An outline, era by era

Fall of the Western Roman Empire (476 CE)

Classical Antiquity · ~500 BCE – ~500 CE

The Western Roman Empire ended in the fifth century CE. In 476 CE the Germanic commander Odoacer deposed the boy emperor Romulus Augustulus at Ravenna and ruled Italy without appointing a new western emperor. The date is a convention. Historians use it because it marks the last time an emperor reigned in the West, but the decline was slow, uneven and differed from province to province.

The causes are debated. They include pressure from Goths, Vandals, Huns and other peoples on the frontiers, civil wars, the loss of tax-rich provinces such as North Africa, and the rising power of army commanders who were often of barbarian origin. The Eastern Empire, ruled from Constantinople, survived for nearly another thousand years. In the West, new kingdoms took over Roman provinces and kept many Roman laws, the Latin language and the Christian church, which shaped medieval Europe.

Things happened, and the rest is history

  1. The Goths cross the Danube and win at Adrianople

    Event

    What happened

    In 376 CE large groups of Goths, pushed by the advance of the Huns, ask to enter the Roman Empire across the Danube, and Emperor Valens admits them. Poor treatment by Roman officials leads to revolt. On 9 August 378 the Gothic forces destroy most of Valens's army at Adrianople, and Valens is killed.

    The rest is history

    The defeat forced Rome to settle the Goths inside the empire under their own leaders rather than defeat them, a pattern repeated for the next century. Under Theodosius I a treaty in 382 gave them land and let them keep their own organisation as allies. In 410 a Gothic army under Alaric sacked the city of Rome, the first time in about 800 years that the city fell to a foreign enemy. Many historians see Adrianople as the start of the process in which Germanic groups carved out kingdoms inside Roman territory.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryAmmianus Marcellinus. Res Gestae (Roman History), Latin history, books 31, written c. 390s CE. Loeb Classical Library, translated by J. C. Rolfe.Eyewitness-era account of the Gothic crossing and the battle.
    2. BookHeather, Peter. The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.
    3. BookHalsall, Guy. Barbarian Migrations and the Roman West, 376-568. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007.

  2. The crossing of the Rhine and the loss of Africa

    Event

    What happened

    On 31 December 406 (traditionally dated) Vandals, Alans and Suebi cross the frozen Rhine into Gaul and soon move into Spain. In 429 the Vandals under Gaiseric cross into North Africa, and in 439 they take Carthage. Africa had supplied Rome with grain and a large share of its tax revenue.

    The rest is history

    The loss of Africa deprived the western government of money needed to pay its armies, and it is often counted among the most damaging blows of the century. Rome made treaties with the Vandals, but in 455 they sacked Rome from the sea. Britain had already been left without Roman troops after about 410, and Gaul and Spain slipped increasingly out of imperial control. By the 470s the western emperors ruled little more than Italy.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryProsper of Aquitaine. Epitoma Chronicon. Latin chronicle, c. 455 CE. Edited by Theodor Mommsen, Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Chronica Minora 1.Contemporary chronicle entries for the Vandal crossings and the capture of Carthage.
    2. BookMerrills, Andrew, and Richard Miles. The Vandals. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010.
    3. BookWard-Perkins, Bryan. The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilization. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.

  3. Odoacer deposes Romulus Augustulus

    Event

    What happened

    In 475 the general Orestes makes his young son Romulus emperor in Italy, while the Eastern emperor Zeno recognises a rival, Julius Nepos. In August 476 the army in Italy, largely made up of Germanic troops, demands land. When Orestes refuses, the troops proclaim Odoacer king, kill Orestes and remove Romulus. Odoacer sends the imperial insignia to Constantinople.

    The rest is history

    Odoacer ruled Italy nominally under Zeno, keeping the Senate, Roman law and officials. Nepos still claimed the western throne until his death in 480, so some historians date the end then. In 489 the Ostrogoth Theoderic invaded Italy with Zeno's blessing, killed Odoacer in 493 and ruled as king until 526. By then Gaul, Spain and Africa were in the hands of Frankish, Visigothic and Vandal kings, and the western empire no longer existed in practice.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryMarcellinus Comes. Chronicon. Latin chronicle, early 6th century CE, entry for 476. Translated by Brian Croke, Sydney: Australian Association for Byzantine Studies, 1995.Early statement that the western empire ended with Romulus in 476.
    2. BookWickham, Chris. The Inheritance of Rome: A History of Europe from 400 to 1000. London: Allen Lane, 2009.
    3. BookGibbon, Edward. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. London: Strahan and Cadell, 1776-1789.

  4. Attila and Pope Leo turn back the Huns

    Folk tale

    The legend

    In 452 Attila, king of the Huns, marches into Italy and stands ready to sack Rome. Pope Leo I goes out to meet him by the River Mincio. In later versions the apostles Peter and Paul appear behind Leo with swords, and Attila withdraws in terror.

    The rest is history

    The meeting is real. Prosper of Aquitaine records that Leo led an embassy to Attila in 452, and Attila did leave Italy. The apparition of the apostles appears only in later tradition and is not in contemporary sources. Historians usually point to plague and hunger in Attila's army, Eastern Roman attacks on Hun lands and the gifts or promises of the embassy as more likely reasons. Attila died in 453, and the Hun empire broke up soon after.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryProsper of Aquitaine. Epitoma Chronicon. Latin chronicle, c. 455 CE, entry for 452.Records Leo's embassy without the apostles.
    2. BookMan, John. Attila: The Barbarian King Who Challenged Rome. London: Bantam Press, 2005.

  5. Rome fell because it was soft and corrupt

    Popular belief

    The legend

    Many people believe Rome fell because it grew decadent, with luxury, moral decay and weak emperors sapping its strength until barbarians simply walked in. The idea is often given as one clear cause with one clear date, 476.

    The rest is history

    This view goes back to writers like Edward Gibbon, whose History (1776-1789) blamed loss of civic virtue and the rise of Christianity. Modern scholars mostly reject a single moral cause. They point to civil wars, financial strain, the loss of provinces and the skill of enemies like the Goths and Vandals. Some, like Peter Heather, stress outside pressure from the Huns, while others, like Bryan Ward-Perkins, stress real material collapse after the fall. The Eastern Empire faced many of the same threats and survived, which shows that Roman society was not doomed by decadence.

    Sources

    1. BookGibbon, Edward. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. London: Strahan and Cadell, 1776-1789.
    2. BookWard-Perkins, Bryan. The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilization. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.
    3. BookHeather, Peter. The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.

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