Historical Studies (Chinese Edition)

No.4, 2018

 

Stilicho and the Political Situation of the Later Roman Empire: From the Perspective of Anti-Germanic Feeling (Abstract)

 

Dong Xiaojia

 

Between 395 and 408, Flavius Stilicho, regent of the Western Roman Empire, pursued a policy of controlling the administrative regions of East Illyricum and Thrace in the Eastern Empire. His strategic goal was the reunification of the Roman Empire; his personal goal, the consolidation of his power. The intellectual background of the policy was the revival of the imperial ideal among the empire’s upper classes. However, Stilicho failed because his focus on Illyricum led to a series of military and political errors, and his actions there provoked anti-Germanic feeling and aroused the Emperor’s suspicions. Stilicho’s fall was essentially the result of a choice between taking a hardline with the barbarians and opting for selective cooperation and coexistence with them. His defeat led to the temporary domination of the government of the Western Empire by the hardliners, resulting in the fall of Rome in 410 and intensifying the breakup of the eastern and western parts of the Mediterranean world.