2 Main Points:

1) Foreign invasions and political/social/economic

problems led to the collapse of the western “1/2” of the

Roman Empire.

2) As the Western Roman Empire began to fall apart,

the Christian religion and Church, which was rapidly

gaining strength and influence, replaced many of the

Roman Empire’s functions.

A. Pax Roman (200 year peace started with

Caesar Augustus) ends with Marcus Aurielis in

180 CE

B. Political problems begin brewing by 200 CE

1. Roman Emperors replaced the Senate as leaders of the Roman empire

2. ambitious generals with loyal Roman legions won rebellions; then were later overthrown

○ a. 26 emperors in 50 years, but only one died of natural causes

3. political order and efficiency was replaced by political violence and instability

○ a. Roman armies fighting other roman legions way too frequently

C. Economic and Social Problems

1. business peoples and small farmers were forced to

pay heavy taxes to pay for the government and Roman

legions

○ a. Rome now had to hire non-Romans to help fight in their

many battles

2. overworked Italian farmland became exhausted and

produced less and less

3. beginning of serfdom

C. Economic and Social Problems

3. beginning of serfdom

○ a. poor Romans were forced to seek protection from

wealthy landowners

○ b. the wealthy landowners allowed the poor farmers to

work a small part of their land, if they worked all of it too

○ c. though technically free, the serfs could not leave and

serfdom was similar to slavery

D. The Emperor Diocletian

1. in divides the Roman Empire into

an eastern and western Roman empire

○ a. appoints a co-emperor for the west who was loyal to him

○ b. keeps the wealthier and easier to govern eastern half

○ c. surrounds the position of Emperor with elaborate rituals

and exaltation

E. The Emperor Constantine

1. in 312 CE becomes Roman Emperor

2. does 2 things that drastically change western

history

a. (1) issues the which allows Christianity

in the Roman Empire; guarantees success of

Christianity

E. The Emperor Constantine

1. in 312 CE becomes Roman Emperor

2. does 2 things that drastically change western

history

b. (2) built a new capital city; i. by doing so, he shifted the capital and heart of the Roman Empire

away from the city of Rome and east to the new city of

Constantinople with the Greeks

F. Foreign Invasions

1. the Romans had always held the

east of the river Rhine and north of the Danube River

2. Remember: the Roman armies have hired a huge

number of mercenaries troops (mostly Germanic tribes)

○ a. mercenary troops fight for a paycheck and not for an

idealistic cause

F. Foreign Invasions

3. The set off a major chain

reaction

○ a. battles in eastern Asia send the

Huns into contact and conflict with

Germanic tribes (but not Romans)

○ b. the Huns were very skilled horse-

riding warriors who could really fight

i. the Huns wanted nothing but to conquer

and plunder (complete opposites of

Romans)

ii. led by the infamous ;

“Scourge of God” in 434 CE

F. Foreign Invasions

3. The Huns set off a major chain reaction

○ c. by , the Huns entered eastern Europe and

i. Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Vandals, Lombards, Franks and others

hope Rome will protect them from the Huns

VII. The Long Decline

F. Foreign Invasions

5. Roman Defeat

○ a. –

Romans lose to Visigoths

VII. The Long Decline

F. Foreign Invasions

4. Rome cannot stop

Germanic tribes from

entering

and

first

Britain, then France

and Spain

VII. The Long Decline

F. Foreign Invasions

5. Roman Defeat

○ b. in

the actual city of

(Vae Victus - woe to the

vanquished)

○ c.

and Carthage

○ d. in

...the “fall” of western

Rome was complete

• P. 150

• Divided empire

• Corrupt officials

• Erosion of traditional values

• Heavy taxes

• Bread and Circuses

• Military Invasions

• First the Huns; then the

Germans

• Population decline

• Self-serving upper-class

(patricians)

• Unstable government full of

violence

• Weakened Roman Legions

• Reliance on Mercenaries