In 395 AD, when Emperor Theodosius died, Rome was divided into two parts.
The east is governed by his eldest son, Arcadius, and the west is governed by his second son, Honorius.
No more is written in world history textbooks.
Actually, Japanese students will not know that Arcadius was 18 years old and Honorius was 10 years old at this time.
And one more thing, the examinees will not know the struggle of a general named Stilicho who married a woman named Serena who was also the niece and adopted daughter of Emperor Theodosius.
It will be 80 years before the Western Roman Empire is destroyed.
Let's take a look at the tragic fate of Stilicho, the last Roman master.
General from the Vandals
Stilicho was a general from the Vandals, a Germanic tribe.
The potential enemies of Rome were always Persian and Germanic.
Rome is a paternal society, and if the father is Germanic, the child is also Germanic. This birth of him will be a lifelong handicap.
It is not known how Stilicho happened, but he was very much liked by Emperor Theodosius, and he was the niece and adopted daughter of Theodosius, partly because of his successful negotiations with the Sasanian Persia. But he is married to a royal family, Serena.
Stilicho lived up to Theodosius' expectations. If there was a Germanic invasion from the north, it was often repelled, and if a nickname emperor appeared in the west, it was subdued.
Theodosius appointed this barbarian general, Stilicho, as the commander-in-chief of the Roman Empire, and asked him to assist his son Honorius, the emperor of the West.
Stilicho agrees to this and keeps his promise to Emperor Theodosius for the rest of his life.
Undefeated Shogun
The situation in Stilicho was too bad.
Who was the greatest enemy in the second half of the 4th century?
Germanic people coming from the north? Or is it the Sasanian Persia in the east?
No, Rome's greatest enemy was corrupt Rome itself.
In my opinion, the Roman Empire is dead by this time. It's just something else with a Roman sign.
First, Rome, which was divided into east and west, began to pull each other's legs.
The eastern power was overwhelmingly stronger, and the Byzantine Empire was held by bureaucrats and eunuch officials. The 18-year-old emperor has no political ability and is no longer a figurine.
The west is not as strong as the east, but the same is true for the emperor, who is only 10 years old, and has no political ability.
As is the case in Chinese history, civilian officials and military attachés have a bad relationship. The relationship between eunuch officials, civilian officials and military officers is even worse.
Since the Senate will join here, it was no longer possible to collect.
Stilicho, who is in effect the politics of the Western Roman Empire, begins to take a policy close to that of the first emperor Asgustus, who respects the Roman Senate.
At first, the Senate rejoices at this.
Since Emperor Diocletian started Dominates, he has finally become the protagonist from a state where he has only a job to say the start of the chariot race.
However, I wrote "first" because the Senate gradually became more arrogant and began to defeat Stilicho, who was from a barbarian tribe.
In such a state, the Germanic Visigoth Alaric stripped his fangs against Rome.
Alaric, along with Stilicho, was a general who sided with Rome during Theodosius, but when Theodosius died, he began looting in various parts of Greece.
What happened in the east, Stilicho, who can be said to be a loyal retainer of Rome, headed for subjugation and succeeded in repelling it brilliantly.
Stilicho tries to pursue Alaric's army as it is, but cannot pursue it due to the plot of the eunuch official Rufinus, who controls the Byzantine Empire. He was told to pull soldiers as a direct command of the emperor.
Fortunately, Alaric strengthened himself and once again vandalized the territory of Rome. Stilicho led the army again to defeat Alaric, but the Byzantine Empire appointed Alaric as commander and decided to bring him into the Roman army.
It is said that this time was also the result of a plan by Eutropius, one of the eunuch officials who dominates the Byzantine Empire.
Stilicho was indignant, but when a large-scale rebellion broke out in North Africa, he headed for its suppression, and when the Vandals attacked, he went to northern Italy to intercept it.
Meanwhile, Alaric began to siege Milan, where Honorius was. This is said to be the deposit of the Byzantine Empire behind.
