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The Fall of the Roman Empire
The Roman Empire had been plagued by corruption after the rule of Marcus
Aurelius. Good Emperors were few and far between. Emperors were usually very young
or military usurpers. Emperors were more frequently assassinated and in some cases
there were six emperors in one year. Rome was also a massive empire. It was becoming
harder to control by just one person.
In the 4th Century AD the emperor Diocletian split the massive Roman Empire in
two parts: the East and the West. While this split did not initially last long it would
become permanent later in Roman History.
In 400 AD the split of the Roman Empire became permanent. The Western Roman
Empire was ruled from Rome while the Eastern Roman Empire was ruled from the city
of Constantinople, named after the emperor Constantine. Constantinople was a grand
city and the center of trade for the empire. It was for all intents and purposes, the New
Rome.
Rome was weakening. Gallic tribes were becoming emboldened. In 410 AD, the
Visigoth tribe led by Alaric sacked Rome for the first time since 390 BCE. While it was
not the ultimate destruction of the Western Empire, it was making more tribes bolder
than they had ever been before. In 455 AD, Gaiseric and the Vandal tribe sacked Rome
again. Like the previous sack, this did not end the Western Empire. As if two attacks in
the heart of the Roman Empire was not enough, Odoacer and the Germanic Resistance
sacked the city again in 476 BCE. He removed the boy-emperor, Romulus Augustus
from power and sent him to exile and named himself King of Italy.
Thus was the end of the Roman Empire as it stood for
over 1000 years. The Eastern Half of the Empire
continued on as the Byzantine Empire.
Scipio Aemilianus had wept at the death of Carthage,
predicting that that same devastation would happen to
Rome.