Fall of the Roman Empire

According to ancient history, the fall of Roman Empire signaled the start of the Middle Ages in Europe.  Prior to this key point in history, Rome was considered to be one of the world’s greatest civilizations.  Back then, Rome was not just the city that we know of today – but every part of the world which was dominated by the Romans.

The ancient city of Rome was founded way back in 753 B.C.  Since then, Rome started to dominate its neighboring cities and other places in Italy. Can you imagine how powerful an empire they were that they managed to control more than two million square miles of land surface?

Even up to this day, the influence of the Romans on the language, architecture, religion, philosophy, law and government of countries around the world are impacted by this once-powerful empire.

Key Dates during the Fall of the Roman Empire

The fall of Roman Empire is a significant piece of world history which has fascinated scholars from around the globe because of it is something which is still being debated upon.

Up to now, what we only have are little tidbits and theories as to what brought about the fall of the Roman Empire.  To more of an idea about this part of history, here are a few key dates which led to Roman Empire to be brought down to its knees, thereby signifying the start of the Middle Ages in Europe:

410 – Alaric, the king of German tribe Visigoths, led his army to the gates of the Roman city.  His mission back then was to ask the city’s authorities to grant the Visigoths their financial subsidies.  His request was ignored, which led Alaric to order his troops to attack the Roman capital.

This began the development of a crack on the façade of the seemingly invincible Roman Empire because nobody had an idea that they will be sacked by the Visigoths.  This is in spite of the fact that the empire’s fortunes has been on a decline for the past 200 years.

The beginning of the fourth century – Germans began entering the Roman Empire in larger numbers. Slavs from Eastern Europe and the Huns from north-central Asia began to move to the west of Italy.

Start of the sixth century – this was the time in the history of the Roman Empire that their occupation of the west ceased. Germans would eventually be known as the successor states. It was also during the sixth century that the Ostrogoths from Eastern Europe became one of the largest barbarian tribes who gained control of the entire Italian peninsula. The loss of Italy and the entire western area of the occupation of the Roman Empire was the beginning of the end.

Today, the fall of the Roman empire and the Middle Ages are still two of the most interesting parts of world history – which offers us a glimpse of how the Eternal City of today, Rome – has come about.