Download Fall of the Roman Empire

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 (Burnstein
and 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 Sheck
284).
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
R
O
M
E
F
A
L
L
S
Create an Acrostic poem about the
fall of the Western Roman Empire.
--Write the words “Rome Falls” near
the left margin.
--Write a complete thought about the
reasons for the fall of the Western
Roman Empire for each letter.
--Include an illustration.
So why again did the Western Roman
Empire fall?
Let’s review!
DISEASE
Plague,
Smallpox,
Malaria
and POPULATION DECLINE
LACK OF FOOD
SIZE – THE EMPIRE WAS TOO LARGE TO GOVERN WELL.
Barbarians
attacked
With no new
lands tofrom all parts of Europe – Franks,
Vandals,
Huns,
Goths (Visigoths and Ostrogoths), and Saxons
conquer and
loot,
?
? ?
?
?
?
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 EMPIRE
named after the area around Constantinople known as
Byzantium.