Battle of Adrianople The Battle of Adrianople ( 9 August 378 ) , sometimes known as the Battle of Hadrianopolis , was fought between a Roman army led by the Roman Emperor Valens and Gothic rebels ( largely Thervings as well as Greutungs , non - Gothic Alans , and various local rebels ) led by Fritigern . The battle took place about north of Adrianople ( modern Edirne in European Turkey , near the border with Greece and Bulgaria ) in the Roman province of Thracia and ended with an overwhelming victory for the Goths . Part of the Gothic War ( 376 – 382 ) , the battle is often considered the start of the final collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century . Adrianople actually was fought between the Goths and the Eastern Roman Empire , which ultimately withstood the Gothic invasions and developed into the Byzantine Empire . Background . In 376 AD , displaced by the invasions of the Huns , the Goths , led by Alavivus and Fritigern , asked to be allowed to settle in the Roman Empire . Hoping that they would become farmers and soldiers , the emperor Valens allowed them to establish themselves in the Empire as allies ( foederati ) . However , once across the Danube ( and in Roman territory ) , the dishonesty of the provincial commanders Lupinicus and Maximus led the newcomers to revolt after suffering many hardships . Valens ( of the Eastern Empire ) then asked Gratian , the western emperor , for reinforcements to fight the Goths . Gratian sent the general Frigeridus with reinforcements , as well as the leader of his guards , Richomeres . For the next two years preceding the battle of Adrianople there were a series of running battles with no clear victories for either side . In 378 , Valens decided to take control himself . Valens would bring more troops from Syria and Gratian would bring more troops from Gaul . Valens left Antioch for Constantinople , and arrived on the 30th of May . He appointed Sebastianus , newly arrived from Italy , to reorganize the Roman armies already in Thrace . Sebastianus picked 2 , 000 of his legionaries and marched towards Adrianople . They ambushed some small Gothic detachments . Fritigern assembled the Gothic forces at Nicopolis and Beroe ( now Stara Zagora ) to deal with this Roman threat . Gratian had sent much of his army to Pannonia when the Lentienses ( part of the Alamanni ) attacked across the Rhine . Gratian recalled his army and defeated the Lentienses near Argentaria ( near modern - day Colmar , France . ) After this campaign , Gratian , with part of his field army , went east by boat ; the rest of his field army went east overland . The former group arrived at Sirmium in Pannonia and at the Camp of Mars ( a fort near the Iron Gates ) , 400 kilometers from Adrianople , where some Alans attacked them . Gratian ' s group withdrew to Pannonia shortly thereafter . After learning of Sebastian ' s success against the Goths , and of Gratian ' s victory over the Alamanni , Valens was more than ready for a victory of his own . He brought his army from Melanthias to Adrianople , where he met with Sebastian ' s force . On 6 August , reconnaissance informed Valens that about 10 , 000 Goths were marching towards Adrianople from the north , about 25 kilometers away . Despite the difficult ground , Valens reached Adrianople where the Roman army fortified its camp with ditch and rampart . Richomeres , sent by Gratian , carried a letter asking Valens to wait for the arrival of reinforcements from Gratian before engaging in battle . Valens ' officers also recommended that he wait for Gratian , but Valens decided to fight without waiting , ready to claim the ultimate prize . The Goths were also watching the Romans , and on 8 August Fritigern sent an emissary to propose a peace and an alliance in exchange for some Roman territory . Sure that he would be victorious due to his supposed numerical superiority , Valens rejected these proposals . However , his estimates did not take into consideration a part of the Gothic cavalry that had gone to forage further away . Composition of the Roman troops . Valens ' army may have included troops from any of three Roman field armies : the Army of Thrace , based in the eastern Balkans , but which may have sustained heavy losses in 376 – 377 , the 1st Army in the Emperor ' s Presence , and the 2nd Army in the Emperor ' s Presence , both based at Constantinople in peacetime but committed to the Persian frontier in 376 and sent west in 377 – 378 . Valens ' army was composed of veterans and men accustomed to war . It comprised seven legion s — among which were the Legio I " Maximiana " and imperial auxiliaries — of 700 to 1000 men each . The cavalry was composed of mounted archers ( " sagittarii " ) and " Scholae " ( the imperial guard ) . However , these did not represent the strong point of the army and would flee on the arrival of the