Editing Flavius Aetius (section)

== Legacy ==

=== Military legacy ===
Aetius is generally viewed as a great military commander – indeed, he was held in such high esteem by the Eastern Roman Empire that he became known as [[Last of the Romans|the last true Roman of the west]]. Traditionally, historians also consider the [[Battle of the Catalaunian Plains]] as decisively important, crippling Attila by destroying his aura of invincibility.<ref>[[Edward Shepherd Creasy]] http://www.standin.se/fifteen06a.htm Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World "The victory which the Roman general, Aetius, with his Gothic allies, had then gained over the Huns, was the last victory of imperial Rome. But among the long Fasti of her triumphs, few can be found that, for their importance and ultimate benefit to mankind, are comparable with this expiring effort of her arms."</ref> Gibbon states this view:

{{bquote|[Attila's] retreat across the Rhine confessed the last victory which was achieved in the name of the Western Roman Empire.<ref name=Gibbon>Edward Gibbon, ''Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'', The Modern Library, New York, volume II, p. 1089.</ref>}}

Aetius effectively ruled the western empire from 433 to 454, and attempted to stabilize its European borders under a deluge of barbarians, foremost of which were Attila and the Huns. One of his greatest achievements was the assembling of the coalition against Attila. Regarding this, historian [[Arther Ferrill]] states:

{{bquote|After he secured the Rhine, Attila moved into central Gaul and put [[Orléans]] under siege. Had he gained his objective, he would have been in a strong position to subdue the Visigoths in Aquitaine, but Aetius had put together a formidable coalition against the Hun. The Roman leader had built a powerful alliance of Visigoths, Alans and Burgundians, uniting them with their traditional enemy, the Romans, for the defense of Gaul. Even though all parties to the protection of the Western Roman Empire had a common hatred of the Huns, it was still a remarkable achievement on Aetius' part to have drawn them into an effective military relationship.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://history.eserver.org/attila-at-chalons.txt |title="Attila the Hun and the Battle of Chalons", by Arther Ferrill |access-date=2006-07-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061012062425/http://history.eserver.org/attila-at-chalons.txt |archive-date=2006-10-12 |url-status=dead }}</ref>}}

While [[J. B. Bury]] viewed Aetius as a great military commander and a prominent historical figure, he did not consider the battle itself to be particularly decisive. He argues that Aetius attacked the Huns when they were already retreating from [[Orléans]] (so the danger to Gaul was departing anyway); and he declined to renew the attack on the Huns next day, precisely in order to preserve the balance of power. (Others suggest that the Huns may have abandoned the siege of Orléans ''because'' Aetius's armies were advancing on them.) Bury suggests that the Germanic victory over the Huns at the [[Battle of Nedao]], three years later, was more important. This determined that there would be no long-term Hun empire in Europe, which Bury thinks would have been unlikely even if they had crushed the Germanic tribes on that occasion. For Bury, the result of the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains determined chiefly that Attila spent his last year looting Italy, rather than Gaul.

Modern authors typically overlook the battle and focus on the greater impact of Aetius' career, and he is generally seen as one of the greatest Roman military commanders of all time, as well as an excellent diplomat and administrator. Meghan McEvoy states that the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains is more a testament to his political aptitude than his military skill due to his foresight in the ability to provision treaties and obligations.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Child Emperor Rule in the Late Roman West AD 367–455|last=McEvoy|first=Meghan|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2013|location=Oxford|pages=294–295}}</ref> [[John Julius Norwich]] caustically referred to the assassination of [[Valentinian III]] by his own guards as an act that Valentinian brought on himself by his foolish execution of Aetius, the "Empire's greatest commander."<ref>Norwich, John. ''Byzantium: The Early Centuries''</ref> Hugh Elton notes that Aetius and his army were one of the most effective Roman armies to have existed, with its speed and mobility pointing to a highly efficient logistical and manpower resupply system not directly evidenced by the sources.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Elton|first=Hugh|date=1992|title=Defence in Fifth Century Gaul|journal=Fifth Century Gaul: A Crisis of Identity?|pages=142}}</ref> It is generally seen that the rapid fragmentation and collapse of the West after his death was a testament to his ability to hold the empire together.{{sfn|Hughes|2012|p=205}}

