The first time Alaric invaded Italy, he had against him a serious player: Stilico. Since the half-vandal Magister Militum had been dispatched by the petty court of the Western Emperor, no one could muster any defense against the Goths... Who went straight for the big prize: ROME.

Only six weeks after Stilico's death, Alaric crossed again the Julian Alps and invaded Italy with all the forces he could muster. Now that his most formidable adversary was no more, he took all his time to devastate Northern Italy before to head towards Rome, which he reached by the end of 408.

With close to a million inhabitants and the 19 kilometers of the Aurelian walls, Rome was still the largest city of the Mediterranean world at the time but it had almost no troops to oppose to the Gothic troops, and even less will to fight.

Alaric had learned his lesson in siege warfare and worked methodically to cut off the huge city from the outside world, as explains Zosimus:

he blocked up the gates all round, and having possessed himself of the river Tiber, prevented the arrival of necessaries from the port to the city.

The Roman Senate was in a desperate corner. Alaric held all the cards and Zosimus gives a terrifying glimpse of the negotiations:

He declared, that he would not relinquish the siege on any condition but that of receiving all the gold and silver in the city, all the household goods, and the Barbarian slaves. One of the ambassadors observing, “If you take all these, what will you leave for the citizens?” he replied, “Their souls.”

Eventually, the Roman Senate capitulated and accepted to free all the remaining Barbarian slaves held in the city, and to deliver a huge amount of gold and silver, some of which were stripped from statues and buildings.

Rich beyond his wildest dreams, having swelled the number of his troops by some 40.000, Alaric withdrew... However, he didn't cross again the Alps: all his demands were not yet met and he decided to winter in Tuscany, a short march away from Rome - while the fine points of a peace treaty were drawn.


One year of diplomacy and negotiations began, marked by some pretty daft moves from the Romans.

The Western Emperor, Honorius, was humiliated by that siege of Rome. He knew he had to do something. One way was to sign a firm treaty with Alaric and to give him the power he craved, but the anti-Germanic party was still the strongest. So, five legions were recalled from Dalmatia to garrison Rome, but they were intercepted and destroyed by the Goths. As if this was not enough, a contingent of Goths, crossed the Julian Alps at the beginning of 409 under the command of Athaulf to reinforce his brother-in-law. Honorius tried without success to intercept and repulse the reinforcements.

This new disaster discredited the anti-Germanic party and Honorius eventually agreed to open negotiations, although working tirelessly to sabotage them. Zosimus tells that:

The demands of Alaric were: a certain quantity of gold each year, and a quantity of corn; and that himself and the Barbarians who were with him should inhabit both the Venetias, Noricum, and Dalmatia.

Honorius laughed it off, tried to hire 10.000 Hunnic troops to fight the Goths and wasted a golden opportunity to make peace:

Alaric having thus received insult in return for his reasonable demands, hastened towards Rome with all his forces, designing closely to besiege that city.

But en route he came up with a new plan: if you can't negotiate with an Emperor, just create a new one which will be sympathetic to your every demands. Once again, Alaric showed up at the gates of Rome. This time, he didn't ask for gold. This time, he asked for an Emperor. The Roman Senate agreed to elect as Emperor the prefect of the city, Priscus Attalus, and Zosimus tells us that Alaric felt his time had come:

The following day, entering the senate, he made a speech full of arrogance, in which he told them with great ostentation that he would subdue the whole world to the Romans, and even perform greater things than that.

Third and Last Siege of Rome (410)

The plan was sound, but Alaric underestimated the power of inertia of tradition and legitimacy. No one had any doubt that Priscus Attalus was just a puppet. He had no power and no recognition beyond the immediate limits of Rome and the shadow of Alaric, who had to take matter in his own hands:

Alaric in the meantime proceeded with his army to all the cities of Aemilia, which had refused to accept Attalus as their sovereign. Some of these he speedily reduced; but having besieged Bononia, which resisted him many days, without being able to take it, he advanced towards Liguria, to compel that country likewise to acknowledge Attalus as its emperor.

In spite of his uselessness, Honorius was still the true recognized Emperor and Alaric saw one part of the Empire after another renew their allegiance to Honorius (especially North Africa, which was the grain basket of the Western Empire) and started to despair himself of Attalus:

When Alaric understood this, he was displeased at it, and began to despair of the affairs of Attalus, who formed his projects with the most foolish temerity, without either reason or prospect of advantage.

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Therefore, for the third and last time, Alaric put the siege before Rome and there - like a ripe fruit, almost to the point of a rotten apple - the exhausted Eternal City fell into the lap of its conqueror, and was taken by treachery at long last on August 24th, 410.

SOURCES

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/28587/28587-h/28587-h.htm
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/New_History/Book_the_Sixth
http://epublications.marquette.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1007&context=dittman
http://www.ccel.org/g/gibbon/decline/volume1/chap26.htm

PREVIOUS EPISODES

Alaris 8.1 - Let’s Goth to Rome
Alaric 8.2 - Like a Wrecking Ball
Alaric 8.3 - Breaking Loose Ball

PREVIOUS “ENEMIES OF ROME”

Boudicca - The Warrior Queen
Zenobia - The new Cleopatra
Sertorius - The Last Man Standing
Vercingetorix - One man to rule them all
Arminius - Magna Germania
Genseric - The Vandals are Coming