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The fall of the Western Roman Empire, also called the fall of the Roman Empire or the fall of Rome, was the loss of central political control in the Western Roman Empire, a process in which the Empire failed to enforce its rule, and its vast territory was divided between several successor polities.
- External Causes
- Internal Causes
- A Divided Empire
- The Goth Invasion
- An Enemy from Within: Alaric
- Barbarian Invasions
- Conclusion: Multiple Factors
One of the most widely accepted causes - the influx of a barbarian tribes - is discounted by some who feel that mighty Rome, the eternal city, could not have so easily fallen victim to a culturethat possessed little or nothing in the way of a political, social or economic foundation. They believe the fall of Rome simply came because the barbarians ...
There are some who believe, like Gibbon, that the fall was due to the fabric of the Roman citizen. If one accepts the idea that the cause of the fall was due, in part, to the possible moral decay of the city, its fall is reminiscent of the “decline” of the Republic centuries earlier. Historian Polybius, a 2nd century BCE writer, pointed to a dying ...
Although Gibbon points to the rise of Christianity as a fundamental cause, the actual fall or decline could be seen decades earlier. By the 3rd century CE, the city of Rome was no longer the center of the empire - an empire that extended from the British Isles to the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers and into Africa. This massive size presented a problem...
During the reign of the 4th century eastern emperor Valens (364 -378 CE), the Thervingi Goths had congregated along the Danube-Rhine border - again, not as a threat, but with a desire only to receive permission to settle. This request was made in urgency, for the “savage” Huns threatened their homeland. Emperor Valens panicked and delayed an answer...
The Goths remained on Roman land and would ally themselves with the Roman army. Later, however, one man, a Goth and former Roman commander, rose up against Rome - a man who only asked for what had been promised him - a man who would do what no other had done for eight centuries: sack Rome. His name was Alaric, and while he was a Goth, he had also b...
Although Alaric would soon die afterwards, other barbarians - whether Christian or not - did not stop after the sack of the city. The old empire was ravaged, among others, by Burgundians, Angles, Saxons, Lombards, and Magyars. By 475 CE Spain, Britain, and parts of Gaul had been lost to various Germanic people and only Italy remained as the “empire...
One could make a sound case for a multitude of reasons for the fall of Rome. However, its fall was not due to one cause, although many search for one. Most of the causes, initially, point to one place: the city of Rome itself. The loss of revenue for the western half of the empire could not support an army - an army that was necessary for defending...
- Donald L. Wasson
Feb 10, 2020 · The phrase "the Fall of Rome" suggests that some cataclysmic event ended the Roman Empire, which stretched from the British Isles to Egypt and Iraq. But in the end, there was no straining at the gates, no barbarian horde that dispatched the Roman Empire in one fell swoop.
Jun 14, 2024 · The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, historical work by Edward Gibbon, published in six volumes between 1776 and 1788. A continuous narrative from the 2nd century ce to the fall of Constantinople in 1453, it is distinguished by its rigorous scholarship, its historical perspective, and its.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Invasions by Barbarian tribes. The most straightforward theory for Western Rome’s collapse pins the fall on a string of military losses sustained against outside forces.
- Economic troubles and overreliance on slave labor. The Visigoths Sack Rome. Even as Rome was under attack from outside forces, it was also crumbling from within thanks to a severe financial crisis.
- The rise of the Eastern Empire. The fate of Western Rome was partially sealed in the late third century, when Emperor Diocletian divided the Empire into two halves—the Western Empire seated in the city of Milan, and the Eastern Empire in Byzantium, later known as Constantinople.
- Overexpansion and military overspending. At its height, the Roman Empire stretched from the Atlantic Ocean all the way to the Euphrates River in the Middle East, but its grandeur may have also been its downfall.
Feb 17, 2011 · The end of empire was a major event in human history. What difference did this political revolution make to real life in the former western Empire?
Nov 26, 2019 · Whether you cast your mind on the Western Empire that crumbled earlier in the 5th century or the Eastern side that followed suit centuries later, the fact is that Rome (as a whole) did fall eventually, after witnessing unprecedented growth. What were the causes of Rome’s decline?
