Alaric I

Alaric the First was born The Danube Delta On one of the islands. In his youth, The Visigoths in Huns Was forced westward on a massive scale migrate . Roman Empire Emperor Theodosius I To placate The Visigoths To place them on the borders of the Empire and use them Garrison the border areas .

Alaric himself, as the leader of this auxiliary army, was first recorded in 394. while Theodosius I After his death in 395, The Visigoths They broke their fragile alliance with Rome and made Alaric king.

Alaric led the Visigoths in Greece ransacked Corinth , Agos and Sparta Other important cities; Athens In the delivery of huge Ransom money He was then spared.

It occupied the east coast of the Adriatic Sea in 397 Illyria He forced the Eastern Roman emperor Arcadius to appoint him governor of the region, after which he attacked Italy .

As Alaric continued to wreak havoc, he was captured by a Roman barbarian general Stirico He is Roman Empire Late only commendable Commander in chief ) Defeat. Alaric hurried back with his prize. He had just been crowned Eastern Emperor Arcadius The commitment to get Illyria On condition that the provinces do not invade the Eastern Empire.

In 402, Alaric invaded Italy He was defeated again by Stilicho. Battle of Bologntia ). Emperor of the Western Empire Honorius Trying to buy Alaric and his barbarian army to use them against the ruling east Arcadius . But when Arcadius died in 408, Honorius abandoned his plans to fight the Eastern Empire and broke his alliance with Alaric. Alaric demanded 4,000 Roman pounds of gold (about 1,814 kg) as compensation. Honorius Stilicho persuaded him to grant Alaric's request. Soon Honorius listened to the slanderers Stirico The execution, which greatly angered Stilico's skilled barbarian soldiers, caused almost all of them to join Alaric's army. Alaric then invaded, claiming that no ransom had been received Italy Surrounded by Roman And finally got a huge amount of gold.

In 410, the Visigoths under Alaric captured Rome and plundered it. They were the first barbarian forces capable of conquering the eternal City of Rome itself. Alaric attempted to take advantage of the invasion Sicily and North Africa But a storm stopped his plans. He died soon after. His brother Atulf Adolphus inherited the Visigothic throne. Due to Alaric's plunder of Rome, some Romans blamed the fall of Rome on the conversion to Christianity, so the famous theologian St. Augustine wrote the City of God, which called Alaric who believed in Arianism as the scourge of God and punished those Romans who did not believe in Christianity.