‘The Goths were a Germanic tribe who had moved into what is now Romania; they were a settled agricultural society but they were ruled by a powerful warrior elite who were famous for their physical strength, their courage and their skill.’ ibid. Patrick Morris O’Connor
‘The Huns are a new phenomena and they appear at the end of the fourth century.’ ibid. Peter Heather
By 394 A.D. most of the soldiers serving in the Roman armies are Barbarian mercenaries, among them the Goths. Barbarians Rising VII: Backlash
They are not Roman and the empire sees them as expendable. ibid.
100,000 Goths live inside the empire. Alaric intends to unite them all under one leader. ibid.
Alaric’s Goth horde storms across the Eastern empire, raiding cities and claiming territory that once belonged to Barbarian tribes. The Goths are carving out a homeless by reversing Roman expansion. ibid.
In exchange, Alaric and his men agree to help defend the Empire against the Huns. ibid.
The city [Rome] is heavily fortified … Alaric and his vast Barbarian army descend on Rome. ibid.
The sack of Rome is Alaric’s greatest victory. ibid.
Rome’s enemies begin to move in for the kill. ibid.
The Goths in the West, Huns to the East, and in the South, the Vandals. ibid.
The Empire unites and assembles a combined assault force to cross the Mediterranean and invade Carthage. Barbarians Rising VIII: Ruin
Attila can now overtake a fortified city in a matter of days. ibid.
The Empire’s refusal to pay the tribute is a fatal error: Attila escalates his attacks bent on destruction. ibid.
The Hun army is already marching toward the Empire. Attila sends word to Emperor Valentinian revealing his sister’s deception, and demanding half the western empire as his wedding gift. ibid.
Romans and Goths unite to fight Attila’s mighty Huns. ibid.
Attila dies on his wedding night. His empire dies with him. ibid.
The Barbarians dismantle the once great Empire. ibid.
The Vandals arrive at the gates of Rome in 455 A.D. It takes the Vandals less than two weeks to defeat the City’s defences. ibid.
It was the greatest empire the world has ever known. Unmatched in its brutality, its genius, its lust for power. For centuries Rome ruled over a quarter of the people of the planet. Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire I: Caesar, BBC 2006
After eight years of war Caesar’s campaign in Gaul was reaching its climax … They faced nearly a quarter of a million Gauls. ibid.
He was also a powerful politician. ibid.
Pompey finally agreed to lead the Republic against Caesar. ibid.
49 B.C.: The unthinkable happened: Rome, the capital of the greatest empire the world had ever seen, was abandoned. ibid.
A full-scale rout of Pompey’s army. ibid.
Rome: In the age of the emperors. For a hundred years the same family dynasty has ruled the empire. Now it’s the turn of the famously eccentric Nero. An emperor who spent more time among his people than they realised. Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire II: Nero
When the most powerful man on Earth lost his mind and brought the empire to the brink of destruction. ibid.
Nero began the largest civil building programme in history. ibid.
Nero became the greatest patron of art in Roman history. ibid.
Nero’s assault on the temples of Rome was an act that would live in infamy. ibid.
Public performance and private debauchery. ibid.
Nero’s dream had sucked the wealth out of the empire. ibid.
Rome’s emperors: sometimes brilliant, sometimes mad. All of them powerful. But Rome wasn’t always ruled by these dictators. Once it was a largely democratic society; its leaders were elected and no-one could hold too much power. They called it the Republic and it lasted for five hundred years. Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire III: Revolution
Tiberius Gracchus was to make his first mark on history just ten years after his father’s death. Rome was preparing for the final assault on its arch-rival Carthage ... Tiberius returned to Rome and to a hero’s welcome from the soldiers he’d saved. But then he and Mancinus were summoned to appear before the Senate. ibid.
Tribune Tiberius Gracchus now asked the people’s assembly to vote on his radical land reform. ibid.
In A.D. 66 the biggest rebellion ever against the power of Rome broke out in the remote province of Judea. The fear was it could destabilise the whole empire. To stamp this out Rome turned to the outcast general Vespasian and his son Titus. Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire IV: Rebellion
Tens of thousands of Jews were killed or tortured in Vespasian’s reign of terror. ibid.
At the beginning of the fourth century A.D. the Roman empire faced one of the biggest crises in its history. It was now so huge that it had been carved up between four emperors: two in the west and two in the east. Like rats in a sack they scrabbled for power. One man would try to united the empire: Constantine. Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire V
After years of persecution, for the first time the new religion was tolerated throughout the empire. ibid.
Constantine’s assault on Roman tradition went further. He diverted money intended for pagan temples to new Christian buildings, including St Peter’s in Rome. ibid.
The conflict between Constantine and Licinius was long and drawn out. ibid.
Ancient Rome: from here an empire sent out armies which mastered the known world. A superpower unrivalled in its ingenuity and its savagery. This was a glorious civilisation that shaped our own. For five hundred years Rome ruled supreme. The empire they said would last for ever. But then it was all just ripped apart. Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire VI: The Fall of Rome
Treachery and greed brought down the greatest city of the ancient world, and why it should never have happened at all. ibid.
The massacre of barbarian families was brutal even by Roman standards. ibid.
Everyone believed there would soon be a peace treaty. Even the Goths. ibid.
The Senate turned against their own emperor and chose Attalus in his place all at the behest of a barbarian. ibid.
In Rome’s streets the rule of law started to crumble. ibid.
The greatest empire ever known lasting for over 600 years. At its height it stretches from London to Baghdad projecting its power with the first professional army and creating the model of Western civilisation. And yet when the empire begins to falter it collapses with shocking speed. Rome: Rise and Fall of an Empire I: The First Barbarian War, History 2008
They have made big conquests that are hard to keep contained. ibid.
By 113 B.C. Rome has become master of the entire Mediterranean basin. ibid.
The highest office is reserved for members of Rome’s most important families. ibid.
The combined barbarian armies are heading straight for an Alpine pass into Roman territory. ibid.
80,000 Romans are massacred in a single afternoon. ibid.
At the centre of the Republic a deadly revolt is brewing: the bloody death of a gladiator slave is the ultimate spectator sport; by the first century B.C. it’s no longer a game and the slaves explode in rebellion against their masters. Rome: Rise and Fall of an Empire II: Spartacus
He persuaded about 70 of the enslaved men to risk a break for freedom. ibid.
Three men vie for absolute supremacy in the Roman Republic … The name that will echo through history as the archetype of ruthless ambition and tyranny: Julius Caesar. Rome: Rise and Fall of an Empire III: Julius Caesar
A magnificent assignment: a five-year term as the governor of not one but two provinces in Gaul, and beyond that, a whole continent to conquer. ibid.
Caesar’s only daughter dies in childbirth … Pompey turns down an offer to marry into Caesar’s family again. ibid.