The year was 418 A.D.
With the Spanish war complete, the Visigoths established themselves in Aquitaine under the ecclesiastical control of Bordeaux. Their neighbors were the Burgundians who controlled upper Germany and the Franks who controlled lower Germany. After his death, Wallia was succeeded by Theodoric, a forward thinking man who had his six sons educated in Roman jurisprudence at the best schools in Gaul.
The other component of our Roman-Gothic alliance is the singular personality Flavius Aetius. Born in Moesia to a Scythian father and an Italian mother, Aetius served much of his childhood as a hostage: first with Alaric (405-408 A.D) and then with Rugila, king of the Huns. Those experiences aided Aetius in two ways: he developed a comfort with military life and he became friends with his adversaries.