Nell E. (neverett) reviewed The Fall Of The Roman Empire: A New History Of Rome And The Barbarians on + 15 more book reviews
Excellent read if you are a history buff and enjoy the Roman Empire.
Peter Heather is a leading authority on the barbarians, and the drama in this book lies not just in the world-changing story he has to tell, but his behind-the-scenes view of how historians work. Like a master detective, Mr Heather employs the most various techniques-- everything from pollen sampling to archaeology to literary criticism--to wring the truth fronm the reticent past.
Heather relates the extraordinary story of how Europe's barbarians, transformed by centuries of contact with Rome on every level eventually pulled the empire apart. He shows first how the Huns overturned the existing strategic balance of power on Rome's European frontiers to force the Goths and others to seek refuge inside the empire. This prompted two generations of struggle, during which new barbarian coalitions, formed in response to Roman hostility, brought the Roman weset to its knees.
The Goths first destroyed a Roman army at the battle of Hadrianople in 378 and went on to sack Rome in 410. The Vandals spread devastation in Gaul and Spain before conquering North Africa, the breadbasket of the western empire in 439. Attila the Hun's reign of terror swept from Constantinople to Paris, but whose death in 453 ironically precipitated a final desperate phase of Roman collapse, culminating in the Vandals' defeat of the massive Byzantine Armada, the west's last change for survival.
Peter Heather convincingly argues that the Roman Empire was not on the brink of social or moral collapse. What brought it to an end were the barbarians.
Peter Heather is a leading authority on the barbarians, and the drama in this book lies not just in the world-changing story he has to tell, but his behind-the-scenes view of how historians work. Like a master detective, Mr Heather employs the most various techniques-- everything from pollen sampling to archaeology to literary criticism--to wring the truth fronm the reticent past.
Heather relates the extraordinary story of how Europe's barbarians, transformed by centuries of contact with Rome on every level eventually pulled the empire apart. He shows first how the Huns overturned the existing strategic balance of power on Rome's European frontiers to force the Goths and others to seek refuge inside the empire. This prompted two generations of struggle, during which new barbarian coalitions, formed in response to Roman hostility, brought the Roman weset to its knees.
The Goths first destroyed a Roman army at the battle of Hadrianople in 378 and went on to sack Rome in 410. The Vandals spread devastation in Gaul and Spain before conquering North Africa, the breadbasket of the western empire in 439. Attila the Hun's reign of terror swept from Constantinople to Paris, but whose death in 453 ironically precipitated a final desperate phase of Roman collapse, culminating in the Vandals' defeat of the massive Byzantine Armada, the west's last change for survival.
Peter Heather convincingly argues that the Roman Empire was not on the brink of social or moral collapse. What brought it to an end were the barbarians.
