How Did The Fall Of The Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was incredibly large and successful. In the prime of the empire population reached up to 56.8 million people. The land they conquered amasses to an outrageous 1 million square miles. Their influence is so great that even now people can see their imprint in architecture, law, and even helping spread Christianity, the world’s most populous religion. These amazing facts also begs a question. How did one of the world’s greatest civilization fall? Well, the fall of Roman Empire in 476 ACE was aided by ineffective rulers, the crumbling economy, and the invasion of the Germanic Tribes. Ineffective leaders are one reason why the Roman Empire came to its demise. After the reign of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, the Roman Empire started

This did not do the Western Half of the Empire many favors. Enacting this move did make the Western Half of the Empire vulnerable to attack from Germanic Tribes, and less prosperous(The Fall of the Roman Empire). It did also preserved and the Eastern Half of the Empire, as the Byzantine Empire. So,when people refer to the fall of the Roman Empire, they are only taking about the Western Roman Empire that fell in 476 ACE. The Byzantine Empire fell 1000 years later, when the Ottoman turks conquered them(Beck 176). Technically, the Roman Empire didn’t fall until the 1400’s. Splitting up the Empire at the Time made sense, because the Roman Empire was too big to rule effectively by one man. Moving the the capital to Constantinople also made sense, because first it was located on a peninsula, which made defending the capital easier. Secondly, since the capital was located on the frontiers of the Empire, reacting to external threats became much easier(The Fall of the Roman Empire). Even though moving the capital and splitting the Empire was ill advised for the Western Roman Empire, it did save the Eastern Roman Empire(Byzantine Empire) for the next 1000 years(The Fall of the Roman