Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

  • The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire describes the period between 165-476 CE, when a combination of Plague, Germanic Invasions and Civil Wars split the Roman Empire in half.
  • The western empire disintegrated completely whilst the eastern empire went on to become the Byzantine Empire.

The Causes of the Decline and Fall of the Western Roman Empire

The Decline started in 165 CE with the first of the Germanic invasions known as the Marcomannic Wars and ends in 476 CE with the last Roman Emperor of the West.

  1. Antonine Plague (165-180 CE)
    • Possibly up to five million persons lost their lives between 165-180 CE.
    • This permanently weakened the economy and the military.
    • The Germanic Tribes saw this as an opportunity to start their waves of invasions.
  2. Germanic Invasions (166-476 CE)
    • Augustus (31 BCE – 14 CE) had anticipated this threat and placed 8 Legions along the Rhine, and 8 Legions along the Danube.
    • But taking advantage of the Antonine Plague, the German Tribes started their mass invasions with the Marcomannic Wars 165-80 CE. This led eventually to Alaric the Visigoth’s first Sack of Rome in 410 CE.
    • During this period, successive waves of Germanic Tribes were allowed to settle inside the western Roman Empire, yet retain their military organisation, as distinct from the Roman Army, ultimately creating an enemy within.
  3. Crisis of the Third Century (235-284 CE)
    • This was a devastating sequence of civil wars with the whole sections of the Empire breaking away.
    • The Emperors strength lay in their control of the Legions, but Rome lay open to any Commander who chose to take those Legions and rebel.
  4. Diocletian (284-305 CE)
    • He first split the Roman Empire into East and West and called it the Diarchy (Rule of two).
    • Diocletian then created the Tetrarchy (Rule of four) to prevent any further attempts by Generals and Governors to breakaway from Rome.
    • Diocletian divided the Empire into two halves, the Western Roman Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire.
    • However, this led to the two Emperors challenging each other for power.
    • Theodosius I made the split official in 395 CE when each of his sons inherited half of the Empire.
    • Eventually the Eastern Roman Empire transformed itself into the Byzantine Empire, whilst the Western Roman Empire collapsed.
  5. Inflation: The Economy.
  6. The Cost of the Military: smaller budget, smaller armies.
    • Although initially Diocletian doubled the size of the Legions to protect the Frontiers.
    • Eventually, as a result of the reduced finances, the size of the Legion had to be reduced from 5,000 men to approximately 1,000 men.
    • This led to a complete change of military strategy, from Offence to Defense. The Frontier Fortresses were depleted, and the Legions moved to the interior. Instead of preventing incursions, the strategy was now to catch the Bands of Marauders as they returned to the Frontier with their Booty.
  7. Rise of Vandal Naval Power (428-477 CE)
    • In 428-477 CE, Geiseric (also known as Genseric), became King of the Vandals between 428-477 CE. In 429 CE, Procopius wrote that the Vandal Fleet transferred 80,000 Vandals from Gaul to North Africa. By 435 CE, the Vandal Kingdom had been established with its Capital and Fleet based at Carthage.
    • In 439 CE, The Vandal Fleet conquered Sicily, Malta, Sardinia and Corsica.
    • In 455 CE, the Vandal Fleet arrived off the Italian coast, and embarked on the Second Sack of Rome. In 456 CE, A Roman Fleet under Flavius Ricimer, defeated a Vandal Fleet off Corsica, but in 461 CE, at the Battle of Cartagena, the Vandal fleet destroyed the West Roman Fleet.
    • In 468 CE, at the Battle of Cape Bon, a combined East and West Roman Fleet was defeated off Tunisia by the Vandal Fleet.
    • In 477 CE, Geiseric died, by which time the Vandal Fleets had become the Sea Power in the Mediterranean.

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