Fall of the Western Roman Empire. Causes of the collapse of the Roman Empire

The fall of the Roman Empire is often associated with the era of the Great Migration. Let's figure out whether this process is the root cause of the collapse of the largest empire in the world at that time? In what year did the fall of the Roman Empire occur or does this event not have an exact date?

Causes of the collapse of the Roman Empire

With the growth of lands controlled by Rome, its fragmentation into provinces also increased. After the land reforms of the Gracchi brothers, subsistence farming began to develop in Rome, which entailed a reduction in the share of the processing industry, and prices for transporting goods increased. Trade began to experience an extreme decline, which led to the cessation of relations between some provinces.

The increase in taxes affected the solvency of the population. Small landowners began to ask for protection from large owners, which completely ruined them and created a layer of large feudal lords.

The decline of the economy caused a wave of indignation in the country. The empire experienced a demographic crisis - the mortality rate increased and the birth rate decreased. The policy of allowing barbarians to settle in the border territories of the empire allowed the situation in the country to be improved, provided that they took an oath to defend their new homeland.

Rice. 1. The Roman Empire during the period of its power.

With the replenishment of the empire's population by barbarians, their number also increases by military service. The native Romans no longer had any interest in military service, where they went to get land and wealth - they already had it all. Barbarians began to occupy leadership positions, first in the army and then in politics. There was increasing social apathy among the native Romans. There has been a destruction of spirituality and patriotism in society.

TOP 4 articleswho are reading along with this

In the later history of the empire, there was no strong political figure like Caesar or Pompey at the head of power. The frequent change of emperors reduced the authority of the imperial title itself.

And, of course, the decayed society and weakened army could no longer compete with the barbarians advancing on the borders of the empire. Needed more effective method government to counter external threats.

Reforms of Diocletian and Constantine

In order to prevent further weakening of the empire, a more effective system of managing it was required. Emperor Diocletian (285-305) carried out a reform, dividing the empire into 4 parts between two Caesars, who took two Augusti as assistants. This was the beginning of the divisions of the empire. Diocletian deprived Rome of the status of the capital, finally deprived the Senate of its last functions, united the imperial treasury with the state treasury, and abolished the division of provinces into senate and imperial.

Constantine the Great (306-337), who ascended the throne after him, continued his work. He began to independently appoint officials in the provinces, and also officially recognized Christianity as a religion in the empire.

Rice. 2. Constantine the Great 306-337.

Fall of the Empire

In 378, the first major clash of Goths fleeing the Hun invasion took place in the Balkans. Choosing a war against the Romans or the Huns, they preferred the former and won the battle of Adrianople.

In this battle, the Roman army was destroyed and the emperor was killed. Since then, the empire's army was entirely mercenary, and mostly barbarians served.

After this battle, the ever-increasing attacks of the barbarians could no longer be stopped. Internecine wars and the struggle for the throne weakened the country even more. In its western part, people spoke Latin and the denarius was in circulation, while in its eastern part the Greek language was used and the drachma was used as money.

Rice. 3. Division of the Roman Empire.

All this forced the dying Emperor Theodosius in 395 to permanently divide the empire into Western Roman and Eastern Roman, handing over the reins of power to his sons Honorius and Arcadius, respectively. This is where the history of the united Roman Empire ends. The fates of the two sister empires will be different and the Western Roman Empire will fall as the logical conclusion of the fall of a single empire. The eastern half would exist as Byzantium for more than ten centuries.

Probably, any schoolchild who does not skip history classes will be able to tell when the Roman Empire collapsed. But today not everyone knows or remembers the reasons for the collapse of the state, which seemed unshakable and even eternal for several centuries. We'll try to fix this. And let's start from the times when Rome was just gaining power, so that it becomes clearer what processes were going on in the state, when it collapsed and why this happened.

How the Romans gained power

This powerful power existed for almost five centuries - like most others, first rapidly gaining influence, and then losing it even faster.

It emerged as an empire in 27 BC. But Rome itself, becoming more and more powerful and enlightened, was founded back in 753 BC. The first ruler was Romulus - according to legend, he and his brother Remus were raised by a she-wolf. Over the next seven centuries, the country saw everything - wars, betrayals, fraternal strife, changes of rulers.

However, all this time the state and the people were gaining power. As a result, 27 years before the advent of our era, a powerful political union was formed, called an empire. At this moment, a truly huge territory was under the influence of Emperor Augustus - almost the entire basin Mediterranean Sea several hundred kilometers deep (Europe, Asia, Africa), as well as the entire territory Western Europe, including parts of modern Britain.

