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Main article:Fall
of the Western Roman Empire
In the late 4th and 5th centuries the Western Empire entered a critical stage
which terminated with the fall
of the Western Roman Empire.[136] Under
the last of the Constantinians and the Valentinian dynasty, Rome lost decisive
battles against the Persians and
Germanic barbarians: in 363, emperor Julian
the Apostate was killed in the Battle
of Samarra, against the Persians and the Battle
of Adrianople cost the life of
emperor Valens (364–378);
the victorious Goths were
never expelled from the Empire nor assimilated.[137] Theodosius (379–395)
gave even more force to the Christian faith; after his death, the Empire was
divided into theEastern
Roman Empire, ruled by Arcadius and
the Western
Roman Empire, commanded by Honorius;
both were Theodosius' sons.
The situation became more critical in 408, after the death of Stilicho,
a general who tried to reunite the Empire and repel barbarian invasion in the
early years of the 5th century. The professional field army collapsed. In 410,
the Theodosian dynasty saw the Visigoths sack
Rome.[138] During
the 5th century, the Western Empire saw a significant reduction of its
territory. The Vandals conquered
North Africa, theVisigoths claimed Gaul, Hispania was
taken by the Suebi, Britain was
abandoned by the central government, and the Empire suffered further from the
invasions of Attila,
chief of the Huns.[139][140][141][142][143][144]
General Orestes refused
to meet the demands of the barbarian "allies" who now formed the army, and tried
to expel them from Italy. Unhappy with this, their chieftain Odoacer defeated
and killed Orestes, invadedRavenna and
dethroned Romulus
Augustus, son of Orestes. This event happened in 476, and historians usually
take it as the mark of the end of Classical
Antiquity and beginning of the Middle
Ages.[145][146]
After some 1200 years of independence and nearly 700 years as a great power, the
rule of Rome in the West ended.[147] Various
reasons why it ended have been proposed ever since, including loss of
Republicanism, moral decay, military tyranny, class war, slavery, economic
stagnation, environmental change, disease, the decline of the Roman race, as
well as the inevitable ebb and flow that all civilizations experience. At the
time many pagans argued Christianity and the decline of traditional Roman
religion were responsible, as did some rationalist thinkers of the modern era
due to a change from a martial to a more pacifist religion that lessened the
size of available soldiers, while Christians such as Saint
Augustine argued the sinful
nature of Roman society itself was to blame.[148]
The Eastern Empire had a different fate. It survived for almost 1000 years after
the fall of its Western
counterpart and became the most
stable Christian realm during
the Middle Ages. During the 6th century,Justinian briefly
reconquered Northern
Africa and Italy, but Byzantine
possessions in the West were reduced to southern
Italy and Sicilywithin
a few years after Justinian's death.[149] In
the east, partially resulting from the destructive Plague
of Justinian, the Byzantines were threatened by the rise of Islam, whose
followers rapidly conquered
the territories of Syria, Armenia and Egypt
during the Byzantine-Arab
Wars, and soon presented a direct threat
to Constantinople.[150][151] In
the following century, the Arabs also captured
southern Italy and Sicily.[152] Slavic
populations were also able to penetrate deep into the Balkans.
The Byzantines, however, managed to stop further Islamic expansion into their
lands during the 8th century and, beginning in the 9th century, reclaimed parts
of the conquered lands.[23][153] In
1000 AD, the Eastern Empire was at its height: Basileios II reconquered
Bulgaria and Armenia, culture and trade flourished.[154] However,
soon after the expansion was abruptly stopped in 1071 with their defeat in the Battle
of Manzikert. The aftermath of this important battle sent the empire into a
protracted period of decline. Two decades of internal strife andTurkic invasions
ultimately paved the way for Emperor Alexius I
Comnenus to send a call for help
to the Western Europe kingdoms in 1095.[150]
The West responded with the Crusades,
eventually resulting in the Sack
of Constantinople by participants
in the Fourth
Crusade. The conquest of Constantinople in 1204 fragmented what remained of
the Empire into successor states, the ultimate victor being that of Nicaea.[155] After
the recapture of Constantinople by Imperial forces, the Empire was little more
than a Greek state confined to the Aegean coast.
The Roman Empire collapsed when Mehmed II conquered
Constantinople on 29 May, 1453.[156]
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