In the IV-V centuries. From the Black Sea steppes, the empire was attacked by eastern nomadic peoples - Alans and Sarmatians. The hordes of the Huns instilled the greatest horror in the Romans. The leader of the Huns, Attila, subjugated many tribes and in 452 launched a campaign against Rome. Only for a very large ransom did he agree to turn back.

The hilt of a Gothic sword. V century

Storming the city. Bone carving. V century

What do you already know about the Great Migration from the history of the Ancient World?

2. The emergence of barbarian kingdoms. In 476, the leader of the court squad of multi-tribal barbarians, Odoacer, deposed the last “Western emperor” - Romulus Augustulus and himself began to rule Italy. Now the entire western part of the former Roman Empire was divided between different barbarian leaders. Although many of them verbally recognized the supremacy of the Constantinople emperors, the empire in the west was, in fact, completely destroyed. Therefore, many historians consider 476 the year of the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the conditional border separating the era of the Ancient World and the Middle Ages.

In 493, the Ostrogoths conquered all of Italy. Odoacer was killed. Their sovereign Theoddrich the Great (see on p. 33) wanted to create a strong state by reconciling the Ostrogothic conquerors with the conquered Romans. Nothing came of it. When the Ostrogothic kingdom began to weaken under Theodoric's successors, Emperor Justinian I sent a large army to conquer it.

First, his army landed in North Africa and destroyed the Vandal kingdom. Another army took part of the coast of Iberia (Spain) from the Visigoths. But Justinian’s generals had to wage the bloodiest wars against the Ostrogoths in Italy.

During these wars, the city of Rome changed hands many times. Eventually the Ostrogoths were defeated. But Justinian's triumph was short-lived. In 568, new Germanic tribes - the Lombards - invaded from the north, because of the Alps. They were particularly savage and cruel. The Lombards subjugated the entire north of Italy, driving the Byzantines to the south of the Apennine Peninsula.

Trace on the map (p. 30) the routes of movement of the Germanic tribes, name the places of their new settlement and the creation of kingdoms.

3. Orders of the Germans. On the lands they occupied, the Germanic tribes established orders that were very different from the Roman ones. Slavery among the Germans was poorly developed, all fellow tribesmen were considered free people, each owned their own plot of arable land, and a considerable one at that, and they used meadows, forests, and reservoirs together.

The Germans had their own nobility: they believed that members of certain families had special valor and luck. It was from them that the leaders and elders of the tribes usually emerged. The leader was elected by a popular assembly, which brought together male warriors. The leaders obeyed the popular assembly and respected the customs of the tribe.

II. INVASION OF THE BARBARIANS

The Germans did not have a written language, so customs were not written down, but were stored in memory and passed down orally from generation to generation.

Initially, the Germans were pagans, they believed in the gods of thunder, war, and fertility. However, from time to time Christian preachers from the Roman Empire appeared in Germany and successfully preached the new faith. When the Germans began to settle on the lands of the empire, they found themselves surrounded by numerous Christians and quite quickly adopted Christianity themselves.

1. What signs of the primitive communal system were preserved by the Germans at the beginning of the early Middle Ages? What accelerated the transition of the Germans to civilization?

2. What consequences for the Germans should have resulted from their adoption of Christianity?

German warrior. Miniature. VII century

Detail of a military helmet with the image of a German ruler. VI-VII centuries

1. When and why did the Great Migration begin and what were its results?

2. Draw a time line in your notebooks. Mark on it the most important dates related to the history of the Great Migration and the emergence of barbarian kingdoms.

3. Using additional materials, prepare reports about the activities of the ancient Germans and their religion.

4. Determine which barbarian tribes’ names have been preserved in one form or another on the modern map of Western Europe.

THEODORIC OF OSTHROTH (493-526)

The powerful king of the Ostrogoths, Theodoric the Great, was remembered by both his contemporaries and descendants. Throughout the Middle Ages, in German songs and legends he was remembered with the deepest respect - under the name of Dietrich of Berne. (“Bern” in legends was the name given to the Italian city of Verona, where Theodoric loved to visit.)

As a child, Theodoric was taken hostage in Constantinople and spent about 10 years there, developing a lifelong respect for the culture of the Romans and Greeks. Later he became the leader of a large Ostrogoth tribe. The Constantinople Emperor Zeno instructed Theodoric to return Italy, which was in the hands of Odoacer, to the empire. (In fact, the emperor most wanted to remove Theodoric and his people away from the walls of Constantinople.) Theodoric defeated the troops of Odoacer, but after three years of siege he was still unable to take Ravenna. Having agreed with Odoacer on peace and joint governance of Italy, Theodoric killed him with his own hands at a feast a few days later.

1. Theodoric's Palace in Ravenna. Mosaic. VI century

2. Tomb of Theodoric in Ravenna. VI century

Theodoric respected the rights and property of the Romans. There was only one prohibition for them - to carry weapons. Theodoric granted privileges to the city of Rome, restored public buildings that had fallen into disrepair, and organized luxurious games in the Colosseum. Theodoric liked to emphasize that his kingdom was part of the Roman Empire and he ruled it on behalf of the Emperor of Constantinople. (In fact, the king did not allow any interference from Constantinople.)

