ABSTRACT
The Battle of Adrianople in 378, fought between the Roman Empire and the Goths, is often
overlooked in the feld of Roman history. The purpose of this paper is to argue that the Battle of
Adrianople is more important to Roman history than conventionally thought, and that it marked
a major turning point for the Roman Empire. Throughout this paper I will argue that the Gothic
victory at Adrianople caused a domino effect which led to the collapse of the Western Roman
Empire. Using primary sources I show that many of the events that occurred after the battle,
and played a role in the collapse of the Western Empire, can be linked together as aftereffects
of the Roman defeat at Adrianople.
The Gothic victory over the Romans at Adrianople in 378 brought with it vast changes to the Roman world. The battle had a domino effect on both halves of the Empire, but the West suffered the most severe consequences. The Western Roman Empire would never recover from the East’s defeat in 378. The political fallout that followed Emperor Valens death at Adrianople created hostilities between East and West that never dissipated. Moreover, a series of usurpers, some supported by Goths and others opposed by them would plague the West. These usurpers would severely damage the Western Empire forcing it to
rely increasingly on barbarians, such as the Goths. These conditions allowed the Goths to remain a dominant power in Western Europe until the eighth century.
