The Whole North Into Gaul

[Michael Kerr]

Hi Evan, in regard to troop numbers available to Rome prior to Aetius, I managed to borrow a copy of Meaghan McEvoy’s book “Child Emperor Rule in the Late Roman West, AD 367-455” where she mentions that Flavius Constantius had limited troops at his disposal when dealing with first usurpers and then barbarians. She states that by 420AD the western field army had been reduced to a staggering one-third of its size prior to 395AD. Furthermore, the creation on ninety-seven ‘new units’ to refill the ranks of the comitatenses since 395 was merely superficial, for a large number of the supposedly new regiments were in fact old frontier units which were recalled and reclassified to become part of the mobile army, with no indication that such garrison troops were themselves replaced. And it was not only depleted military numbers with which he had to deal with but massively reduced financial resources also.
She goes on that in Italy after the invasion by the Visigoths by 413 major tax concessions reduced the liability of a large number of areas to a mere one-fifth of their former assessment, and in 418 a further massive concession reduced the liability of Campania to one-ninth and that of Picenum and Tuscany to one-seventh of their previous levels. Years after the conflict had passed, these regions were still struggling to recover from the damage they had sustained. In addition regions such as Gaul and Spain had been beyond imperial control for years and failed to bring in any revenue at all. Revenues from Britain and Amorica were lost by this time. Author’s comments not mine.
Regards
Michael Kerr