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Alamanni, but their sheer numbers and the strength of their forces allowed them to expand again. Severus
Alexander planned to launch a campaign against the Alamanni in 235 but was slain by his own
mutineering troops before he could do so. His successor, Maximinus, crushed them near Baden. The
Alamanni had a vengeance of sorts in 258, when they pierced the Alps and threatened Rome itself. This
time Emperor Gallienus routed them near Milan (see MEDIOLANUM). In 357, Julian defeated them at
Strasbourg, but most of Gaul came under their sway and remained so until the Franks overwhelmed the
Germans in the 4th century.
¤ ALANS (or Alani) An Asian conglomeration of tribes of Sarmatian extraction, who were pushed out of
their homelands in the region of Russia by the movement of the Goths, sometime in the early centuries
A.D. Their subsequent migrations from the lands of the Bosporus brought them into confrontation with
Parthia and the Roman-controlled province of Cappadocia. The Alans established a considerable empire along
the Black Sea and traded with Greece. Continued migrations of tribes, the Huns in particular, drove them
deeper into Europe, and hence into conflict with Rome. They were eventually overrun by the
Vandals, sometime in the 5th century. See also SARMA-TIANS.
¤ ALARIC (c. 395-410 A.D.) King of the VISIGOTHS and a gifted ruler of the tribe that occupied
Lower Moesia after the dramatic battle of Adrianople. He was an ally of Rome, under Theodosius I, who
came to accept the Visigoths and to use their presence as a weapon.
Alaric, aware of the potential power in such as arrangement, decided to take advantage of the Western
Empire, an effort doomed to failure. In 397, Alaric reached an accord with Constantinople and began to
march west. Greece was devastated as a result, and Stilicho, the MAGISTER MILITUM and ruler of the
West for Emperor HONORIUS, pursued the Visigoths but failed to destroy the foe because of his own
Germanic background. He won a victory against the Visigoths at Pollentia in 402 but did not finish the
war by slaying the enemy. As a result, Alaric invaded Italy and chose Rome as the target of his army.
Rome was besieged for two years (408-410), and on the third attempt to breach the city's defenses, the
Visigoths were successful. Stilicho, having plotted against the East for so long, stood by as Alaric invaded
Rome, and the Alamanni, Burgundians, Vandals, Suebi and Alans swept across the Rhine. He was executed
for his treachery in 408, two years before Alaric's entrance into Rome.
When Rome had been ravaged, Alaric looked for a homeland for his people, not wanting to live in the
metropolises they had destroyed. He thought of Africa for a time but managed to get only to southern
Italy before he died. The new king of the Visigoths, Athaulf, was unable to establish a territory, and the