Alaric was defeated three times by Stilicho, who arrived like a lightning-fast fire, and Stilicho won a decisive victory in the Battle of Polentia and the Battle of Verona.
With this victory, Stilicho held a triumphal ceremony in Rome, and while some were praised and regarded as heroes, there were also many fears of Stilicho's growth in the empire.
Especially around this time, there was a great deal of friction with the Senate class in Rome.
Stilicho has been winning a series of battles with the momentum of breaking bamboo, but it was very difficult to gather his soldiers.
In republican and imperial politics, Roman regular soldiers were always Roman citizens.
Its value plummeted when Roman citizenship spread throughout the territory of the empire by the Edict of Antoninus of Emperor Karakala.
People hated military service, and soldiers stopped gathering. When the tax rate rises under Emperor Diocletian, the self-owned farm collapses, and by hiring farmers who have turned into serfs called Colonus, Colonus, who owns a large-scale farm, begins to proliferate.
And it was the members of the Senate who owned the large-scale farm.
Owners of large farms were unable to collect Colonus as soldiers in order to protect Colonus.
As a result, the culture of hiring Germanic and Huns mercenaries was pervasive, and the quality of the Roman army was declining.
Stilicho managed to recruit soldiers by enacting a law requiring Senators to pay for freedmen as soldiers.
According to researchers, the force was about 30,000.
It is clear that there were about 600,000 soldiers in the empire during the time of Diocletian.
In such a state, a Germanic man named Radagaiso invaded from the north with an army of 400,000 people.
Stilicho abandons the northern part of Gallia, intercepts it in Fiesole in the southern part of Gallia, brilliantly destroys it, and succeeds in incorporating the surrendered soldiers into his army.
He is truly an amazing military talent.
Stilicho is executed
Stilicho was invincible on the battlefield, but the betrayal of his ally emperor killed him unemployed.
The abandonment of northern Gaul by Stilicho caused a massive rebellion in Britannia, resulting in the birth of Constantine III.
Stilicho may have been the limit.
He tried to overcome this difficulty by forming an alliance with his enemy, Alaric, but in conclusion this was a mistake.
Stilicho's wife, Serene, was an avid Catholic, while Alaric was an avid follower of the Arianism.
In addition, Alaric demanded a large amount of money from Rome. This bought the wrath of the Senate, and also the wrath of the emperor's entourage.
It seems that Stilicho was thinking of getting the funds needed for the alliance from the Senate and the national treasury.
Fortunately, it was the eunuch officials in Miyanaka. A person named Olympius took over Emperor Honorius, and a bureaucracy was associated with it.
As a result of all the forces that considered only his own self-protection, the soldiers of Stilicho's subordinates were murdered, and Stilicho himself was sentenced to death at the order of the emperor himself.
Stilicho did not resist this and ended his 43-year life.
The Roman Empire lost its last master.
After Stilicho was executed, his wife and children were eradicated.
Personal evaluation of Stilicho
He was of Romanic descent and was more Roman than anyone else.
He kept his promise to Emperor Theodosius in a lawful manner and did not become an emperor himself.
As long as he was married to the royal family, he did not do it even though he had a far more legitimate inheritance right than the successive military emperors and Constantine the Great, probably because he was a loyal man.
Zhuge Liang did not replace the foolish Liu Shan. Even though his late emperor Liu Bei Gentoku was told to rule if he didn't like it. Therefore, Zhuge Liang is very popular in Japan.
While Stilicho was so successful, he did not fertilize his stomach at all, but dedicated himself to the security and peace of the Roman Empire.
It can be said that the fate of the country of Rome was already decided that such a person died by plotting the praise of the fat pigs with vested interests.
In spite of such a situation, if it enters the battlefield, it should be recognized for its efforts to win consecutive battles and develop the country as much as possible.
It is ironic that the Germanic people, not the Latin people, were the last to embody the Roman spirit, which prioritizes the development of the country over myself.
Since then, the Latin people have no longer taken control of the world. Instead, the Germanic people took the hegemony, which continues today.
By the time he abandoned Sterico, the fate of the Latins had been decided.