Fall of the Western Roman Empire
Learn about the fall of Rome — how barbarian invasions, economic decline, and internal divisions brought down the Western Roman Empire in 476 CE.
The fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 CE is one of the most analyzed events in all of history. When the Germanic chieftain Odoacer deposed the last Western emperor, Romulus Augustulus, he ended a political entity that had dominated the Mediterranean world for over five centuries. But the 'fall' of Rome was not a single dramatic event — it was a long, complex process of transformation that historians have debated for over 1,500 years.
Edward Gibbon famously blamed Christianity, arguing that otherworldly piety sapped Roman civic virtue. Modern historians offer a more nuanced picture. The empire's sheer size made it difficult to govern and defend. Economic decline, currency debasement, and over-reliance on barbarian mercenaries weakened the state. The division of the empire into Western and Eastern halves in 285 CE meant that the wealthier, more urbanized East increasingly left the West to fend for itself.
The barbarian 'invasions' were often less dramatic than traditionally portrayed. Many Germanic groups had lived within or alongside the empire for generations, serving in Roman armies and adopting Roman customs. The transition in many regions was more gradual than catastrophic. What did end abruptly was centralized political authority in the West. The Eastern Roman Empire — what we call the Byzantine Empire — survived for another thousand years, preserving Roman law, Greek culture, and Christian theology.