[5] Radagaisus, a warrior from the area of present-day Mecklenburg, took command of a formidable section of these tribes, who were determined to unite for the invasion of the Roman Empire, in whose territory they hoped to find ample space for settlement, undisturbed by the constant attacks of the Asian barbarians who were overrunning the areas of present-day Poland and Germany.
[6] In late 405 or early 406, Radagaisus and his vast army, recruited from some of the wandering tribes of the Alani and some of Alaric's Goths, angered by their recent defeat, broke across the undefended Danube frontier and entered Rhaetia.
Stilicho, Master General of the West, had recently stripped the other provinces, including those on the Rhine and Danube, of their regular garrisons in order to repel Alaric's first invasion of Italy.
[8] Meanwhile, the cowardly figurehead of the Western Empire, Honorius, took refuge in the fortified city of Ravenna, which had been made the capital of the West (rather than the more exposed Milan) after Alaric's invasion in 401.
[9] For reasons unknown, Radagisus halted his march on Rome to besiege the great and prosperous city of Florence.