Rhine River and, sweeping aside meager resistance, fanned out across the
whole of Gaul, ravaging towns and the countryside. Only Toulouse of all
the Gallic cities put up a fight. It was the decisive incursion; the Rhine
defenses would never be secure again. In the meantime, Britain was
denuded of troops, allowing the island to gradually pass into the hands of
Saxon immigrants who had recently entered and settled from northern
Germany.
Simultaneously, the Visigoths under their new leader, Alaric, moved from
the Balkans into northern Italy, and began making demands on the Romans
for gold and land. At first, the Roman Senate voted to grant him 4000
pounds of gold, but later refused other hefty demands. In two successive
years he compelled the Romans to grant him his wishes by marching his
army right up to the walls of Rome. On the third occasion in 410, the gates
of the city were treacherously opened to him. For three days, the Visigoths
plundered and burned throughout the ancient capital. It was the first
sacking of Rome for nearly 800 years, and horrified the entire Empire. St.
Jerome, in faraway Bethlehem, thought that it was the end of the world.
Soon after, Alaric died and the Visigoths were allowed to settle in
southwestern France under federate status with Toulouse as their capital
(418).
The Vandals, likewise, refused to remain still and crossed Spain into North
Africa in 429 under their new leader, Genseric. A joint western and eastern
Empire army sent against them failed dismally, and the Romans, with the
Rhine frontier still defenseless and peasant revolts breaking out throughout
Gaul, felt compelled to offer a peace treaty, the terms of which granted the
Vandals federate status in Morocco and western Algeria. But after ten
years, Genseric cast aside this treaty and besieged and captured Carthage,
the second most important city in the west. Furthermore, he threw off all
pretense of federate status and ruled his North African dominions free from
all Roman interference. Genseric was also unique in possessing his own
fleet, severing the unity of the Mediterranean for the first time in 600 years.
The dissolution of the Empire was now a de facto reality.
To add to the Empire’s woes, the Huns were also beginning to impact upon
the ever more fragile Empire. By 434, under their new leader, Attila
(otherwise known as the ‘Scourge of God’), they ruled the vast territories
between the Baltic Sea and the Danube. During the 440’s, Attila
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