Gothic cavalry . There were also squadrons of Arab cavalry , but they were more suited to skirmishes than to pitched battle . Ammianus Marcellinus makes references to the following forces under Valens : He also refers to the following officers : Strength of Valens ' army . Several modern historians have attempted to estimate the strength of Valens ' army . Warren Treadgold estimates that , by 395 , the Army of Thrace had 24 , 500 soldiers , while the 1st and 2nd Armies in Emperor ' s Presence had 21 , 000 each . However , all three armies include units either formed ( several units of " Theodosiani " among them ) or redeployed ( various legions in Thrace ) after Adrianople . Moreover , troops were needed to protect Marcianopolis and other threatened cities , so it is unlikely that all three armies fought together . However , most modern historians estimated the real number of Roman troops to be as many as 15 , 000 men , 10 , 000 infantry and 5 , 000 cavalry . This was already a whole lot less than what the other historic accounts claimed . Order of battle of Valens ' army . It is not possible to precisely list the units of the Roman army at Adrianople . The only sources are Ammianus , who describes the battle but mentions few units by name , and the eastern Notitia Dignitatum , which lists Roman army units in the late 4th to early 5th century , after Theodosius . Many units listed in the Balkans were formed after Adrianople ; others were transferred from other parts of the Empire , before or after Adrianople ; others are listed in two or more sectors . Some units at Adrianople may have been merged or disbanded due to their losses . The Roman forces consisted of heavy infantry , various archers and cavalry . Composition of the Gothic forces . The Gothic armies were mostly infantry with some cavalry , however ; in the battle of Adrianople the large force of Gothic cavalry was 5 , 000 strong . There were probably two main Gothic armies south of the Danube . Fritigern led one army , largely recruited from the Therving exiles , while Alatheus and Saphrax led another army , largely recruited from the Greuthung exiles . Fritigern brought most if not all of his fighters to the battle , and appears to have been the force the Romans first encountered . Alatheus and Saphrax brought most of their cavalry , and possibly some of their infantry , to the battlefield late . These infantry were indicated as being an Alan battalion . Ammianus records that the Roman scouts estimated 10 , 000 Gothic troops ; but Ammianus dismissed this as an underestimate . This appears to be due to Alatheus and Saphrax ' s forces being away when the Roman scouts estimated the Goth ' s numbers before battle . Several modern historians have estimated the strength of the Gothic armies at 12 , 000 – 15 , 000 . Ammianus notes the important role of the Gothic cavalry . Charles Oman , believing that the cavalry were the majority of the Gothic force , interpreted the Battle of Adrianople as the beginning of the dominance of cavalry over infantry for the next thousand years . Some other historians have taken the same view . Burns and other recent historians argue that the infantry were the vast majority of the Gothic force , and that the battle had little effect on the relationship between infantry and cavalry . Course of battle . On the morning of 9 August , Valens decamped from Adrianople , where he left the imperial treasury and administration under the guard of the legions . The reconnaissance of the preceding days informed him of the location of the Gothic camp north of the city . Valens arrived there after marching for seven hours over difficult terrain . At around 14 : 30 , the Roman troops arrived in disorder , exhausted and dehydrated , facing the Gothic camp that had been set up on the top of a hill . The Goths , except for their cavalry , took position in front of their wagon circle , inside of which were their families and possessions . Fritigern ' s objective was to delay the Romans , in order to give enough time for the Gothic cavalry to return . The fields were burnt by the Goths to delay and harass the Romans with smoke , and negotiations began for an exchange of hostages . The negotiations exasperated the Roman soldiers who seemed to hold the stronger position , but they gained precious time for Fritigern . A detachment of Romans began the battle without orders to do so , believing they would have an easy victory , and perhaps over - eager to exact revenge on the Goths after two years of unchecked devastation throughout the Balkans . The imperial scholae of shield - archers under the command of the Iberian prince Bacurius attacked , but lacking support they were easily pushed back . Then the Roman left - wing reached the circle of wagons , but it was too late . At that moment , the Gothic cavalry , alerted by messengers from the