The Romans even managed to defeat the Hellenes, a powerful people who had enormous influence throughout the region. Alas, after several centuries of prosperity and growth, the inevitable decline began.

Date of breakup

If you're wondering when the Roman Empire fell, the year is pretty accurate - 395 AD. However, one should not think that this was the end of the powerful state. Not at all, just the far-sighted and wise Emperor Theodosius the First, trying to push back the almost inevitable death of his power, divided it into two parts. Perhaps this was a mistake, but after that one of the parts existed for almost a century, and the other for almost a millennium and a half, leaving many traces in the history of mankind.

Separately, it is worth clarifying one nuance. Many novice historians are seriously interested in when the Holy Roman Empire collapsed, considering it the power that was glorified by Caesar and Augustus, tens of thousands of legionnaires carrying civilization on the tips of their gladians. Of course it is serious mistake. After all, the Holy Roman Empire appeared only in 962. And even in its heyday, it included only the northern part of Italy, which was the successor to the Roman Empire. But it included the entire territory of modern Germany, the Czech Republic and some regions of France. It was located in Central Europe, that is, much further north and partly on lands that were never part of the Roman Empire. Emperors repeatedly sent their legions here, but few returned from these harsh places.

And this empire collapsed only in 1806, having survived not only the Western Roman Empire, but also the Eastern.

Prerequisites for the fall

Let's start with the fact that it had a huge area. Judge for yourself - from Austria in the north to Algeria in the south, from England in the west to Turkey in the east. This is truly a gigantic political unit, which would be very difficult to monitor even today, in the era of the Internet and high-speed airplanes. What can we say about the ancient centuries - any news, even the most important, reached the emperor in a few days at best, and more often - weeks.

Of course, with such a size of the empire, corruption flourished in many places, especially on the outskirts, although Rome itself was infected with it - most influential officials did not leave the capital and were simply content with the privileges that the actions of their fathers and grandfathers bestowed upon them.

The proximity to barbarians also did not add to the peace of mind ordinary people, nor politicians. If earlier legionnaires boldly pushed back superior forces using tactics and advanced weapons, now those in power preferred to solve the problem with bribery. Many barbarian leaders received titles and were part of the ruling elite.

The army was rapidly disintegrating. Extremely low salaries played an important role - senior officials they simply took the lion's share of the money intended for the legionnaires for themselves. But even more a terrible blow there was a loss of patriotism. Previously, legionnaires went on the most dangerous missions with delight, knowing that if they died, it would be for the glory of Rome and Caesar. Now, seeing in the ruling elite the Gauls, Franks, Ostrogoths, Saxons and representatives of other tribes, whom true Romans were accustomed to consider second-class citizens, many simply deserted, not wanting to shed blood for an empire that had lost honor and a single nationality.

Causes of the crash

It is simply impossible to say unequivocally why the Roman Empire collapsed. We can only identify the main reasons.

Let's start with the economy. It relied primarily on slaves. Even the poorest citizens of the empire were considered shameful to work in the fields or construction - for this they came from the slave class. But the slaves did not at all want to remain dumb property. Uprisings broke out more and more often. Sometimes tiny ones, during which the overseers were killed and the villas of the owners were burned. Sometimes large-scale, covering entire cities.

The weakness of the army also affected - few people wanted to shed blood on the borders, defending the empire from the Gauls and Franks, knowing that people from these tribes had long taken a place in the government.

All this led to instability reigning in the country. People were simply afraid to give birth to children, unsure that they would be able to feed and protect them.

And the absence of children deprived the lives of many people of meaning. If there is no way to bequeath your wealth to your descendants, then what is the point of increasing it? Many citizens of the empire preferred to spend whole days in pleasant and harmful activities: feasts, depraved orgies, excessive consumption of wine.

Therefore, we can say with confidence that by the time the Roman Empire collapsed, the powerful people who created it simply did not exist.

Fatal coincidence

As mentioned above, call the only reason the collapse of the empire is impossible. To date, experts have put forward as many as 210 versions! But that they are intertwined in the most unfortunate way can be argued without a doubt.

People who are not ready to give birth to children, a decline in morality, a completely demoralized army, external and internal enemies, instability - some reasons clung to others, which led to the fact that it became impossible to manage a huge empire.

