Fall of Roman Empire

The Fall of the Roman Empire is a highly debated and theorized issue because the Roman Empire is probably one the greatest and most powerful and impactful empires the Western world has ever experienced. History has yet to see another entity with the political and cultural legacy left by the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire came into existence from the Roman Republic in 27 BCE when Augustus became the ruler and established an autocracy.

This article discusses and analyses the Fall of the Roman Empire; Please go through this for further important details on the topic and keywords.

Fall of Roman Empire: Timeline

The founding of the city of Rome in 753 BC, by the two brothers Romulus and Remus, is seen as the origin of the Roman Empire. Rome went from being initially ruled by kings, to becoming a Republic aka governed by the citizens of Rome around 509 BC to being the majestic capital of the most powerful Empire of the ancient world by 27BC. The following table gives us a brief overview of the Roman Empire:

Year	Significant events of the Roman Empire
753 BC	The city of Rome was founded by brothers Romulus and Remus ( as per legend).
509 BC	Rome becomes a Republic with a constitution with laws governed by senators.
73 BC	The slave rebellion is led by the gladiator Spartacus.
45 BC	Roman Republic begins to crumble with the ascension of Julius Caesar as the first dictator of Rome
44 BC	Marcus Brutus killed Julius Caesar on the Ides of March. In an effort to restore the republic, a civil war breaks out.
27 BC	Caesar Augustus becomes the first Roman Emperor, marking the official beginning of the Roman Empire.
80 AD	The Colosseum aka one of the finest works of Roman engineering is constructed.
306 AD	Constantine ascends to the throne eventually leading to Rome becoming a Christian empire after his conversion to Christianity
380 AD	Theodosius I declares that the Roman Empire will only practice Christianity.
395 AD	The Roman Empire splits into two empires.
410 AD	Rome is taken by the Visigoths, the first time for the empire being conquered by an enemy.
476 AD	The dissolution of Ancient Rome and the end of the Western Roman Empire. The German Goth Odoacer defeats Romulus Augustus, the final Roman Emperor. This period marks the beginning of Europe’s Dark Ages.
1453 AD	The Ottoman Empire conquered the Byzantine Empire, bringing an end to it.

Fall of Roman Empire: History

The Roman Republic Era

The Roman Republic represented the government of the nobility, who exercised their authority through the institution called the Senate. The Republic lasted from 509 BC to 27 BC, and was overthrown by Octavian/ Augustus, the adopted son and heir of Julius Caesar.

Year	Event	Description
509 BC	Expansion of the Roman Republic	The Republic embarked on a series of expansion and wars to become the authoritarian power of the Italian peninsula. Italians tribes like the Samnites, Etruscans and Greek Colonies in Southern Italy were defeated and we see the expansion of the republic expanded beyond Rome in the following years.
264 BC	Punic Wars with Carthage	The Roman Republic engaged in Punic Wars with Carthage. A total three wars were fought between the two in which Rome gained Spain, Sicily, Northern Italy and parts of Northern Africa. The Punic Wars ended in 146 BC with the destruction of Carthage. Rome went on to dominate other European powers and destroyed the Greek City-states and the Seleucid Empire by about 50 BC.
45 BC	Julius Caesar becomes the first dictator of Rome	Taking advantage of the Civil war like situation in Rome due to rivalry between army generals, the rich and the poor, Julius Caesar seized power.
27 BC	End of Roman Republic	The republic crumbled in 27 BC, when Augustus became the first Roman emperor.

Fall of Roman Empire: Reign of the Emperors

Emperor Augustus Caesar brought a series of reforms which stabilized the economy of post-civil war Rome. The rulers following Augustus ensured growth and prosperity along with the territorial expansion of the empire extending from Britain to modern-day Syria.

