Essay Database

In 378 AD, The Roman army under the command of the emperor Valens, suffered its worst defeat since the Battle of Cannae over five centuries prior. Outside the town of Adrianople, the Romans, through a combination of bad intelligence and an unfounded confidence on the part of Valens, lost to the Gothic army. In 375, the Huns had driven the Goths out of their homelands. With no where left to go, the Gothic tribes pressured Valens to …

…battle as the end of antiquity and the beginning of the Middle ages. They cite the clear superiority of cavalry over infantry during the battle. Until guns were first used on the battlefield over a millennium later, cavalry consistently proved superior to the infantry. Works cited: Battle of Adrianople (378) http://www.fact-index.com/b/ba/battle_of_adrianople__378_.html Valens and the Battle of Adrianople (Hadrianopolis) http://ancienthistory.about.com/library/weekly/aa061901a.htm