General romano flavius aetius biography

Flavius Aetius Latin, Flavius Aetius ; c. Preceded by mediocre and ephemeral military chiefs, Aetius stands out in his position for being able to bring order to a chaotic and tottering Western Empire. He was one of the most brilliant military geniuses in the history of Rome, prestige achieved by his great participation in the Battle of the Catalaunic Fields, where he achieved a strategic victory over Attila, ending the aura of invincibility of the Hunnic king, denying him definitively the battlefield and preventing the total invasion of the Roman territories.

The assassination of Aetius by Emperor Valentinian III in would destroy the empire's hopes of recovery and doom it to failure, with no political leader like him appearing again until the end of the Western Roman Empire. Aetius was born in the last decade of the IV century in Durostorum, a town belonging to the Roman province of Scythia Minor, in what is now the Dobruja region, on the border between Romania and Bulgaria.

His father, Flavio Gaudencio, came from a Roman military family of Scyrus, or Goth, origin, which became magister militum of Gaul, where he died in the s; while his mother, Aurelia [ citation required ] , belonged to a wealthy senatorial family. His illustrious ancestry was precisely the cause of his spending part of his youth as a hostage, first to the Goths then led by Alaric, between and , and later to the Huns, possibly between and Aeterna Caeli Gloria.

Aesthetics: Visual Aesthetics. Aesthetics: Philosophical Aesthetics. Aesthetics: Europe and the Americas. Aesthetics: Asia. Aesthetics: Africa. Aesthetics, Problems of. Aesthetics, History of. When Aetius attempted to defend himself from the charges, Valentinian drew his sword and together with Heraclius, struck Aetius on the head, killing him instantly.

But know that you have cut off your right hand with your left. Maximus expected to be made patrician in place of Aetius, but was blocked by Heraclius. On 16 March , Optila stabbed the emperor in the temple as he dismounted in the Campus Martius and prepared for a session of archery practice. As the stunned emperor turned to see who had struck him, Optila finished him off with another thrust of his blade.

Meanwhile, Thraustila stepped forward and killed Heraclius. Most of the soldiers standing close by had been faithful followers of Aetius, and none lifted a hand to save the emperor. Aetius is generally viewed as a great military commander — indeed, he was held in such high esteem by the Eastern Roman Empire that he became known as the last true Roman of the west.

Traditionally, historians also consider the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains as decisively important, crippling Attila by destroying his aura of invincibility. Aetius effectively ruled the western empire from to , and attempted to stabilize its European borders under a deluge of barbarians, foremost of which were Attila and the Huns.

One of his greatest achievements was the assembling of the coalition against Attila. Regarding this, historian Arther Ferrill states:. Had he gained his objective, he would have been in a strong position to subdue the Visigoths in Aquitaine, but Aetius had put together a formidable coalition against the Hun. The Roman leader had built a powerful alliance of Visigoths, Alans and Burgundians, uniting them with their traditional enemy, the Romans, for the defense of Gaul.

Even though all parties to the protection of the Western Roman Empire had a common hatred of the Huns, it was still a remarkable achievement on Aetius' part to have drawn them into an effective military relationship. While J. Bury viewed Aetius as a great military commander and a prominent historical figure, he did not consider the battle itself to be particularly decisive.

Bury suggests that the Germanic victory over the Huns at the Battle of Nedao , three years later, was more important. This determined that there would be no long-term Hun empire in Europe, which Bury thinks would have been unlikely even if they had crushed the Germanic tribes on that occasion. For Bury, the result of the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains determined chiefly that Attila spent his last year looting Italy, rather than Gaul.

General romano flavius aetius biography

Modern authors typically overlook the battle and focus on the greater impact of Aetius' career, and he is generally seen as one of the greatest Roman military commanders of all time, as well as an excellent diplomat and administrator. Meghan McEvoy states that the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains is more a testament to his political aptitude than his military skill due to his foresight in the ability to provision treaties and obligations.

Aetius' legacy has been filled with controversy somewhat similar to that of Stilicho as both left the Empire significantly weaker when they died. Like Stilicho's critics pointing towards his inability or unwillingness to deal with usurpation in Britain, Gaul and Spain, and the Rhine crossing of , critics of Aetius point towards the civil wars of — that allowed for the Vandal crossing to Africa and its eventual loss , and Aetius' inability to retake Carthage.

Hughes attempts to address this, pointing out that Felix was responsible for the war that allowed for the Vandal crossing, and that the Romans did attempt to deal with it on several occasions, including Bonifacius in —, Aspar in —, and Aetius in Stilicho and Aetius, who certainly knew each other, although they were from different generations, were responding to the specific, and vastly different, problems with which they were faced.

Neither could find all of the answers. Aetius appears in several popular works of historical fiction, usually as a foil for Attila the Hun. The earliest known appearance is in , in the libretto Ezio the Italian variation of Aetius. The struggle between Aetius and Attila is also depicted in Thomas B. At the same time, he is depicted as the only general capable of keeping the empire standing and facing Attila as an equal.

Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikimedia Commons Wikidata item. Roman general and statesman c. For other uses, see Aetius. Possible relief of Aetius, [ 1 ] although this Sarcophagus has also been thought to depict Stilicho d. Durostorum , Roman Empire.

Biography [ edit ]. Origins and family [ edit ]. Early years and service under Joannes [ edit ]. Along with his rival Count Boniface, he has often been called "the last of the Romans". Edward Gibbon refers to him as "the man universally celebrated as the terror of Barbarians and the support of the Republic" for his victory at the Catalaunian Plains.

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