10 facts about the fall of the roman empire

1. The date of the Fall of the Roman Empire is hard to pinpoint.

2. The ‘Fall of the Roman Empire’ usually refers to just the Western Empire.

3. The Empire was put under pressure during the Migration Period.

4. In 378 AD Goths defeated and killed Emperor Valens in the Battle of Adrianople.

5. Alaric, the Visigothic leader who led the 310 AD Sack of Rome, wanted above all to be a Roman.

6. The Sack of Rome, now the capital of the Christian religion, had enormous symbolic power.

7. The Crossing of the Rhine in 405/6 AD brought around 100,000 barbarians (30,000 of whom were fighting men) into the Empire.

8. In 439 AD Vandals captured Carthage, the taking of which had signalled the st

AntiquityThe Life of Julius Caesar in 55 Facts5 Great Female Warriors of the Ancient World5 Amazing Weapons of the Ancient World Middle Ages10 of the Best Medieval Cathedrals You Can See in Britain5 Great Acting Performances of Richard IIIFire and Ice: Norse Mythology Explained World War IThe Art of World War One in 52 PaintingsThe Ballad of Willie McBride and the Futility of War5 Light Machine Guns of World War One World War IIInfographic Video Smashes Home the Shocking Losses of World War Two8 May 1945: Victory in Europe Day and the Defeat of the AxisThe Shocking Scale of Holocaust Killing by Country Contributors 10 Facts About the Fall of the Roman Empire By Colin Ricketts Classical Antiquity, Romans / Last Updated: January 20, 2015 Share this However enduring and far reaching Rome’s influence was and continues to be, all empires eventually come to an end. Rome may be the Eternal City, but like the Republic before it, the same cannot be said for the Empire.What follows are 10 interesting facts about Rome’s fall.1. The date of the Fall of the Roman Empire is hard to pinpointWhen Emperor Romulus was deposed in 476 AD and replaced by Odoacer, the first King of Italy, many historians believe the Empire was over.2. The ‘Fall of the Roman Empire’ usually refers to just the Western EmpireByzantine Emperor JustinianThe Eastern Roman Empire, with its capital in Constantinople (now Istanbul) and called the Byzantine Empire, survived in one form or another until 1453.3. The Empire was put under pressure during the Migration PeriodMap by “MapMaster” via Wikimedia CommonsFrom 376 AD large numbers of Germanic tribes were pushed into the Empire by the westward movement of the Huns.4. In 378 AD Goths defeated and killed Emperor Valens in the Battle of AdrianopleLarge parts of the east of the Empire were left open to attack. After this defeat ‘barbarians’ were an accepted part of the Empire, sometimes military allies and sometimes foes.5. Alaric, the Visigothic leader who led the 310 AD Sack of Rome, wanted above all to be a RomanHe felt that promises of integration into the Empire, with land, money and office, had been broken and sacked the city in revenge for this perceived treachery.6. The Sack of Rome, now the capital of the Christian religion, had enormous symbolic powerIt inspired St Augustine, an African Roman, to write City of God, an important theological argument that Christians should focus on the heavenly rewards of their faith rather than earthly matters.7. The Crossing of the Rhine in 405/6 AD brought around 100,000 barbarians (30,000 of whom were fighting men) into the EmpireBarbarian factions, tribes and war leaders were now a factor in the power struggles at the top of Roman politics and one of the once-strong boundaries of the Empire had proved to be permeable.8. In 439 AD Vandals captured Carthage, the taking of which had signalled the start of the Roman state’s long expansionist phaseThe loss of tax revenues and food supplies from North Africa was a terrible blow to the Western Empire.9. After the death of Libius Severusin in 465 AD, the Western Empire had no emperor for two years.

10. Julius Nepos still claimed to be Western Roman Emperor until 480 AD.