Fall of the Western Roman Empire
Describe how the Western Roman Empire gradually declined due to a combination of factors — military pressure from invading peoples, political instability, economic problems, and an overstretched empire — and finally fell in AD 476, while the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire continued for nearly a thousand more years
What a learner can do afterwards
- Name at least two reasons why the Western Roman Empire declined and fell
- State the date AD 476 as when the last Western Roman emperor was removed
- Explain that the Eastern (Byzantine) Empire survived for nearly 1,000 years after the West fell
The lesson
The Western Roman Empire did not fall in a single day. Over many years, several problems built up at the same time, and together they made the empire too weak to survive.
In AD 476, a Germanic commander named Odoacer removed the last Western Roman emperor, a boy named Romulus Augustulus. No new Western emperor ever took his place, so historians mark AD 476 as the end of the Western Roman Empire.
Rome did not vanish. The Eastern half, known as the Byzantine Empire, survived until AD 1453, almost 1,000 years after the West fell.
The Western Roman Empire crumbled from years of invasions, weak leaders, and money troubles, ending in AD 476, while the Eastern Roman Empire lived on for almost a thousand years more.
Watch it
Where it sits
Learn first
This opens up
Nothing builds on it yet.
Where this leads
Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.