Rome\'s worst military defeat

[Theodosius the Great]

Hi Valerius,<br>
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I stand corrected with the Goths. The situation was extremely fluid with them. Especially as you say after suffering defeat they began to disintigrate as an army and Gothic victories had the opposite effect.<br>
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My remark about the Goths dominating the Western armies, I think I was confusing this with the Eastern army. If I remember correctly, the top Eastern generals were Arian Goths in the 5th century who were also king makers. Later, Leo purged the army of the Gothic elements, replacing them with Isaurians. The remaining Goths left the East to settle in Italy to fill the vacuum left by the collapse of the Western Empire.<br>
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About urbanization, I was refering to the 3rd century right before the era of the "barracks emperors". Urbanization in the Western Europe was a phenomina due to the effects of the Pax Romana. I cited this urbanization as a factor which devalued the Western provinces to a certain extent as breeding grounds for new recruits. It certainly wasn't the only factor as I stated in my last post.<br>
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Thanks.<br>
-Theo <p></p><i></i>