The sharp transition from habitual paganism to Christianity also contributed. Supporters of the new religion zealously began to destroy the culture and science towards which the Romans had been moving for several centuries. Perhaps this accelerated the process of collapse of the Roman Empire.

What parts was the empire divided into?

If you are interested in which states the Roman Empire collapsed into, then this question can be answered unequivocally: none. Because there was no official breakup. Simply, Emperor Theodosius the First divided his possessions into two parts. Western Empire he bequeathed the eldest son Flavius, and the Eastern one to the younger Honorius. He sensibly reasoned that it would be easier to restore order in a smaller area than in a huge one. But there was no official breakup. The usual took place administrative division. So it is impossible to say that the Roman Empire fell into two parts. Alas, this did not save either the Roman Empire or the people of Rome.

The fate of the eastern part

The further future of the Eastern Roman Empire, also known to us as Byzantium, was developing, although not brilliantly, but quite well. For many centuries, the people managed to repel raids from the southeast, although over time they had to pay off their northern neighbors more than once - from the Vikings to the Slavs, who went on military campaigns against them.

Alas, gradually Ottoman Empire, having gained enormous power, was able to crush a fragment of a once powerful power. And we know exactly when the Eastern Roman Empire collapsed - it happened when the Sultan captured Constantinople, finally turning Byzantium into part of his empire.

What happened to the Western

The history of the Western Roman Empire turned out to be much shorter. It lasted less than a century and was abolished in 476. Why did the Western Roman Empire collapse? Because, unlike the East, it was constantly subject to raids by stronger barbarians - people from the harsh Central and Northern Europe.

The once simply unpleasant proximity to barbarians has become critical. Constant raids finally undermined the power of the country. Scorched crops, devastated cities - the Romans could not resist this. As a result, on September 4, 476, the barbarian leader Odoacer deposed the last young emperor, founding a new state - Italy. Well, the Western Roman Empire collapsed.

So the history of a powerful empire began with Romulus and ended with Romulus.

Consequences

When the Roman Empire collapsed, many cultural and scientific achievements were lost. To again reach those heights in construction, medicine and mathematics, Europeans had to spend many centuries.

Cultural monuments, carefully protected for centuries, were destroyed by Christians as a relic of godless paganism.

But what’s even worse, the fall of the Roman Empire (or rather, Byzantium) allowed countless hordes of Turkic peoples to penetrate into Europe and shed the blood of local residents for several centuries, driving hundreds of thousands of people into slavery.

What states were formed on the territory of a powerful empire

But the fall of the Roman Empire did not bury Europe, as many philosophers predicted. On the territory of its western part, although not immediately, such states as Spain, Italy, France, Portugal, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and also partially Algeria and Egypt arose.

On the lands where the Eastern Roman Empire was once located, Greece, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Albania, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as parts of Turkey, Ukraine, and Hungary appeared.

Conclusion

This ends our short excursion into history.

Now you have a much better understanding of questions about when and for what reasons the collapse of the Roman Empire occurred, which means you will be able to show off your erudition in any conversation.

Significance of the event

The fall of the Western Roman Empire is an event of global significance. After all, it was the Roman Empire that was the stronghold of ancient civilization. Its vast expanses covered lands from the Strait of Gibraltar and the Iberian Peninsula in the western direction to the eastern regions of Asia Minor. After the division of the Roman Empire in 395 into two independent states eastern territories went to Byzantium (Eastern Roman Empire). Byzantium, after the fall of the western half of the state in 476, existed for another thousand years. Its end is considered to be 1453.

Reasons for the collapse of the Empire

By the 3rd century, the Roman Empire had entered a period of protracted political and economic crisis. Emperors lost importance in the eyes of provincial governors. Each of them tried to become an emperor himself. Some managed to achieve this using the support of their legions.

In addition to internal contradictions, constant raids on northern borders barbarian tribes.

Note 1

Barbarians are peoples who are foreigners to the Greeks and Romans. Derived from the ancient Greek barbaros - not Greek. The peoples spoke a language incomprehensible to the Greeks and Romans. They perceived their speech as muttering “var-var.” All tribes invading the territory of the Roman Empire and forming their own kingdoms there were called barbarians.

The most influential and assertive tribes were the Goths, Visigoths, Franks and Alemanni. By the beginning of the 5th century, Germanic tribes displaced the Turkic peoples. The most aggressive tribe was the Huns.

One more reason can be identified: the weakening of imperial power. This led to the emergence of separatist sentiments on the outskirts and the desire for the sovereignty of individual parts of the state.