The Ostrogothic ruler loved to surround himself with educated people. For some time, the Roman philosopher Boethius was in his great confidence. He even held the main post in Theodoric's government. However, Theodoric heard rumors about an impending conspiracy: the Romans were supposedly going to get rid of the Goths and, with the help of Constantinople troops, restore their power. Then the king executed many noble Romans, including Boethius.

Why did Theodoric, a barbarian by birth, respect the Romans and their culture and value scientists?

§ 60. Capture of Rome by barbarians

1. Division of the empire into two states. It was difficult to control a huge power from Constantinople. In different provinces, free farmers, colons and fugitive slaves rebelled. They were especially powerful in Gaul and North Africa. Roman troops suppressed the uprisings, but they broke out again. Barbarian tribes crossed the Rhine and Danube rivers, which served as the borders of the empire, and captured its regions one after another. In 395 AD e. the empire was divided into the Eastern Roman Empire and the Western Roman Empire.

2. The Goths are marching on Italy. A few years after the division of the empire, a terrible danger loomed over Italy. Dreaming of taking possession of the treasures of Rome, Alaric, the leader of the Germanic tribe of the Goths, moved his hordes to the Eternal City. All along the way from the Danube regions, where the Goths lived, to the Alpine mountains, many slaves and columns joined Alaric. They showed the Goths hiding places where the Romans, who fled in fear, hid weapons and bread.

In the foothills of the Alps, the path of the Goths was blocked by a Roman army. True, there were few Romans in it - most of the soldiers were Gauls and Germans. The army was commanded by the brilliant military leader Stilicho, a German from the Vandal tribe. He defeated the Goths, only Alaric managed to withdraw the cavalry from the battlefield. At that time, the cowardly and envious Honorius was the emperor in the West. During the days of the Gothic invasion, he holed up in northern Italy in the city of Ravenna, surrounded by powerful walls and swampy swamps.

Division of the Roman Empire and barbarian invasions.

3. Death of Stilicho. Honorius had no merit in the victory over the Goths. However, it was he who celebrated the triumph as if he were a great commander. Soldiers walked along the streets of Rome behind the emperor's chariot, carrying spoils of war and a statue of Alaric, chained. Honorius entertained the residents of the Eternal City by baiting animals and horse racing. Gladiatorial fights were no longer held: at the request of Christians, they were banned forever.

Stilicho. Drawing based on an ancient Roman image.

Meanwhile, Alaric gathered an army stronger than before and again marched on Rome. He was ready for peace, but demanded a huge ransom for it. Stilicho convinced Honorius that it was necessary to gain time and collect the required amount among the rich. Those close to the emperor were reluctant to part with their gold. When the danger had passed, they turned the emperor against his commander. They slandered that Stilicho was planning to seize supreme power in the Western Empire and conspired with Alaric: after all, they were both Germans!

Honorius believed the lie and ordered Stilicho to be executed. In vain he sought refuge in a Christian church. He was captured, declared an enemy of the fatherland and executed. And immediately the beating of Stilicho’s comrades began: the Germans in Roman military service, their wives and children. Outraged by the wild and senseless massacre, thirty thousand barbarian legionnaires ran over to the Goths, demanding to be led to Rome.

4. “The city to which the earth was subjugated has been conquered!” After the death of Stilicho, Alaric had no worthy opponents.

The invasion of the barbarians on the Roman Empire and its death - how it happened

He decided to lay siege to Rome. The mediocre and worthless Honorius again left Rome, leaving its inhabitants to their fate.

The Goths surrounded the city and took possession of the harbor at the mouth of the Tiber, where grain was delivered. Hunger and terrible diseases tormented the besieged. Many believed that in order to be saved, one must return to the faith of their ancestors and make sacrifices to the rejected gods. We remembered how several years ago Serena, the widow of Stilicho (she was a devout Christian), burst into the temple of Vesta and tore the necklace from the statue of the goddess. Superstitious people began to say that by doing this Serena had brought disaster to Rome. She was accused of allegedly calling on Alaric to avenge the death of her husband. Serena was doomed to death. However, neither the execution of a woman nor sacrifices to ancient deities could save Rome.

Fortress towers and gates in Rome.

The defeat of Rome by barbarians. A drawing of our time.

On an August night in 410 AD. e. slaves opened the gates of Rome to the Goths. The Eternal City, which Hannibal once did not dare to storm, was taken. For three days the Goths sacked Rome. The imperial palaces and houses of the rich were devastated, statues were broken, priceless books were trampled into the mud, many people were killed or captured. The capture of Rome made a terrible impression on the inhabitants of the empire. “My voice stopped when I heard that the city to which the whole earth was subjugated was conquered!” - wrote a contemporary.

After the sack of Rome, the Goths moved south with huge booty. On the way, Alaric suddenly died. A legend has been preserved about his unprecedented funeral: the Goths forced the captives to divert the bed of one of the rivers, and Alaric was buried at its bottom with untold riches. Then the waters of the river were returned to their channel, and the captives were killed so that no one would know where the great leader of the Goths was buried.

