Gothic War in Spain (416–418)

This operation consisted of multiple campaigns that took place between 416 and 418 and were directed against the Vandals and the Alans to restore Roman power in the Spanish provinces of Betica, Lusitania and Cartaginense.With a mixture of fighting and diplomacy, the British usurper stabilized the situation and established his control over Gaul and Hispania (modern Spain and Portugal).The Spanish-Romans, like their fellow citizens in Gaul, seem to have made no effort to fight with the invaders; they rather joined the fortified cities, villages and castra in the hope that the Alans and the Vandals would move on.Only after Constantius III, the commander-in-chief of Honorius' army, neutralized these threats and made peace with the Visigoths in 415, did the Romans gather the troops they could miss to be deployed the invaders.After dividing Spain among themselves, the Alans and Vandals hoped to receive the status of foederati from the Romans and addressed a request to Emperor Honorius.[1] The Vandals were also divided into two groups; in Silingi and Hasdingi, albeit with this difference that they had been known for much longer (from the 2nd century) as separate tribal associations.[12] In Honorius' attack plan to restore Roman authority in the Spanish provinces, the Hasdingi were given a special task to fulfill.[1] Even before the Visigoths took action, the Hasdingi under the leadership of king Gunderic went up against the Alans of Respendial and defeated them in a battle that presumably took place near the cities of Toletum and Consabura.They harboured a special resentment against this people, because the Silingi had benefited from the food shortage among the Visigoths in previous years and had sold their wheat at exorbitant prices.After a series of short battles that usually ended indecided Wallia managed to capture their king Fredebal by means of a list.In addition, many historians are dominated by the belief that the imperial authorities apparently had no objection to the presence of the barbarians as long as the Roman administrative structure was maintained, and the latter had now been met.Now that the goal of the war was reached, after the defeat of the Alans in 418, Constantius ordered the Goths to stop the campaign and go to Gaul where they were given a settlement area in the province Aquitania.With this outcome of the war, the Roman Emperor Honorius had managed to recover his provinces disembedded in 407 and to restore the imperial government in them.[19] Nevertheless, the peace was short-lived, the Vandal king Gunderic already considered his military strength strong enough within two years after the war to expand his territory at the expense of the Suebi.