Stilicho

Stilicho became the leading general of the Western Empire after the death of Theodosius I and claimed responsibility for protecting the young Honorius. Hughes reconstructs his campaigns against Alaric, his interventions in the Balkans and his defeat of Radagaisus’s invasion of Italy. The book also explains the competing demands placed on a western army expected to defend Italy, Gaul, Britain and the Rhine while troops and tax revenues declined.

Military policy could not be separated from court rivalry. Stilicho’s negotiations with Alaric, his conflict with the eastern government and the crisis caused by the Rhine crossing and the usurpation of Constantine III weakened his position. Arrested and executed in 408, he left no command structure capable of replacing him. Hughes assesses whether Stilicho’s compromises prolonged Roman survival or deepened the instability that led to Alaric’s sack of Rome two years later.