'Never, except in the battle of Cannae, had there been so destructive a slaughter recorded in our annals.' Thus the Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus recorded the battle of Adrianople, which spelled the beginning of the end of the Roman Empire. Such a crushing Roman defeat by Gothic cavalry proved to the Empire, as well as to the Goths themselves, that the migratory barbarians were a force to be reckoned with. This book tells the story of the misguided Roman plans and the surprise attack of Gothic cavalry, and puts forward the most recent theories as to the true location of the battlefield.

Origins of the Campaign/Opposing Commanders/Opposing Armies/Opposing Plans/The Campaign & Battle/Aftermath/Chronology/Bibliography/The battlefield today/Index

Simon MacDowall is a former army officer with a deep interest in military history, especially the period around the collapse of the Roman Empire in the West. After 22 years in the Canadian army he held senior positions at NATO and the UK Government, including Director General Media and Communications at the UK Ministry of Defence. Simon takes a practical approach to military history combining his own military and political experience with a lifelong study of ancient warfare. After living in Canada, Germany and Belgium, and seeing service in Central America, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan, Simon now makes his home on the Suffolk coast near Southwold.