War with Rome (376–382)
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The Goths remained in Dacia until 376, when one of their leaders, Fritigern, appealed to the Roman emperor Valens to be allowed to settle with his people on the south bank of the Danube. Here, they hoped to find refuge from the Huns. Valens permitted this. However, a famine broke out and Rome was unwilling to supply them with the food they were promised nor the land; open revolt ensued leading
to 6 years of plundering and destruction throughout the Balkans, the death of a Roman Emperor and the destruction of an entire
Roman army.
The Battle of Adrianople in 378 was the decisive moment of the war. The Roman forces were slaughtered; the Emperor Valens was killed during the fighting, shocking the Roman world and eventually forcing the Romans to negotiate with and settle the
Barbarians on Roman land, a new trend with far reaching consequences for the eventual fall of the Roman Empire.