=== Controversies ===
Aetius' legacy has been filled with controversy somewhat similar to that of [[Stilicho]] as both left the Empire significantly weaker when they died. Like Stilicho's critics pointing towards his inability or unwillingness to deal with usurpation in Britain, Gaul and Spain, and the [[Crossing of the Rhine|Rhine crossing of 406]], critics of Aetius point towards the civil wars of 427–433 that allowed for [[Vandal conquest of Roman Africa|the Vandal crossing to Africa and its eventual loss]], and Aetius' inability to retake Carthage. Hughes attempts to address this, pointing out that Felix was responsible for the war that allowed for the Vandal crossing, and that the Romans did attempt to deal with it on several occasions, including Bonifacius in 429–432, Aspar in 430–435, and Aetius in 441.{{sfn|Hughes|2012|pp=66–73, 83–84, 118–119}} Heather states that the rise of Attila ultimately led to the loss of Africa as the [[Eastern Roman army]] and [[Eastern Roman navy|navy]], which was bearing the brunt of the cost for the expedition, had to be recalled to the Balkans.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians|last=Heather|first=Peter|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2006|location=Oxford|pages=291–292}}</ref> Halsall argues that the black mark on Aetius' career was his mixed success in Spain, where the majority of the province was lost by 449, although he later rectified this.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Barbarian Migrations and the Roman West|last=Halsall|first=Guy|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2007|location=Cambridge|pages=250, 254–255}}</ref> Hughes states that:

[[File:Petrus Metastasius ex numismate anni 1750.png|thumb|upright=.8|Title page of the ''Ezio'' libretto, 1765 edition, with a portrait of author [[Pietro Metastasio]]]]
{{bquote|Stilicho and Aetius, who certainly knew each other, although they were from different generations, were responding to the specific, and vastly different, problems with which they were faced. Neither could find all of the answers.{{sfn|Hughes|2012|p=201}}}}

=== In popular culture ===
Aetius appears in several popular works of historical fiction, usually as a [[Foil (narrative)|foil]] for Attila the Hun. The earliest known appearance is in 1728, in the [[libretto]] [[Ezio (libretto)|Ezio]] (the Italian variation of Aetius).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jones |first1=Barrie |title=The Hutchinson Concise Dictionary of Music. |date=2014 |publisher=Taylor and Francis |location=Hoboken |isbn=978-1135950187}}</ref> This libretto, in which Ezio becomes involved in a plot to kill Attilla, has been set to music by several different composers.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Selfridge-Field |first1=Eleanor |title=A new chronology of Venetian opera and related genres, 1660–1760 |date=2007 |publisher=Stanford University Press |location=Stanford, Calif. |isbn=978-0804744379}}</ref> [[Giuseppe Verdi|Verdi]]'s 1846 opera ''[[Attila (opera)|Attila]]'' tells the same story, though with a different libretto.<ref>{{Cite news|date=2008-01-11|title=Verdi's 'Attila'|language=en|work=NPR|url=https://www.npr.org/2008/01/11/18001446/verdis-attila|access-date=2022-02-09}}</ref>

The struggle between Aetius and Attila is also depicted in [[Thomas Costain|Thomas B. Costain]]'s 1959 novel ''[[The Darkness and the Dawn]]''<ref>{{Cite web|title=Book Reviews, Sites, Romance, Fantasy, Fiction|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/a/thomas-b-costain-6/the-darkness-and-the-dawn-2/|access-date=2022-02-09|website=Kirkus Reviews|language=en}}</ref> and William Napier's ''Attila'' trilogy.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Attila (Attila Trilogy, #1)|url=https://www.goodreads.com/work/230051-attila|access-date=2022-02-09|website=Goodreads|language=en}}</ref> Polish writer [[Teodor Parnicki]] wrote a historical novel ''[[Aetius, the Last Roman]]'' (1937).

In the 1954 Italian-French film production ''[[Attila (1954 film)|Attila, Scourge of God]]'', Aetius is portrayed by [[Henri Vidal]]. In the 2001 American TV Miniseries ''[[Attila (TV miniseries)|Attila]]'', Aetius is portrayed by [[Powers Boothe]] as a former mentor and friend to Attila who becomes his nemesis. At the same time, he is depicted as the only general capable of keeping the empire standing and facing Attila as an equal.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Attila|url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/457170/attila|access-date=2022-02-09|website=Turner Classic Movies|language=en}}</ref>