Peter Heather

And when we get a powerful leader emerging in the Western Empire, he's not the emperor, but he's the generalissimo who acts as the front man, then he suppresses the usurpers, unites the Roman military,

He forces the Goths, who've retreated by this time into southern France.

They've retreated out of Italy because they've kind of been starved out of Italy and no deal has been offered them.

He does a deal with them that restricts them to a small area around Bordeaux.

And he mobilizes the Goths in alliance with his forces to attack the people in Spain.

And the groups in Spain were two separate groups of vandals.

Hastings and Silings, and a number of separate groups of Alans, each under their own kings.

And it's quite clear that the Alans were originally the most numerous group.

This leader, called Flavius Constantius, destroys the Siling Vandals,

destroys the independence of the Alans, wins a whole series of victories, and inadvertently creates a new, more concentrated Vandal-Alan confederation around the surviving Hasding Vandals.

But, you know, he wins a whole series of major victories in Spain and restores most of it to imperial control.

Yeah, absolutely.

And most of Gaul is brought back under control as well.

And most of Gaul as well.

So we're left with a couple of barbarian enclaves.

Around Bordeaux.

Yeah, Goths in Bordeaux and probably in Portugal, the surviving Vandals and Alans at this point.

It does.

It absolutely does.

Okay, what happens next?