Decisive Battles - Adrianople (Rome vs Barbarians)

Edirne in modern Turkey, is the site of the old Roman town of Adrianople. In August 378AD a Roman army of 20,000 commanded by the emperor Valens faced a Barbarian horde of over 100,000 under their leader Fritigern. They had to be stopped; or Barbarian tribes from the German forests, to the steps of Asia would flood in and destroy the old empire. The Romans decided to halt the tribes here, at Adrianople.