Unit: Fall of the Roman Empire

Lesson Title:Fall of the Western Roman Empire

Part 4

The End of the Western Empire!

(See textbook pages 33-35)

The Goths weren’t the

only ones to destroy the

city of Rome.

The Vandals also plundered Rome 45 years

later in

455 A.D.

VANDALS !

The Vandals also invaded Spain and Northern Africa.

The Vandals destroyed nearly everything in their path.

Today we still call people who damage property “vandals”.

Other barbarians also invaded Roman territories.

The Angles, Saxons and

Jutes invaded Britain.

The Franks invaded

Gaul (modern France).

The barbarian attacks led to chaos inside

the Western Roman Empire.

Roman military leaders became more powerful than the emperors during the years of the barbarian attacks.

The Roman military leaders started fighting among each other. The barbarian invaders took advantage of this chaos.

Why would chaos help the barbarians?

Finally the Western Roman Empire falls!

In A.D. 476, a German barbarian general named Odoacer overthrew the last Western Roman emperor, Romulus Augustulus, and declared himself the king of Italy.

In class reading assignment

Read “The End of the Western Empire” and “Factors in Rome’s Fall” on pages 34-35.

Make a list of at least 6 main factors that led to the fall of Rome.

Write a summary paragraph

Use your notes and book, pages 34 and 35 to write a summary paragraph about: What do you think were the two most important problems that led to Rome’s fall? You must have:

a. Topic sentence

b. Supporting details

c. Concluding sentence

d. Proper MLA citation

Summary Paragraph on the Fall of Rome

There were many reasons for the fall of Rome, but I think two were the most important.

………………………………………………..

………………………………………………..

In conclusion, the size of Rome and disease had to be two of the main reasons Rome fell (Burnsteinand Shek 34).

Works Cited

Here’s how the source for the citation would look on the page with your sources:

Burstein, Stanley M., and Richard Shek. World History: Medieval to Early Modern Times. Orlando: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 2006.

Authors. Title of the work. City where the work was published: Name of Publisher, Year of publication.

How to cite the source in my paragraph:

Original text: To ensure that Christianity alone was

practiced, they created the Spanish Inquisition, an organization of priests that looked for and punished anyone in Spain suspected of secretly practicing their old religion.

Paraphrase:The Spanish Inquisition was a group of

priests that punished people in Spain for not following Christianity(Burstein and Sheck284).

Final Copy of Paragraph

Put the VMS heading on top of your paper:Subject: Name:

Period: Date:

Title of Assignment : The Fall of Rome

Right Side Notebook Activity

Create an Acrostic poem about thefall of the Western Roman Empire.

RO --Write the words “Rome Falls” nearM the left margin.E

--Write a complete thought about theF reasons for the fall of the Western A Roman Empire for each letter.LL --Include an illustration.S

So why again did the Western Roman Empire fall?

Let’s review!

DISEASE

and POPULATION DECLINE

Malaria

Plague,

Smallpox,

LACK OF FOOD

SIZE – THE EMPIRE WAS TOO LARGE TO GOVERN WELL.

With no new lands to conquer and loot,

Barbarians attacked from all parts of Europe – Franks, Vandals, Huns, Goths (Visigoths and Ostrogoths), and Saxons

? ?

?

?

?

?

More and more soldiers were needed to fight all the barbarians,

Civil wars killed more and more Romans,

leaders were assassinated,

There were more and more expenses to rebuild from wars,

There was NOT ENOUGH MONEY !

So Rome made people pay HIGH TAXES

WHICH

LED TO POVERTY

However, the Eastern Roman Empire kept going !!

And became known as the BYZANTINE EMPIREnamed after the area around Constantinople known as Byzantium.