Decline and Fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD
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The Decline and Fall of the Western Roman Empire
The Fall of the Western Roman Empire refers to the process of decline that ultimately led to its fragmentation in 476 AD. Towards the fourth century, Rome continued to dominate a vast empire, with the Mediterranean Sea as its axis. Roman civilization stretched from the Rhine and Danube rivers to the Sahara Desert, and from Hispania to the west of Mesopotamia. The triumph of Christianity, which Emperor Theodosius the Great converted into the official religion in the late fourth century, further strengthened this unity.
Crisis and Decline
However, this vast empire suffered a serious crisis that ultimately would end its existence. It was a giant, tired after several centuries of expansion and effort. Some symptoms of this decline included:
- Corruption among senior government officials
- Passivity towards the problems and obligations of citizens
- Decline of trade due to the surplus of taxes that traders and artisans had to pay
- Decline of cities, abandoned by the upper classes who installed themselves in their recreational villas
- Crises of the middle class, oppressed by severe fiscal pressure
- Significant reduction in population
The Germanic Threat
The army remained strong, although the conscription of Germans, who even occupied senior command positions, was increasingly common. In addition to this already grave situation, a strong threat besieged Rome: the pressure on their limes, or borders, from Germanic peoples. The defeat and death of the Eastern Emperor Valens in 378 AD at the hands of the Visigoths in the Battle of Adrianople was a serious warning.
Theodosius I and the Division of the Empire
Valens' successor, Theodosius I the Great (379-395 AD), had in his hands the difficult task of injecting new life into the empire, and his management was initially successful. He managed to stop the dreaded flood of Germanic tribes, and during his time, there was talk of a "Theodosian Renaissance." However, upon his death, everything reverted to its previous state, and even worsened. To improve the defense and administration of the empire, Theodosius divided it between his two sons, giving Honorius the West and Arcadius the East. This decision, however, decisively broke Roman unity, with the two territories following very different paths. The Eastern Empire, saved from the Germanic invasions, would continue for another thousand years under the name of the Byzantine Empire, while the Western Roman Empire collapsed in 476 AD.