Year	Event	Description
27 BC-180 AD	Pax Romana (Roman Peace)	A period of expansion, economic growth and prosperity for the Empire.
235 AD – 285 AD	The Crisis of the 3rd Century	It was a period of anarchy, civil wars, barbarian invasions and political instability which brought the empire to the brink of collapse.
286 AD	Splitting of the Empire	Due to administrative difficulties in maintaining a large empire it was divided into a western half and eastern half. The Western Roman Empire was governed from Rome while the Eastern Roman Empire was governed from Byzantium.

The after effects of the 3rd century crisis continued to plague the empire later on.

Causes for Fall of Roman Empire

Given below are various reasons that could have caused the fall of the Roman Empire, as given by historians from different schools of thought:

1. Decay of the empire due to general malaise

• Historian Edward Gibbon is known for this theory of attributing the fall of the empire to general malaise. According to him the foundation on which the Roman Empire was built on was not strong, hence the fall of the empire was inevitable. His masterpiece novel “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire” was published between 1776 and 1788, and in that he blamed the ruin of Rome on moral degeneration.
• Gibbon saw the Roman Empire as a unified entity and stated that its fall was due to the ideals of political and intellectual liberty being diminished by the adoption of Christianity as the state religion by the empire. He placed the responsibility for the decay of the empire on the influence of Christianity and is often, though debatable, acknowledged as the founding father of the school of monocausal explanation.

2. Catastrophic Collapse of the empire due to invasions from indigenous people

• Historians state that throughout the 5th century, the Roman empire’s territories, mainly the territories in Western Europe and Northwestern Africa, including Italy, were invaded by indigenous people or tribes; This period is also referred to as the Migration Period. The Migration period (400 to 800 CE), was a time of intense human migration in Europe, also known a period of extensive Barbarian invasions ( from the perspective of Romans).
• We find that the Roman Empire became weaker since 395 CE, after its spit into two empires( Eastern and Western); Also the ascension of relatively weaker rulers, due to the Crisis of the Third Century, leading to the empire being haphazardly ruled by more than one emperor at once (usually two), over different regions led to many indigenous people, especially the Germanic tribes like Goths, Vandals, Angles, Saxons, Lombards, Suebi, Frisii, Jutes and Franks began to migrate and invade lands in the Western Roman Empire.
• Indigenous tribes were frustrated after being refused lands by the rulers and being treated like slaves so a chain of attacks began in western empire. In 476 CE, Germanic mercenaries, under the leadership of the chieftain Odoacer, took Ravenna, the Western Roman capital at the time, dethroning Western Emperor Romulus Augustus. The whole of Italy was quickly conquered by them.
• Much of the rest of the Western provinces were conquered by waves of Germanic invasions, most of them being disconnected politically from the east altogether, and continuing a slow decline.

3. Splitting of the Roman Empire

• As the Roman Empire reached the peak of its power and became bigger and bigger, it became increasingly difficult to maintain its power and stability like before. Administration could not be carried effectively in remote regions of the empire and the lack of supervision led to constant civil wars. There was also a succession crisis from the 3rd century CE onwards ( part of the Third Century Crisis) which created an environment of lawlessness in the empire due to the lack of an authoritative figure. All these reasons ultimately led to the Empire officially being split in the year 395 CE when the Eastern and Western halves of the Empire ruled as de facto independent states.
• By the late 3rd century, the city of Rome no longer was an effective capital for the empire, and we find various cities rising as new administrative capitals. Starting with Emperor Constantine, the successive rulers all preferred the eastern city of Byzantium, later renamed Constantinople and it went on to become the largest and most powerful city of Christian Europe in the Early Middle Ages.

4. Socio-cultural differences between regions

• There was a decline of political and intellectual liberty in the Roman Empire after the adoption of Christianity as the state religion by the empire. There was a cultural shift and many values and traditions of ancient Rome were left behind and a new, more authoritarian laws were created for a new Christian Eastern empire.
• The West, which was predominantly Latin speaking and the predominantly Greek speaking East, began to diverge politically and culturally. Although this was a gradual process, it deepened further later on, and had lasting after effects on the medieval history of Europe.

