Valens tried to be a good emperor, but he
inherited a great many problems. By the time he took over, Rome was just
about broke. Some of Rome's wealth had been spent in warfare. Some had
been spent on the development of Constantinople, the capital of the
Eastern Roman Empire. And much had been
wasted by the outlandish behavior of some of Rome's less able rulers.
Without money to use for repairs, the
famous Roman roads started to fall into disrepair. Without good roads,
fresh supplies of men and goods did not always reach the far ends of the
empire. Nor were needed goods getting back to Rome. Barbarian tribes had
always raided the Roman Empire. These days, barbarian raids on the
provinces were becoming more successful.
In ancient Rome, a
barbarian was the name given to any people who lived outside the borders
of the Roman Empire. You were also called a barbarian if you did not
speak Latin.
There
were five main barbarian tribes in Europe. Each wanted to conquer
the famous Roman Empire. These tribes were the Huns, Franks, Vandals,
Saxons, and Visigoths. They were all attacking various pieces of the
Western Roman Empire at the same time. Forts and strongholds along the
road were destroyed. There were few cities in the outlying regions of
the empire, but those that existed were attacked.
Rather than try to defend against all the
barbarian tribes who had turned their eyes on Rome, Emperor Valens tried
to turn one barbarian tribe against another. Since the barbarian tribes
rarely got along anyway, it was a smart thing to do. Valens went one
step further. He believed that if he could get some of the barbarians
working for him, he might be able to restore order.
Valens allowed a fierce and battle-strong
barbarian tribe, the Visigoths (Goths), to settle in the Danube region
of the Western Roman Empire. He promised these settlers that Rome would
help with food and shelter, provided they helped by keeping order in
their section of the empire.
When Valens did not keep his promises,
the Visigoths rebelled. It was the beginning of the end of the Western
Roman Empire. The Western Roman Empire finally fell in the year 476 CE.
When
people say "Rome fell", they mean the Western Roman Empire.
The Western Roman Empire, pictured below in dark gold, included the city
of ancient Rome. The Western Roman Empire fell into the Dark
Ages
in 476 CE.
The
Eastern Roman Empire, pictured in green below, with its capital
Constantinople, continued for another thousand years.
