History II / Late Antiquity and the Germanic Kingdoms
Practice question · True or false

At Adrianople in 378 the eastern emperor Valens was killed by Gothic forces the empire had itself admitted across the Danube.

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  1. The Goths had crossed the frontier several years before the battle.
  2. They were admitted as refugees under Roman supervision, and the supervision went badly.
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True

Why

True. The Goths were let in around 376 under treaty, then mistreated and starved by Roman officials; the revolt that followed destroyed an eastern field army and killed the emperor. The battle is a symptom of a management failure inside the frontier, not of a barrier breached from outside.

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