embattled wagon circle , arrived to support the infantry . The cavalry surrounded the Roman troops , who were already in disarray after the failure of the first assault . The Romans retreated to the base of the hill where they were unable to maneuver , encumbered by their heavy armor and long shields . The casualties , exhaustion , and psychological pressure led to a rout of the Roman army . The cavalry continued their attack , and the massacre continued until nightfall . In the rout , the Emperor himself was abandoned by his guards . Some tried to retrieve him , but the majority of the cavalry deserted . Valens ' final fate is unknown ; he probably died anonymously on the field . His body was never found . An alternative story circulated after the battle that Valens had escaped the field with a bodyguard and some eunuchs , and hid in a peasant ' s cottage . The enemy attempted to pillage the cottage , apparently unaware Valens was inside . Valens ' men fired arrows from the second floor to defend the cottage and in response the Goths set the cottage on fire . The bodyguard leaped out the window and told the Goths who was inside , but it was too late . Valens perished in the flames . Implications . According to the historian Ammianus Marcellinus , a third of the Roman army succeeded in retreating , but the losses were uncountable . Many officers , among them the general Sebastian , were killed in the worst Roman defeat since the Battle of Edessa , the high point of the Crisis of the Third Century . The battle was a significant blow for the late Empire , resulting in the destruction of the core army of the eastern Empire , the deaths of valuable administrators , and the destruction of all of the arms factories on the Danube following the battle . The lack of reserves for the army led to a recruitment crisis , which accentuated the strategic and morale impact of the defeat . Despite the losses , the battle of Adrianople did not mark the end of the Roman Empire because the imperial military power was only temporarily crippled . The defeat at Adrianople signified that the barbarians , fighting for or against the Romans , had become powerful adversaries . The Goths , though partly tamed by Valens ' successor Theodosius I ( who accepted them once more as allies ) , were to remain as a distinct entity within its frontiers ; sometimes allies ; other times enemies . Roman losses could only be compensated by co - opting barbarians into the army as Foederati under their own commanders , translating into political influence . The long - term implications of the battle of Adrianople have often been overstated , with many 20th century writers repeating Sir Charles Oman ' s idea that the battle represented a turning point in military history , with heavy cavalry triumphing over Roman infantry and ushering in the age of the Medieval knight . This outdated idea was overturned by T . S Burns in a ground - breaking article in 1973 . Burns shows that the Gothic army ' s cavalry arm was fairly small , that Valens would actually have had more cavalry and that while the role of Fritigern ' s cavalry was critical to his victory , the battle was a mainly infantry versus infantry affair . The Medieval knight was not to rise for several centuries after Adrianople . It is also often stated that the defeat at Adrianople led to changes in the composition of the late Roman Army and an increase in the use of cavalry . In fact , this process had been going on in the Roman Army long before AD 378 , with cavalry increasing its role and status in the Army from at least the time of the Emperor Gallienus ( AD 253 to 260 ) . Obsolete theories . Many older works attribute the Gothic victory to overwhelming Gothic numbers , to Gothic cavalry , and sometimes to Gothic use of stirrups . More recent scholarly works mostly agree that the armies were similarly sized , that the Gothic infantry was more decisive than their cavalry , and that neither the Romans nor the Goths used stirrups until the 6th century . Stirrups . Isaac Asimov claims that Gothic cavalry adopted technology reverse - engineered from the Huns : iron , full - footed stirrups . This stirrup allowed mounted cavalry not only the ability to throw spears and shoot arrows accurately , but to put the full weight of a horse ' s mass behind a thrusting spearpoint during a charge . Most recent scholarship holds that neither the Gothic nor the Roman cavalry used stirrups in this period , instead using horned saddles which also enabled riders to use the bow and lance . Stirrups first appear in Europe in the 6th century , probably brought by the Avars . References . Books . Alessandro Barbero ( 2007 ) . " The Day of the Barbarians : The Battle That Led to the Fall of the Roman Empire " . ISBN 0 - 8027 - 1571 - 0 Simon Macdowall ( 2001 ) . " Adrianople AD 378 : The Goths Crush Rome ' s Legions " .