ABSTRACT
We have seen that they had entered the service of the Empire as Federates, at first in the East in 376, then in the West in 412. The celebrated Alaric, who captured Rome in 410, had been a general in the service of Theodosius ; he was a magister militum and a “ Roman citizen” . During the first half of the fifth century, it was thanks to the Goths that the Empire was able to clear Spain of the Vandals (a branch of whom, the Silings, was exterminated), the Alans, Sueves, and lastly of the Asding Vandals who preferred to take refuge in Africa in 429. It was thanks to the support of their con tingents that it was possible to repel Attila from Gaul in 451.
