The Huns swept into the Eastern empire and crushed the Romans, driving them back to their capital.

The Huns were formidable fighters whose skill and numbers meant they were always a potential threat to the empire.  But it took leadership for that threat to manifest itself, and that leadership was provided by the famous Attila.

Genseric was one of the German barbarians who did the most to wreck the Roman Empire.  Interestingly, he was very far from having the biggest bunch of barbarians to call on.  In many ways his career was one of the most unlikely of the age.   But it was deadly to the future of Rome in the West.

The death of the hapless Honorius finally allowed some people with genuine talent to reach the top rungs of Roman government.  Normally this would have been a good thing, but their internal disputes created even more problems for an empire whose position was rapidly deteriorating.

Theodosius II was a hands off emperor leaving the running of the empire to officials and his sister.  This was pretty much down to his lack of ability and ambition, but it was also the case that the imperial system made it hard for a monarch to make a mark.

St John Chrysostom has become an iconic figure in Eastern Christianity, and is very respected in the west as well.  His undoubted talents and his perhaps more doubtful sincerity have given his reputation an easy ride, but he had rather more trouble while he was still alive.

Germans were good soldiers and many had risen to very high rank in the Roman army.  This posed a risk, a big one.  The career of Alaric in the west showed just how risky.  But Constantinople came close to having its own Alaric in the form of Gainas, an ambitious Gothic general.

To mark the 100th Episode I throw the podcast open to questions from listeners.

Gibbon is not keen on the Byzantine Empire, although some people have exaggerated how much he disliked it.  But it was certainly a very different kind of empire to the one from which it developed.  Europe was to draw its heritage mainly from the West, and despite its longevity the theocratic Byzantine state has not been one that has had many admirers.

After the disastrous invasion of Gaul by the barbarians in 405 the Roman Empire hung on in the North largely thanks to the activity of Constantine III.  His position was precarious but he survived by quick wits and deft diplomacy.  How long he could have kept this up is hard to tell.  As it was he wasn't recognised by the official Roman Empire and they killed him.