END OF AN ERA: THE FALL OF THE WESTERN ROMAN EMPIRE

Hello everyone! I’m back with a new post about ancient history. Today I would like to tell you   about the  five reasons why the Western Roman Empire fell. 

            

The Roman Empire remained one of the most powerful in history, but it was first divided in Western and Eastern Roman Empire (395 A.D.), and then, in 476 A.D., the Western part ended (the Eastern one existed until 1453 A.D.), but why one of the most powerful Empire in history fell?

Here are five reasons:

     THE BARBARIAN POPULATIONS MOVEMENTS

      Many people consider these migrations as “barbarian invasions”, but the truth is the barbarians didn’t want to enter the Empire borders because they wanted to live under the Roman control, but because there was a population coming from Asia that scared everyone, Barbarians and Romans both: the Huns, a nomad people led by Attila, known as a cruel and bloody leader. Rome defeated the Huns in the battle of the Catalaunian Fields in 451 a.D., but their raids made the Germanic people entering the Empire borders and, in a short period of time, it became unsustainable.

   THE CREATION OF MANY INDEPENDENT KINGDOMS INSIDE THE ROMAN BORDERS

(Map of Roman-barbaric kingdoms)

      After the Barbarians got into the Limes (the Latin word for border), they created, by force or by pacts, small independent kingdoms; the most injurious for the Empire was the Vandal’s kingdom in Northern Africa. In that time Africa was very important because in that provinces there was the highest production of wheat. When the population couldn’t eat anymore, the power became weaker than ever.

       THE REIGN OF SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS

      Ok, Septimius Severus died in 211 a.D., so how could he have a part of responsibility for the fall of the Western Roman Empire?

Septimius Severus got the throne after the death of Commodus (one of the worst emperors ever) and a period of civil war; he gave a great power to the army and this is why the Roman Empire faced other civil wars (the military Anarchy and the civil war between Constantin and Massentius) that weakened it and allowed the Barbarians to destroy it.

   THE CHRISTIANISATION OF THE STATE

     

Trust me: I don’t want to go against the Christianity; only few emperors persecuted the  Christians and often the true reason wasn’t their faith, but their personal interest; but it’s a fact that after Christianity became the only legitimate religion in the Empire the ancient state bodies became unpopular and the Church became, in many cases, the real power in command.

      THE LACK OF GOOD EMPERORS

     

      In the last years of the Western Roman Empire, the Imperial purple was held by puppet emperors under the control of Barbarian warlords; the last good Emperor of the Western Roman Empire was Maiorianus.

He tried to reconquer all the territories under Barbarian rule, but he was killed in 461 a.D., fifteen years before the final fall of the Western part of the Roman Empire.

This event changed history: Europe wasn’t anymore under the control of a single strong state but divided into kingdoms under the control of Germanic people who slowly became more civilized and a new chapter of history, The Middle Ages, started.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this post. If you have, leave a comment and share this article.  

FRANCESCO G.