Fall of the Western Roman Empire

Setting the scene

By 476 CE, the Western Roman Empire was a shadow—controlling only Italy and parts of Gaul, with real power held by barbarian generals. The last century had seen repeated sacks of Rome, loss of provinces to Visigoths, Vandals, and Franks, economic collapse, and civil wars. The Western emperors were puppets, with power wielded by magistri militum (masters of soldiers) like Ricimer and later Orestes. The Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium) continued in the East, richer and more stable, but increasingly saw the West as a lost cause.

What happened

On September 4, 476, the Germanic chieftain Odoacer, leader of the foederati (barbarian mercenaries), deposed the 16-year-old emperor Romulus Augustulus in Ravenna. Odoacer did not claim the imperial title—instead, he sent the imperial regalia to Eastern Emperor Zeno in Constantinople, declaring the West no longer needed its own emperor. Zeno nominally accepted, though he continued to recognize the deposed Julius Nepos as Western emperor until Nepos' murder in 480. Odoacer ruled Italy as King, nominally under Eastern suzerainty.

Why it still matters

The deposition of Romulus Augustulus is traditionally dated as the fall of the Western Roman Empire, though the transition was gradual—many institutions continued under barbarian kings, and people at the time did not perceive a dramatic break. The date marks the end of the ancient world and beginning of the Middle Ages in Western Europe. The Eastern Empire continued for another 977 years. The fall demonstrated that the Western Empire had become unsustainable—overextended, economically weak, and unable to assimilate barbarian peoples. The date 476 is symbolic rather than a cataclysmic event, but it marks the end of 500 years of Roman rule in the West.

Background

The fall of the Western Roman Empire, also called the fall of the Roman Empire or the fall of Rome, was the loss of central political control in the Western Roman Empire, a process in which the Empire failed to enforce its rule, and its vast territory was divided among several successor polities. The Roman Empire lost the strengths that had allowed it to exercise effective control over its Western provinces; modern historians posit factors including the effectiveness and numbers of the army, the health and numbers of the Roman population, the strength of the economy, the competence of the emperors, the internal struggles for power, the religious changes of the period, and the efficiency of the civil administration. Increasing pressure from invading peoples outside Roman culture also contributed greatly to the collapse. Climatic changes and both endemic and epidemic diseases drove many of these immediate factors. The Eastern Empire continued from Constantinople for centuries.