5. Population Decline

• Historians speculate that the population of the empire could have diminished in many provinces significantly, indicated by the reduced size of fortifications built to protect the cities from barbarian incursions from the 3rd century onwards.
• Historians also note that the peripheral regions appear to be uninhabited from the 3rd century CE, and only the center of the city appear to be populated since we can only find fortifications in the center of cities and not the peripheral areas.

6. Transformation theory on Fall of the Roman Empire

The Transformation school of thought questions the whole idea of “fall” of the empire and states that instead of the idea of decline one must really think if its the diminish in popularity of a particular political dispensation. According to this school, the ancient Roman world underwent a gradual series of transformations, transitioning into the medieval world. The historians belonging to this school often prefer to talk of Late Antiquity, instead of the Fall of the Roman Empire.

Fall of Roman Empire: Summary

Modern historians talk about effectiveness and strength of the army, the health of the Roman population, economic strength of the empire, the competence of the emperor, religious changes of the period, efficiency of the civil administration and increasing pressure from barbarians outside Roman culture as some of the few factors that may have caused the fall of the Roman Empire. It was a combination of factors and events that caused an eventual downfall of the Empire.

Fall of Roman Empire: Legacy

• Despite the fall of the Roman Empire, its legacy remains alive even in the present day. Roman Art, Architecture, Engineering, Roman Language and Writing, and most importantly the legacy of Roman Philosophy, Law, and Citizenship still are very much an important part of the modern world’s culture.
• The Roman aqueducts, the Julian Calendar (basis of the standard modern Gregorian calendar), roads, water powered milling machines, thermal heating systems in Roman baths, sewage and pipe systems and the invention and use of concrete are all examples of the legacy left behind by the Roman Empire that are still in use and very much appreciated to this day.

Fall of Roman Empire: Interesting Facts

A few interesting facts about the Roman Empire are given below:

• Roman legend says that Romulus had a twin brother called Remus and as babies they were abandoned in the area which later became Rome. A she-wolf adopted and raised them, but when they grew up, Romulus fought and killed Remus and became the first ruler of Rome; The name of city being derived from his name.
• The Romans liked to enjoy their food and often ate their food with their hands while lying down on a couch. They rarely used a spoon, and never a knife or fork. Rich Romans liked to eat exotic food, such as stork, roast parrot and even flamingo.
• The most popular form of entertainment for the Romans were Gladiator fights that were held publicly in the Colosseum, the most magnificent example of Roman Architecture to ever exist.
• Tunics and Togas were the most common clothes in Rome.

Conclusion

The Roman Empire was one of the most powerful and significant empires in history and the reasons for its decline are of great debate among the historians. One cause for the decline of the ancient worlds greatest empire cannot be singled out. A series of causes, combined with multiple events eventually led to the end of the Roman Empire, therefore we can assume that it was multiple factors like indigenous tribal invasions, weak rulers, split of the empire into two, declining population, multiple administrative capital cities and a new state religion that caused this to happen. Despite the decline of the Roman Empire, the Roman cultural legacy remains alive to this day.

FAQ’s on Fall of Roman Empire

Who defeated the last Roman ruler?

The German chieftain Odoacer deposed the last Roman emperor of the West, Romulus Augustulus and brought an end to the Roman Empire in 476 CE.

What caused Roman Empire to fall?

A series of causes like indigenous tribal invasions, weak rulers, split of the empire into two, declining population, multiple administrative capital cities and a new state religion combined with multiple events eventually led to the end of the Roman Empire.

What survived the fall of the Roman Empire?

The eastern Roman Empire, more commonly known as the Byzantine Empire, survived the decline the Western Roman Empire ,until the 15th century AD.

Who founded the Roman Empire?

The Roman Empire was formed in 27 BCE when Julius Caesar’s adopted son, known as Augustus, became the ruler of Rome and established an autocratic form of government, where he was the sole ruler and made all important decisions.

How long did the fall of Rome last?

The fall of the Roman Empire was gradual and slow and lasted over a period of two and a half centuries.