Fall of the Roman Empire

• Decline of the Roman Empire • End of the Pax Romana, two centuries of peace and

prosperity for the Roman Empire

Rome’s Economy Weakens • Hostile tribes were on the

boundaries of the empire, and Mediterranean pirates disrupted trade

• Rome lacked the financial resources to stop the attacks

• Rome raised taxes and coined more money

• As a result of these activities, Rome suffered from inflation, a drastic drop in the value of its money

• Agricultural production within the empire declined, and food shortages and disease spread

Military and Political

• The military was in disarray - soldiers had lost loyalty to Rome

• Roman government began the use of mercenaries, or foreign soldiers who for fought for money and had little sense of loyalty to the empire

• Roman citizens became indifferent about the empire’s fate

• More slaves and none-citizens in Rome than citizens

Empire Divided • In 284 AD Diocletia

became the emperor • Restored order and

increased the military’s strength

• Split the empire into East and West

Constantine Moves the Capitol

• Constantine gained control of the western part of the empire in 312 AD

• Moved the capitol from Rome to Byzantium (later Constantinople, present day Istanbul, Turkey )

• The center of power shifted from Rome to The East

• The divide of the Eastern and Western Empires led to the decline of the West

Attila the Hun• Huns united under leader Attila

and attacked Roman cities throughout The East but did not capture Constantinople

• 452 AD Attila’s forces moved towards Rome but failed to take it

• the Germanic invasion continued • last Roman Emperor, Romulus

Augustulus, ousted by Germanic forces in 476 AD

• the western half of the Roman Empire disappeared

• the Eastern half of the Roman Empire, which came to be called the Byzantine Empire, flourished another 1,000 years until it fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453

Germanic Tribes• Germanic peoples were

overrun by Mongol nomads from Central Asia – the Huns

• Germanic people flooded into Roman areas fleeing the Huns

• The Roman army was unable to stop the march of the Germanic peoples or “barbarians”

• In 410 AD hordes of Germanic tribes over-run, sack, and plunder Rome for days Sack of Rome