In August 378 near the plain of Adrianople (in present-day Turkey), one of the most disastrous battles in the history of Rome took place, in which the Roman army brutally defeated by the Goths of King Fritigerno, lost its reputation for tactical and military superiority.

The Goths, later distinguished into Visigoths and Ostrogoths, were a people originally from Central Asia and the great plains surrounding the Black Sea. The arrival of the warlike Huns from the East drove the Goths to flee westwards in a long migration that led them as far as the borders of the Roman Empire, on the Danube. Led by King Fritigerno, the Goths entered into an agreement with the Roman emperor Valente that allowed them to settle as allies of Rome within the borders of the empire. But the Romans were extremely brutal with the Goths and only allowed them to settle in poor lands and subjected to constant abuse and harassment by the imperial authorities.

The exploitative conditions they were subjected to led the Goths to rebel and unite against the bullying of Emperor Valens. In 378 Valens deployed 20,000 men on the plain of Adrianople ready to put down the rebellion and massacre the Goths, but things turned out differently. Fritigerno's army of Goths consisted not only of warriors, but also of entire families who, gripped by desperation, had joined the army in rebellion against the Romans. The overwhelming number of rebel Goths combined with an efficient encirclement tactic of light cavalry led to the Roman army being totally surrounded and massacred.

The emperor Valens himself died in the battle, seeking refuge in a fortified hut met his end when the Goths set fire to the hut, burning him alive.

This battle plays a fundamental symbolic role in Roman history. The arrogance and brutality of an emperor marked the end of the Roman army's reputation for superiority, paving the way for future invasions by barbarian peoples.