Main events

Attempts to stop the collapse that had begun are associated with the names of the emperors Diocletian and Constantine. They managed to slow down the collapse of the empire, but they could not completely stop its approach. Diocletian left behind two important problems:

1. barbarization of the army;
2. the infusion of barbarians into the empire.

Constantine the Great continued the work of his predecessor. His reforms continued the transformations that had begun and completed them. An explosion of hidden problems occurred in 410, when the Goths were able to capture the Eternal City. A little later (in 455) it was plundered again, this time by vandals. In 476, the German general Odoacer killed Romulus, the last legitimate emperor. The Western Roman Empire fell.

Note 2

Odoacer - years of life 433-493. He led a barbarian army in 470 and led it to Rome. In 476, having killed Emperor Romulus Augustus, he became king of Italy.

Consequences of the fall of the Western Roman Empire

The consequences of the destruction of a state that had existed for twelve centuries were contradictory. On the one hand, the barbarization of social relations began. Large quantity the barbarians who poured into the territory of the empire were not accepted by the established Roman social norms, destroyed them and replaced them with their barbaric ideas of morality. Many cultural monuments the Romans were destroyed, as they were of no value to the barbarian peoples. And finally, the Roman Empire was a barrier to the advance of barbarians across Europe. Its fall opened up free access for the Turkic peoples to the benefits of Roman civilization and made the Europeans dependent on barbarian raids.

At the same time, Christian ideology begins to spread. Social life was placed under the supervision of the church, the Middle Ages began.

It continued to exist, however, having lost its global significance, it became empty. The Roman Forum, the place where human destinies were decided, was overgrown with grass. The brutal sack of the city indicated the imminent fall of the Roman Empire as a whole. Few doubted the impending decline of culture and power. Anticipating the catastrophe, Regius Augustine (bishop of the city, one of the leading figures of Christianity in the early 5th century) began to create his famous work “On the City of God.” In it, he reflected on the rise and fall of earthly kingdoms, including Rome. Augustine put forward a theory about a divine city that would replace the existing empires on earth.

Great value in the decline of the kingdom is assigned (4-7 centuries). During this period, the Huns who left China moved west. They began to crowd out the tribes that inhabited the territories along their path, forcing the inhabitants to leave their places and move to the territory of the Roman Empire.

The most warlike and numerous tribes at that time were the German Vandals and Goths. The Romans had long encountered them and repelled their attacks. Moreover, some were federates (allies) of Rome. The Germans served in the army of the Empire, reaching high positions and holding very honorable positions.

From the end of the 4th century, the advance of the Germanic tribes began to take on the character of an invasion. It became more and more difficult to resist him.

The Goths inhabited the Black Sea region before they began to disturb the Romans. From the 3rd century, other nationalities began to join the Gothic tribes. Thus, an association of barbarians was formed.

The Gothic tribes were divided into two groups: the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths. After being attacked by the Huns in 375, the Goths were forced to cross the Danube. Thus, they ended up on the territory of the Roman Empire.

The Goths were allowed to settle as federals. However, famine reigned in their tribes, people were dying. The Goths considered the Romans responsible for their troubles. A rebellion broke out. In 378, the Romans were defeated at Adrianople. Their emperor disappeared without a trace.

At the beginning of the 5th century, the Goths again attacked Italy. In 410, the siege of Rome began, causing famine and the spread of disease among the inhabitants. The Gothic leader Alaric demanded a huge ransom from the townspeople. The Romans began melting down their statues to make ingots to give to the leader of the Goths. But Alaric, tired of waiting, took the city. For the first time in many centuries, the “Eternal City” was captured. In three days, Rome became almost extinct and dilapidated.

In 455, the Vandals moved to Italy. For two weeks they plundered and burned Rome. Tens of thousands of inhabitants were killed, the rest were taken into slavery. The empress and her daughters were also captured.

The fall of the Roman Empire occurred rapidly. The state, weakening, could not provide protection to its subjects. Both rich and poor were defenseless against the onslaught of enemies.

However, the reasons for the fall of the Roman Empire were not only the invasion of invaders. According to one of the ancient historians, the inhabitants of the country themselves became their own worst enemies. Slaves and the poor suffered from excessive taxes. The land became desolate, people died of hunger. In order to survive, the population often went into the service of the barbarians, believing that it was better to accept other morals and lack of freedom than injustice and cruelty in their own country.

The fall of the Roman Empire is conventionally dated to 476, when the last ruler, the boy Romulus Augustine, was deposed.

