Eagles in the Dust: The Roman Defeat at Adrianopolis AD 378 by Adrian Coombs-Hoar

Author:Adrian Coombs-Hoar [Coombs-Hoar, Adrian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: new
ISBN: 9781781590881
Google: -fGZBgAAQBAJ
Amazon: B00TGBP8HO
Goodreads: 24930612
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2015-01-30T05:00:00+00:00

Fritigern was in an awkward position, his troops were no doubt demanding action and without his cavalry to hand, any hostile action against the Romans was potentially disastrous, so he was forced to do ‘what was necessary’ and commence negotiations. This could well be an allusion to the contents of the letter received by Valens from Fritigern the day before at Adrianople where Fritigern had suggested Valens ‘show them (the Goths) near at hand his army ready for battle, and through the fear aroused by the imperial name check their destructive eagerness for war’. There is no reason to suspect any treachery at this point on Fritigern’s behalf. Valens may have believed his army outnumbered the Goths behind the wagons by a factor of at least two to one, and he could have ordered an attack at any moment, with a very real chance of inflicting a crushing defeat upon the Goths. It is at this point that in all probability the disaster of the Battle of Adrianople actually took place. Valens had a golden opportunity to attack the Goths whilst they were at a severe disadvantage. The Goths were penned up behind their wagons and they still did not have any cavalry to provide them with additional support. I doubt very much that had the Roman army attacked the Goths at this stage then the Gothic cavalry arriving several hours later would have saved the day. More likely the returning Gothic cavalry would have arrived just in time to see a mass slaughter of their kinsmen within the Gothic encampment. That is if in fact they would have returned at all, because any deserters or survivors from the Gothic encampment would have naturally have fled toward the direction they knew their cavalry was coming from, and once informed of the disaster at the wagons those cavalry would have naturally sought safety in flight themselves.

Was Fritigern actually making good on his word and actually wanting to enter into treaty arrangements? Fritigern probably had no idea of how long it would take for the Gothic cavalry to return and he was no doubt acutely aware that should Valens order an immediate attack he and the rest of the Goths behind the wagons faced almost certain defeat and destruction. If Valens was prepared to meet most of Fritigern’s demands then a treaty could have been hammered out that would have been advantageous for both sides. The Goths would have a new homeland whilst Valens would have a new source of recruits for his delayed invasion of Sassanid Persia. There is absolutely nothing to indicate Fritigern was deliberately delaying to allow the return of the Gothic cavalry. In fact it’s likely Fritigern had no idea that the cavalry would arrive at all. No, it’s more the case that it was better for Ammianus and others to claim it was Gothic duplicity that led to the Roman defeat rather than admitting that it was a case of extremely bad timing on the Gothic cavalry’s

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