Wasn't he the de facto ruler of the Western Roman Empire already through his influencing Valentinian?
yeah i know he controlled Valentianian partly but didnt Galla Placidia also influence Valentinian and what i am looking for is Aetius becoming powerful enough as to get rid of Valentinian and lead the Empire almost directly.
Well, he'd have to avoid assassination in order to do that, if that's a start.
yeah i know he controlled Valentianian partly but didnt Galla Placidia also influence Valentinian and what i am looking for is Aetius becoming powerful enough as to get rid of Valentinian and lead the Empire almost directly.
But you don't want him to become Emperor? Well Galla Placidia was already dead for a couple of years so perhaps something happens so Flavius Aetius can tighten his hold over Valentinian. Apparently Petronius Maximus had a hand in Aetius' assassination.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petronius_Maximus
Get rid of him and the eunuch Heraclius.
He can become emperor if its plausible i only said that because i thought it wasnt very plausible
Aetius needs the support of Constantinople if he's going to make a bid for power- and doing this by deposing Valentinian, a member of the Theodosian Dynasty that binds both halves of the Empire together- is not going to end well, to put things bluntly.
In any case, Aetius is by, say, 445, inheriting a state that's already falling apart, with the loss of Africa, a province that was mostly lost in the first place due to the machinations of one Flavius Aetius.
The only thing I really know on Aetius's career in that regard is him treating it as "We have land in Africa?", but that account was from a not-very-satisfactory book and brief to boot.
In other words: Could you elaborate on that?
Briefly- Aetius' political manoeuvring meant that the Vandals in Africa were pretty much ignored until it was too late.
How so though?