Saint Augustine in his work called the death of the kingdom a retribution for all his terrible sins of the past. The Church Father did not see any possibility of saving Rome.

Traveling around Rome and admiring the preserved sights, every tourist thinks about why such strong civilization ceased to exist. The decline and fall of the Roman Empire cannot be reduced to a single cause.

One version dates the death of the Roman Empire to 410 AD, when Gothic tribes led by Alaric invaded the territory. The Gothic tribes were Christians, so they did not commit massacres and did not destroy buildings, but only robbed, took out jewelry, and removed valuable decorations from buildings.

According to the second version, Rome was destroyed to the ground later, in 476, by the leader of the barbarian Germanic tribe of the Heruli, Odoacer, who forced the last emperor of Rome, young Romulus Augustus, to abdicate.

However, according to many researchers, the fall of Rome began much earlier and was caused not only by such obvious reasons as raids by external aggressors. The beginning of the crisis in the Roman Empire dates back to the 3rd century, after the political, economic, religious and cultural life of the Romans had profoundly changed. Now historians name more than 210 reasons for the fall. Let's look at some of them.

Lack of a strong leader

The Roman Empire began to experience a frequent change of emperors, rulers of regions and provinces who did not have political power, authority and foresight.

Among government officials, non-Roman nationalities are increasingly appearing, which also reduces authority and absolutely destroys the patriotic idea.

Barbarization

A significant proportion of the population of Rome during the period of decline were representatives of barbarian tribes who did not have a developed culture and ideology. Due to the difference in development level public relations Assimilation of representatives of these tribes into Roman society occurs little. However, Rome is forced to maintain peaceful relations with the barbarians, since a significant part of the army was formed from their ranks.

Army crisis

External enemies, advancing from all sides in small and numerous detachments, did not meet with resistance from the Roman army, weakened by poor maintenance and extreme exploitation, without strong leaders and not inspired by a patriotic idea.
The military leaders appropriated most of the soldiers' salaries and allowances, so the lower ranks were extremely demoralized, and cases of looting against their compatriots became more frequent. The ranks of the armed forces were replenished slightly for a number of reasons:

• Declining birth rate;
• The reluctance of land owners to give up their slaves and hired workers as soldiers and to lose cheap labor;
• Reluctance of city residents to join the army due to low wages.

Sometimes these phenomena are associated with a movement such as pacifism. However main reason crisis - the destruction of the professional army, the loss of military discipline, an increase in the number of soldiers from among poorly trained recruits - former peasants - and barbarians who settled on the territory of the Roman Empire.

Slave owners and slaves

Official version of school textbooks: Rome was destroyed. Exploitation gave rise to disturbances and slave uprisings, which broke out regularly. The uprisings were of various scales: the homes of landowners were burned, tools and domestic animals were destroyed, slaves refused to work.

To suppress the slave uprisings, the help of the military was required, but they barely had time to repel the attacks of external enemies.

Slavery led to extreme decline agriculture, destruction of the country's economy.

• Read also:

Economic crisis

The Roman Empire was experiencing a period of fragmentation into provinces, large holdings were divided into small ones, and partially leased to small landowners and slaves. Subsistence farming began to predominate, the share of processing sectors of the economy decreased, and prices for the transportation of goods increased. Trade is experiencing an extreme decline, and relations between some provinces are completely terminated.

The state raised taxes, but the solvency of the population fell sharply, and there was nothing to pay taxes with. Inflation was followed by a reduction in the amount of money in the country.

Small agricultural farms began to unite into communes or ask for protection from large land owners - the process of separating large feudal lords and the final ruin of the small peasantry began.

Demographic crisis

The decline of the economy and successive years of bad harvests caused famine in the country, a wave infectious diseases. The mortality rate is increasing, the birth rate is sharply decreasing. The government issues several decrees on supporting families with children and on benefits for the children of barbarians, but in Rome the number of older and elderly people is steadily increasing, and society is aging.

Social reasons

The middle class is gradually going bankrupt, urban culture, production and trade are declining, and mass unrest is arising. The second side is the so-called social apathy, the destruction of spirituality and patriotism.

Crisis of spirituality

The ideal is gradually destroyed and forgotten harmoniously developed person, a proud Roman who serves his city-state, building his life on the basis of social principles. There is a crisis in art: literature, architecture, sculpture.

The moral decay of the population is often associated with the rise of vices, debauchery, and homosexuality.