End of the Roman Empire

1
End of the Roman Empire

• The Fall of Rome one of the most discussed
  historical topics
• AD 476 marks the official date that the last
  Roman emperor was deposed
• by this time though, the political unity of the
  empire had already begun to disintegrate
• Though Augustus was not the only great emperor,
  but there were many emperors that were not fit to
  rule or that did not have the best interests of
  Rome at heart
• it can be argued that the fall of the empire
  began more than 200 years earlier than the
  official date

2
Factors Contributing to the Fall of Rome

• loyalty size of the army
• In the days of Julius Caesar the early Empire
  troops were very loyal to their leaders
• By the 3rd 4th centuries, the empire was so
  vast troops had to be recruited farther from Rome
• mostly Germans, Thracians, Africans (people that
  the army was supposed to be watching)
• they felt no loyalty to Rome had no reason to
  defend the empires interests
• the army became more influential in the selection
  of new emperors
• since the army had become mostly non-Roman, so
  would emperors of this period
• (several emperors during this period were
  African, Syrian, Thracian, or Arabic)

3

• Inconsistent Leadership
• 235 to 285 - there were 56 emperors (1 died of
  natural causes)
• Division within the Empire
• 330 Emperor Constantine moves the capitol of
  the empire from Rome to Constantinople
  (modern-day Istanbul, Turkey)
• this split the Empire into the West (Roman)
  East (Byzantine) Empires
• Byzantium prospered Rome deteriorated
• Threats from outsiders increased
• Barbarian tribes such as the Huns, Goths,
  Visigoths pushed farther farther into Roman
  territory in the West
• Armies in the East were occupied with increasing
  Persian power

4

• Thought the last years of the Roman Empire were
  spent trying to hold a crumbling dynasty
  together, its advances in law architecture
  continued to influence future cultures for
  centuries to follow
• The official year of the fall of Rome is given as
  476 but the Roman legacy would last on until the
  fall of Constantinople in 1453.
• Another institute that would continue to spread
  Roman influence was the Catholic Church, as it
  became the center of most peoples lives in
  Medieval Europe.