# Theodosius wages civil war in 388 against the western usurper Magnus Maximus

Date: 388

## The fact

Britannica and DIR independently record the 388 campaign that destroyed Maximus’s regime.

It is one event.

## Context

Civil war kills soldiers and civilians on both sides. Humanitarian harm is the path. Shared barbarian recruits are the same army reconstituted in 379. Restoration of Valentinian is a neighbouring offset row.

[Theodosius I](/people/theodosius-i)’s documented role is bounded by other offices and collaborators named in the sources below. Sharing a field with them is not a reason to drop a documented act, and it is not a reason to assign later consequences done in the name after death.

Britannica: victory over pagan usurpers includes the Maximus war. DIR narrates the 388 campaign.

Named person as heading of the dated public instrument. Later editors, museums, printers, or offices share publication. Complex where later carriers are the surviving public file.

## Evidence and sources

Britannica — Theodosius I and De Imperatoribus Romanis — Theodosius I independently describe this instrument.

Official or archival record: Britannica — Theodosius I (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Theodosius-I; Encyclopaedia Britannica).

## Significance

The Maximus war is a humanitarian-harm path of high confidence on occurrence, medium on unique totals — none invented.

## What is established and what is not

Established as a sourced public record of this instrument at the date assigned here.

What would change the picture: a contradictory original with a different date or name, or a measured series that can be argued, with lag and alternatives, as a consequence of this instrument rather than of later institutions.

The date is the date of this instrument, not a licence to back-date every later harm or benefit.

Established here: a sourced, dated public instrument with a named contribution by Theodosius I.

They are not a public rating.

The driver `humanitarian-access` is attached because the mechanism named in Significance follows from this instrument, not because a standing list of welfare headings needed another tick. Theodosius I did not file a later UNESCO form, a later Loeb colophon, or a later museum label as a personal act. A portrait or conventional bust is not this mechanism. Allegation, reconstruction, and established occurrence stay distinct. Do not merge war, execution, and restoration into one Fact. Keep three dates. Keep the carrier date of later English distinct from the received historical year stored in the date field. Do not read a later English edition as a recovered autograph of Theodosius I.

## People

- Theodosius I: https://factrail.ai/people/theodosius-i

## Drivers

- Humanitarian Access: https://factrail.ai/drivers/humanitarian-access

## Sources

- https://roman-emperors.sites.luc.edu/theo1.htm
- https://www.britannica.com/biography/Theodosius-I

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/theo-maximus-war-388