Professor Peter Heather

We haven't filled in the gaps by proper new recruiting. And goodness knows what holes have been left on the frontier where those troops have been transferred. That, I think, is absolutely showing you the effects of the loss of revenue flow already by the 420s. And that's before the loss of North Africa.

I think the Hunnic invasions of the West are not directly causative of the fall of the Western Empire, but they are indicative of what's going on in the sense that the very effective West Roman leader at the time, Aetius, who is the right-hand man of the Emperor Valentinian III and the effective ruler of the Empire, But Aecius had been using the Huns to keep people like the Goths under control.

I think the Hunnic invasions of the West are not directly causative of the fall of the Western Empire, but they are indicative of what's going on in the sense that the very effective West Roman leader at the time, Aetius, who is the right-hand man of the Emperor Valentinian III and the effective ruler of the Empire, But Aecius had been using the Huns to keep people like the Goths under control.

I think the Hunnic invasions of the West are not directly causative of the fall of the Western Empire, but they are indicative of what's going on in the sense that the very effective West Roman leader at the time, Aetius, who is the right-hand man of the Emperor Valentinian III and the effective ruler of the Empire, But Aecius had been using the Huns to keep people like the Goths under control.

So Aecius has had to live with Goths in southwestern Gaul. He's had to settle Burgundians in the Rhône Valley. But all the time he's been drawing on Hunnic military support. So there's a big Gothic revolt. in the mid-430s. Burgundians are just another group that are problematic at this time. And the Burgundians were heavily attacked by Huns before the remnants are settled on Roman soil.

So Aecius has had to live with Goths in southwestern Gaul. He's had to settle Burgundians in the Rhône Valley. But all the time he's been drawing on Hunnic military support. So there's a big Gothic revolt. in the mid-430s. Burgundians are just another group that are problematic at this time. And the Burgundians were heavily attacked by Huns before the remnants are settled on Roman soil.

So Aecius has had to live with Goths in southwestern Gaul. He's had to settle Burgundians in the Rhône Valley. But all the time he's been drawing on Hunnic military support. So there's a big Gothic revolt. in the mid-430s. Burgundians are just another group that are problematic at this time. And the Burgundians were heavily attacked by Huns before the remnants are settled on Roman soil.

Whether that's a Roman policy to do that or whether it's accident that the Hunnic action against the Burgundians was autonomous, we don't know. But anyway, basically, Aecius has been drawing on Hunnic support, well, to put himself in power to start with, but then also to keep control of the sort of geostrategic situation in the Western Empire in the 430s.

Whether that's a Roman policy to do that or whether it's accident that the Hunnic action against the Burgundians was autonomous, we don't know. But anyway, basically, Aecius has been drawing on Hunnic support, well, to put himself in power to start with, but then also to keep control of the sort of geostrategic situation in the Western Empire in the 430s.

Whether that's a Roman policy to do that or whether it's accident that the Hunnic action against the Burgundians was autonomous, we don't know. But anyway, basically, Aecius has been drawing on Hunnic support, well, to put himself in power to start with, but then also to keep control of the sort of geostrategic situation in the Western Empire in the 430s.

Attila comes to power, I think, in 440 with his brother and immediately changes. And we start to see a Hunnic empire, which is no longer willing to be paid for mercenary service by the Western or Eastern empires, but is taking direct military action to access wealth and subsidies from it. And this, of course, changes the balance of power. You can't use the Huns anymore to keep the Goths in control.

Attila comes to power, I think, in 440 with his brother and immediately changes. And we start to see a Hunnic empire, which is no longer willing to be paid for mercenary service by the Western or Eastern empires, but is taking direct military action to access wealth and subsidies from it. And this, of course, changes the balance of power. You can't use the Huns anymore to keep the Goths in control.

Attila comes to power, I think, in 440 with his brother and immediately changes. And we start to see a Hunnic empire, which is no longer willing to be paid for mercenary service by the Western or Eastern empires, but is taking direct military action to access wealth and subsidies from it. And this, of course, changes the balance of power. You can't use the Huns anymore to keep the Goths in control.

So when the Huns eventually turn from having ransacked the Balkans and the Eastern Empire for everything they could get to Western campaigns in 450 and 451, then Aetius has to put together a new military alliance to face down the Huns. The Roman army by itself is not strong enough. He calls in Goths. Goths are back on side. They're back on side. And this actually points to the future.

So when the Huns eventually turn from having ransacked the Balkans and the Eastern Empire for everything they could get to Western campaigns in 450 and 451, then Aetius has to put together a new military alliance to face down the Huns. The Roman army by itself is not strong enough. He calls in Goths. Goths are back on side. They're back on side. And this actually points to the future.

So when the Huns eventually turn from having ransacked the Balkans and the Eastern Empire for everything they could get to Western campaigns in 450 and 451, then Aetius has to put together a new military alliance to face down the Huns. The Roman army by itself is not strong enough. He calls in Goths. Goths are back on side. They're back on side. And this actually points to the future.

Attila's empire has this brief flowering. It falls apart when he dies. There's then a huge fight for succession amongst the Huns. And there's a lot of fallout from that, which leads to yet more groups ending up on both Eastern and West Roman soil, more groups of barbarians. But fundamentally, we're left with a new political context in the Western empire,

Attila's empire has this brief flowering. It falls apart when he dies. There's then a huge fight for succession amongst the Huns. And there's a lot of fallout from that, which leads to yet more groups ending up on both Eastern and West Roman soil, more groups of barbarians. But fundamentally, we're left with a new political context in the Western empire,

Attila's empire has this brief flowering. It falls apart when he dies. There's then a huge fight for succession amongst the Huns. And there's a lot of fallout from that, which leads to yet more groups ending up on both Eastern and West Roman soil, more groups of barbarians. But fundamentally, we're left with a new political context in the Western empire,

where the Goths are too powerful to be excluded from deal-making. So to construct a regime that's got any kind of chance of working, you have to get the Goths on side because you can no longer use hunting outside threat to keep them on the reservation, as it were.