5. Fall of the Western Roman Empire. Rome could no longer resist the barbarians. In 455 AD e. it was captured again, this time by vandals. The city was plundered even more horribly than under the Goths.

The barbarian leaders now ruled both the western provinces and Italy itself. In 476 AD e. one of the German military leaders deprived the last Roman emperor of power. His name was Romulus, like the founder of the Eternal City. The Germans sent the signs of imperial dignity - a purple cloak and diadem - to Constantinople. By this they showed that the West does not need an emperor. The Western Roman Empire ceased to exist.

During the period of barbarian conquests, ancient1 culture, created on the basis of the achievements of the peoples of Hellas and Rome and widely spread throughout the empire, was declining. A new historical era was beginning, later called the Middle Ages.

1 Antique means “ancient” in Latin.

Test yourself. 1. What role did Stilicho play in the defeat of the Goths? 2. What did the court envious people accuse Stilicho of? 3. How did the Gothic leader Alaric take advantage of the execution of the Roman commander? 4. How did the Western Roman Empire fall? For what purpose did the Germans send the purple cloak and diadem of the emperor to Constantinople?

Work with the map “The Division of the Roman Empire...” (p. 290): what regions and countries were part of the Western Empire? Which ones are part of the Eastern Empire?

Work with dates. Calculate how many years the Roman state existed: from the founding of the City to the fall of the Western Roman Empire.

Describe the drawing“The defeat of Rome by the barbarians” (see p. 292). How do winners behave in Rome?

Think about it. In what cases can the words “vandals” and “vandalism” be used these days?

Let's summarize and draw conclusions

What changes in the position of Christians took place under Constantine?

Where and why did Constantine move the capital of the empire?

What two states and when was the Roman Empire divided?

Why did the capture of Rome by the barbarians shock the inhabitants of the empire?

Creation of barbarian kingdoms in the 5th century. The entire 5th century turned into a period of barbarian invasions of the empire. In 410, a significant event in ancient history took place, when Rome for the first time in many centuries was taken by the Visigoths, led by Alaric and brutally plundered.

The barbarians had no intention of destroying the empire, since they maintained reverence for the imperial power and did not imagine themselves outside of it. The barbarians sought to find their place in the empire, tearing it apart and thereby contributing to its future collapse.

In the Western Empire, policy towards barbarians developed in line with the direction begun by Theodosius, since all foreigners were now considered as federates, which happened out of necessity when the Romans came to terms with the creation of new state entities on their territory. The earliest of them was Visigothic Kingdom(418), originating in the southwestern part of Gaul, Aquitaine, and subsequently annexed the lands of Spain. The Visigoths built relations with the local population on a peaceful basis. Following, Vandal Kingdom was founded in North Africa in 429. The Vandals became famous for their cruelty, in particular, in 455 they took Rome a second time and subjected it to the most devastating, deliberate and even more terrible destruction, when cultural monuments were deliberately destroyed. Hence the word vandalism has become a household name. Kingdom of Burgundy originated in 443 in southeastern France, Sabaudia, A Anglo-Saxon- in 451

25. Rome and the barbarians. The onslaught of the barbarians and the fight against them

in south-eastern Britain.

Formally, the kingdoms’ dependence on Ravenna was expressed in the fact that the barbarians paid tribute and defended the interests of the emperor, but in reality only when they found it necessary. The empire was finally falling apart. It turned out to be impossible to return to centralized control, and if Diocletian, Constantine, and Theodosius still carried out reforms, now none of the emperors tried to turn back the wheel of history.

The only event that temporarily united the Romans and barbarians was the invasion Huns. The latter had long been part of the mercenary troops of Rome, but since the 40s of the 5th century. began to raid the Balkan Peninsula and even reached Gaul. As a result, the Huns became hated by everyone, so in 451 a coalition of military forces of the Romans, Franks, Burgundians, Visigoths and Saxons was created, which gave the Huns the famous battle on Catalaunian fields. The Huns led by Atilla, nicknamed "By the scourge of God", were defeated, and their advance to the west was stopped. However, the coalition turned out to be a temporary phenomenon caused by external danger, and therefore quickly collapsed.

Fall of the Roman Empire. IN 476 g. Commander of the Imperial Guard German Odoacer deposed the child emperor Romulus Augustulus (ironically, Romulus ended up again at the end of Roman history) and sent the royal regalia to the capital of the Eastern Empire, abolishing imperial power in the West.

476 marked the formal end of the Western Roman Empire, as well as the end of ancient history. It cannot be said that after this date the Middle Ages immediately began, since the division itself into the eras of the Ancient World, the Middle Ages and Modern History is imperfect, since it does not fully reflect all historical realities. The fall of the empire came the logical conclusion of the decrepit ancient society, which gradually passed through periods of birth, formation, development, maturity and decline. Having died, antiquity at the same time gave life to the Christian and cultural traditions of Europe.

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