Flavius aetius biography of alberta

The second hurdle was a rival military commander, Bonifacius, who had earned the undying gratitude of Placidia by supporting Valentinian in the struggle against Joannes. This was a prestigious assignment, and Bonifacius immediately left Rome to attend to his new position. With Bonifacius in Africa, Placidia was deprived of her closest friend and adviser.

Sensing an opportunity, Aetius struck. His plan was relatively simple. He spread a rumor that Bonifacius was planning to use his newfound authority to rebel against Valentinian. Placidia became alarmed and recalled Bonifacius to Rome, but Aetius was one step ahead of her. He had already sent a letter to Bonifacius warning him that Placidia suspected him of treachery and was planning to summon him back to Rome to assassinate him.

With one swift stroke, Aetius had set his two main opponents against each other. Bonifacius realized that his small African garrison was no match for the imperial legions, and he began looking desperately for an ally. He finally found one in the Vandal king Gaiseric. The Vandals were currently occupying Spain, but Bonifacius offered them land in Africa as part of the alliance.

It was a strategic error that would have catastrophic results for Rome. Bonifacius tried to drive them out, but he was defeated at Hippo the siege of the city claimed the life of St. Bonifacius eventually abandoned his troops and fled to Italy, where he was forgiven and restored to his former rank and title by Placidia. But all was not forgiven between Bonifacius and Aetius.

Soon after Bonifacius returned to Italy, he prepared to settle the score with his former friend. With the aid of his trusted Huns, he had defeated a Frankish invasion in ad and put down a peasant revolt. Aetius marched into Italy to challenge his rival. Civil war had begun. At Ariminum in ad, Aetius emerged victorious after slaying Bonifacius in hand-to-hand combat.

With Bonifacius out of the way, his only remaining rival was Placidia, whose position in Rome had weakened during his exile. Aetius stepped in and immediately filled the void as an adviser to the young emperor. The foolish and sheltered Valentinian was no match for the ruthless general. Although Aetius had enough support in the military to eliminate the boy emperor and his conniving flavius aetius biography of alberta, he chose to operate from behind the scenes.

However, from that point on, Aetius was the true ruler of the Roman Empire. Although Aetius had finally seized power, holding onto it was another matter. Rome was beset by enemies on all sides. It would take a masterful combination of diplomacy and military strategy to keep the empire from collapsing. Rome lacked the manpower to defend against incursions by the Visigoths, Armoricans, Burgundians, and the countless other tribes that threatened its northern border.

Having defeated the Alans and Franks in earlier encounters, Aetius now enlisted them as confederates of the empire and used their cavalry to bolster his own forces. In the slaughter that resulted, the Burgundians were effectively eliminated as an independent people. But for every enemy that he removed, another one quickly rose up to take his place.

Shortly after the Burgundians were defeated, the Visigoths once again crossed the border into Gaul. Aetius had already defeated them once at Arles. Inthe Visigoths turned away from Spain and besieged the Roman city of Narbonne. At the same time, the Vandals were stirring again in North Africa. The wily general became determined to prevent an alliance by any means necessary.

Aetius set his sights squarely on Gaiseric. The Vandal conquest of Africa posed the most immediate threat to the safety and security of the empire. The growing Vandal fleet posed a direct threat to Rome and the rest of the Mediterranean. Without the flow of gold from Africa, Aetius would be unable to continue his policy of bribing the barbarian tribes.

The empire would truly be defenseless. Unfortunately for Rome, Gaiseric was not interested in negotiating. With Aetius occupied in Gaul, he knew that he had a free hand to devour Roman territory. Byhe had captured Carthage and most of North Africa. His fleet poured into the Mediterranean and invaded Sicily in The Vandal invasion of Sicily sounded alarm bells throughout the Mediterranean world.

Emperor Theodosius was so alarmed that he dispatched a massive armada to bring the Vandals to heel. Unfortunately for him, the Huns invaded the Eastern Roman Empire a short time later, forcing the armada to return to Constantinople before it could accomplish its objective. With Vandal forces occupying Sicily and the Visigoths straining Roman defenses in Gaul, Aetius knew that he had to act quickly or the empire would be overrun.

