Download the fall of the roman empire.

THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.
When Theodosius died in 395, he left the Roman Empire to his two sons, Honorius and
Arcadius. Honorius took the West and Arcadius the East. But like other emperors who had been
brought up at court, neither of them was very good at ruling. Most of the actual work was
done by their advisors.
Most of Honorius' work was done by a Vandal
named Stilicho. He had joined the Roman army and
became and important general.
It didn't take long for the Germans and Goths to
realize that the new young emperors were weak and so
this was a good time to attack. Roman generals also saw
this
weakness
and
revolted.
First, Constantine III, a general in England,
declared himself emperor at York in 405. He took all the Roman troops out of England, across
the English Channel to France, and he marched his army through France, collecting the French
troops so they could all march on Rome.
But while Constantine III was doing this, nobody was watching the border. In January
409, a lot of Alans, Vandals, and Sueves crossed the Rhine (which was frozen) and came into
the Roman Empire. There
were no troops there to
stop them, so they just
travelled around France
taking
whatever
they
wanted.
Meanwhile
Constantine III was trying
to take over Spain. He
sent his general Gerontius
to
Spain,
but
then
Gerontius decided to make
himself Emperor. In order
to get a good-sized army
together, Gerontius seems to have agreed to let the Alans, Vandals, and Sueves into Spain, and
they promised to help him.
Then the Roman government sent out a general to stop Constantine III. Constantine III
was killed, and so was Gerontius. All of their soldiers (the ones from England and the ones
from France, and maybe the ones from Spain too) were taken back to Italy to deal with the
Visigoths. This left England, France, and Spain pretty much open for Germans.
Back in Italy, the Visigoths were attacking. The Visigoths had been living inside the
Roman Empire since the battle of Adrianople in 378 AD. But they had not been treated very
well. Under their new king, Alaric, the Visigoths demanded gold to the emperor. When he said
no, the Visigoths marched on Rome. In 410 the Visigoths took the city and sacked it. The
Roman people were shocked.
The
Visigoths
did not stay in Rome,
but marched down to
the tip of Italy. In the
end
the
Visigoths
marched up to southern
France
and
settled
there. The Burgundians
had already taken over
eastern France, and the
Vandals
and
Sueves
were in Spain.
In
429
the
Vandals sailed across the Straits of Gibraltar and took over Africa. This left the Sueves alone in
Spain, and the Visigoths gradually began taking over parts of Spain. The anglos and saxons
invaded England, and the English wrote to the Romans for help, but the Romans said they were
on their own.
ACTIVITIES.
1. Write down the underlined words of the text and add those words you didn't understand.
ENGLISH
SPANISH
ENGLISH
SPANISH
ENGLISH
SPANISH
2. Look up the verbs of paragraphs number 5, 7 and 10 and write down the verbs in
infinitive and in past.
INFINITIVE
PAST
MEANING
INFINITIVE
PAST
MEANING.
3. Answer the questions:
1. Who
was
Theodosius?.
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
2. Look at the maps at pages number 1 and 2 and identify in what place of Europe each
germanic tribe settled down. For example, Anglos and Saxons in England.
1. Franks:
2. Visigoths:
3. ostrogoths:
4. Vandals:
5. Sueves:
6. Alans:
4. True or false:
1. According to the text, the authority of a Roman Emperor was well respected.
2. Germans got into the Roman Empire peacefully.
3. Romans paid some german tribes to eliminate other german tribes.
WHO WERE THE HUNS?
The Huns probably came from western China. Then decided to leave China and look
for a better place to live. They divided into two groups: the small group went south, towards
India. But the main group went north-west.
These Huns , gradually crossed Russia. They moved on by bad weather in Siberia,
which left them without enough grass for their cows to eat. By 350 the Huns were already
crossing the steppes toward Europe. Various Germanic groups, like the Visigoths and the
Ostrogoths, were pushed by the Huns, and tried to get into the Roman Empire where they
might find safety. By 378, for example, the Visigoths were desperate enough to fight and win
the battle of Adrianople, which moved them into the Roman Empire.
By the early 400 , the Huns had learned something about Roman ways, and had a very
strong king named Attila. Sometimes the Romans hired the Huns to fight for them, as part of
the Roman army. In the 420's and 430's, the Huns helped the Romans to fight the Visigoths. In
450 roman princess Honoria called Attila to invade the Roman Empire to help her get power.
But when Attila did invade, general Aetius got the Visigoths to fight the Huns in a big battle in
451.
Soon
afterwards
Attila
died, and his three
sons split his empire
between them.
For years the
Roman
Emperors
had been too weak to
do anything about all
this.
In
475, Orestes,
a
former secretary of
Attila,
proclaimed
his own son Flavius Romulus Augustus (Romulus Augustulus) to be Emperor. His surname
'Augustus' (great emperor) was changed to 'Augustulus' (little emperor) by rivals because he
was still a minor, and he was never recognized outside of Italy as a legitimate ruler.
In 476, Orestes refused to grant Odoacer and the Heruli federated status, prompting an
invasion. Odoacer's army chased Orestes to Piacenza, where they captured and executed him
on August 28, 476.
On September 4, 476, Odoacer forced then 16 year old Romulus Augustulus, whom his
father Orestes had proclaimed to be Rome's Emperor, to abdicate. After deposing Romulus,
Odoacer did not execute him. Odoacer, "taking pity on his youth", granted Romulus' life and
gave him an annual pension of 6,000 solidi (a roman coin) before sending him to live with
relatives. Odoacer then installed himself as ruler over Italy, and sent the Imperial insignia to
Constantinople.
1. Write donwn the meaning of the underlined words of the text.
ENGLISH
SPANISH
ENGLISH
SPANISH
ENGLISH
SPANISH
2. Look up the infinitive, the past and the meaning of the verbs of paragraphs number 3
and 8.
INFINITIVE
PAST
MEANING
INFINITIVE
PAST
MEANING
3. True or false:
* Odoacer executed the little emperor Romulus Augustulus after deposing him from power.
* The Huns pushed some german tribes into the Roman Empire.
* A roman princess called Attila to invade the West Roman Empire and help her to get the
power.
*Orestes,the man who proclaimed his little son as emperor, was a member of the Roman Senate