I'm Patrick Weiman, and this is the Fall of Rome.

In last week's episode, we discussed the Goths' entry into the Roman Empire in 376 AD,

how the Romans mismanaged that entry through corruption and greed, and broke their agreement

with the Goths. We went over how the Goths rebelled, and raided throughout the Balkan

provinces of the Empire, and how they inflicted a stunning defeat on the Emperor of Valens

at the Battle of Adrienople in 378. This was the greatest military disaster to befall

the Empire in more than 350 years, and there's a good argument to be made that it was the worst

in its entire history and its consequences. But the Goths couldn't fight the full resources

of the Empire forever, and a new Emperor, Theodosius, managed to slowly but surely wear them down.

The Goths surrendered in 382, signing a treaty with the Romans that came close to what the two parties

had first agreed on before the Goths crossed the Danube in 376. Some of the Goths were settled

on farmland, while others joined the Roman army, both as individuals and in entire units.

Gothic nobles took up positions as officers within the army, too, continuing the long tradition

of barbarian aristocrats occupying important posts within the Roman military.

This week's episode will follow the Goths from the Balkans to their shocking sack of Rome in 410 AD,

the first time in 800 years that the Eternal City had suffered the indignity of foreign occupation.

These Goths will end up in southern France, settled around the city of Toulouse, more than

1500 miles from the lands they had once occupied beyond the Danube. But as we discussed last week,

this isn't a story of a people on the move, of a wandering group of barbarian families who

happened to cross into Roman territory, win a few battles, and then settle down like 19th century

Americans heading out into the Great Plains in Conestoga wagons. The Goths weren't traveling

into the unknown, they and the Romans had been dealing with each other for more than a century.

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