He decided to focus his efforts on the Vandals since they posed the most pressing threat. Aetius offered an alliance to Gaiseric if he would cease his hostilities toward Rome. It was a shrewd move. He also was enticed by the idea of marrying his son into the Roman royal line. He simply accused her of trying to poison him, cut off her nose and ears, and sent her back to Theodoric.

The sight of his mutilated daughter infuriated the Visigoth king, and the two powerful barbarian nations teetered on the brink of war. It was a political masterstroke. Aetius next returned his attention to the barbarians at the gate. Three huge armies — Roman, Visigothic and Hunnian — clashed in one of the largest and bloodiest battles of antiquity.

Despite great losses, Aetius managed to defeat the Huns and drive them from Gaul. He won but allowed them to escape, citing his old friendship with Attila. It is also believed that Aetius really wanted to maintain a counterweight in the Goths region. According to ancient sources, many were killed in this battle; the authors provide numbers: orvictims.

Defeating the Huns in battle did not mean that their attacks would cease. The fights continued, e. Huns managed to include destroy Milan or Ticinum; However, due to the aggression of the Eastern Roman emperor — Marcian, they had to retreat. Aetius spent the last years of his life in apparent glory on court intrigues. He decided to surrender his son, Gaudentius, for the imperial daughter, Placidia.

Perhaps Aetius was hoping that after the death of the ruler, his son would take over. When Aetius informed about the state of the treasury, suddenly the emperor rose from the throne and began to accuse Aetius of accusations of acting against him. He accused him of losing his throne rights in the Eastern Empire because of him, and now Aetius sought to flavius aetius biography of alberta power from him in Ravenna.

Then the emperor stood up and hit the Roman commander in the head several times on the head, killing him on the spot. The emperor, after killing Aetius, went to the Senate and announced that he had conspired against him; his body was exposed to the public. In order to ascertain the loyalty of barbarians in the Empire, delegations were sent to the chiefs.

In revenge for their leader, they killed the emperor in March the following year. Second Edition, new impression. ISBNpp. JSTOR Volume 1, p. Cited in Jones, p. Prosperi Hauniensiss. Cited in Jones, pp. Comes Africae, AD — Carthage mint. Struck AD —". Chronicon, It is possible that this happened after the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains in Jones, p.

ISBNp. But among the long Fasti of her triumphs, few can be found that, for their importance and ultimate benefit to mankind, are comparable with this expiring effort of her arms. Archived from the original on 12 October Retrieved 23 July Oxford: Oxford University Press. Barbarian Migrations and the Roman West. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

The Hutchinson Concise Dictionary of Music. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis. ISBN A new chronology of Venetian opera and related genres, — Stanford, Calif.

Flavius aetius biography of alberta

Retrieved 9 February Kirkus Reviews. Bibliography [ edit ]. Additamenta ad chron. Sources [ edit ]. Further reading [ edit ]. Anicius Auchenius Bassus Antiochus Chuzon. Anthemius Isidorus Senator. Valentinian Augustus VI Nomus. Calepius Ardabur. Remistus In Authority control databases. Deutsche Biographie DDB. IdRef Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.

Toggle the table of contents. Flavius Aetius. Unknown, possibly the Sarcophagus of Stilicho. Last of the Romans. Magister militum per Gallias - Magister militum - Roman consul with Valerius. Preceded by Anthemius Isidorus Senator. Sincethe English Wikipedia page of Flavius Aetius has received more thanpage views. His biography is available in 63 different languages on Wikipedia up from 58 in Flavius Aetius is the 52nd most popular military personnel down from 45th inthe 5th most popular biography from Bulgaria down from 3rd in and the 2nd most popular Bulgarian Military Personnel.

Flavius Aetius was a Roman general who was most famous for his role in defending the Western Roman Empire from the Huns.