Fall of Rome - Documentary

Hello and welcome to Fire of Learning, I'm Justin. In the previous video, we discussed the rise of the Roman Empire, from its legendary foundations all the way up to the reign of the Emperor Trajan. You don't have to watch that video to keep up with this one, but if you enjoy this, I would recommend it, as well as the related videos shown here. In this video, we will pick up with Trajan's successor Hadrian, and continue on to the fateful year of 476 AD. And then, ladies and gentlemen, we will ask the important question, was 476 AD truly the end of the Roman Empire? Well, let's get to it. Before we begin, I would like to once again thank Sound Wizard, Pamela Ann Mork, Jeff Smith, Michael Wood, Jonathan Jensen, Jacob Wanz, Stephen Langan, Max Jansen, Brian Noonan, and SunshineOfYourLove for being our most recent supporters on Patreon. They join these supporters listed here who make these videos possible. Emperor Trajan, often considered one of Rome's greatest emperors, died in 117 AD after a 19-year reign. He ruled with the mentality, originating at least as far back as Augustus Caesar, that Rome was destined to be an ever-expanding empire which would rule the world forever. Trajan brought the empire to its greatest territorial extent, as he expanded into modern-day Romania, then known as Dacia, and the Middle East. The mighty Roman Empire, still enjoying its golden age, now stretched from the borders of Scotland to the borders of Iran. However, Trajan's successors would not necessarily share his perspective, and while the golden age of Pax Romana, the Roman peace, wouldn't be ending any time soon, its days were numbered. Upon becoming emperor, Hadrian looked upon the Roman Empire and feared that it was perhaps too big. He would not only halt its expansion, but would even relinquish many of Trajan's conquests. Rome was remarkably organized and efficient for its day, but running an empire of its size in that time was a daunting challenge. In our modern age of airplanes and cell phones, it's easy to forget that it took weeks if not months for people and information to travel around the empire. A revolt could be well underway in the Middle East before the emperor in Italy even heard about it. Furthermore, simply maintaining control over a vast, diverse empire was a nightmare of a challenge in itself, regardless of travel time. Hadrian recognized the situation. As the empire progressed, however, more drastic measures would be taken to save it. Much of his reign was spent traveling around the empire, ensuring its defenses and internal stability. Perhaps his greatest construction still stands, Hadrian's Wall in modern England. This massive, heavily fortified wall stretched from coast to coast, over 100 kilometers, and served the purpose of not only keeping foreign raiders out, but also controlling trade between worlds, and to serve as a shining symbol of Roman greatness while it was at it. Because of this strategy, Hadrian's reign was relatively peaceful. Hadrian died in 138 AD, having more or less drawn the line on Roman expansion. I say more or less because his successors did not abandon the idea of conquest in the same way by any means. One such emperor was Hadrian's successor, Antoninus Pius, his adopted son. Shortly after Hadrian's death in 138 AD, in fact, one of Antoninus Pius's first moves was to make Hadrian's Wall obsolete, as he ordered a military campaign to push northward into modern-day Scotland. There, another wall was constructed, the Antonine Wall. A much less impressive wall in terms of architecture, this wall, and the Roman conquest it guarded, would not last nearly as long as Hadrian's, however, as the region of Caledonia was distant and barren, and thus difficult to govern. Apart from this invasion, the reign of Antoninus Pius was one of the most peaceful and prosperous in Roman history, and he was able to pass on rule to his successors in March of 161 AD. The reign would pass to two individuals, unrelated by blood, both adopted by Antoninus Pius, Lucius Verus, and the more senior emperor, Marcus Aurelius. At this time, a reserved and quiet middle-aged man in frail health, Marcus Aurelius would, in time, come to be known as the Philosopher Emperor, and the fifth of what historians call the Five Good Emperors, Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and now him. However, his reign would not be quite so tranquil, nor was it always pleasant for the Roman people, and it is during his reign that we begin to see that the road gets bumpy. The same year as the ascension of these two, war broke out in the east with Carthia. Rome was forced to draw forces from its European frontiers, and Lucius Verus led the army eastward, while Marcus remained home in Rome. While away, the Germanic tribes across the border happened to notice a reduced Roman presence, and began occasionally raiding the territory. However, local forces were, generally, able to repel them. At first, Verus, thanks more to his generals than his own efforts, was able to claim a victory over Carthia in the year 166. Yet, as he and his soldiers returned to Rome, what they carried would reverse any gains they had made. The Antonine Plague, possibly smallpox, broke out in Rome shortly after the army's return. It would last for around 15 years, and would kill around one-tenth of the population of the empire, and around a quarter of the city itself. Just as the war with Persia had finished, and as this plague now began to grip Rome, the Germanic tribes to the north were beginning to unleash larger attacks upon the In 166 AD, the Marcomannic Wars began, and the Romans would have to counter Germanic and Sarmatian attacks along the length of the Danube River. Border attacks were not uncommon, but these invasions, as I mentioned, were unusually intense and motivating. The tranquility which Marcus' predecessors, Antoninus Pius and Hadrian, had enjoyed was crumbling, and Marcus would have to act in order to save his country. In 169 AD, Lucius Verus died of illness, likely the plague, leaving Marcus Aurelius as the sole emperor. These barbarians he was facing are often portrayed as simply that, barbarians. But by this time, they were likely much more advanced in warfare, probably due to, ironically, regular contact with the Romans, which is why they posed such a significant threat and were so hard to crush. In the spring of 170 AD, a massive coalition of Germanic tribes under the Marcomanni king, Balamar, attacked the Romans at the Battle of Caruntum, killing around 20,000 Romans, the worst Roman defeat since the Teutoburg Forest. Following this, the tribes even breached Roman defenses and began raiding Northern Italy, as various tribes crossed into Rome and raided all the way from Gaul to Greece. Marcus Aurelius became obsessed with his duties. It is during this war, while attempting to orchestrate his campaigns in rugged conditions and poor health, that he wrote his famous philosophical book, Meditations, still in print today. Marcus Aurelius would, in total, struggle with the invading tribes in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Marcomannic Wars for 14 years. Along with these conflicts, in this time, he would also quell insurrection in Egypt, overcome crippling illness, and prevent a usurpation by one of his most accomplished generals. In the end, he would save Rome from foreign invaders and even begin to carve out two new territories, Marcomannia and Sarmadia. Through diligent efforts, he would save the empire. However, his efforts would not last, nor would the prosperity he had returned to the empire. Perhaps his greatest mistake would be in choosing his successor, his son Commodus. Marcus Aurelius and Commodus are portrayed in the famous 2000 film, Gladiator. It is important to keep in mind that, like Braveheart, Gladiator is a great film, but largely fiction. Nevertheless, the portrayal of his personality may not be all that inaccurate. Historians often consider the real Commodus to be, as Cassius Dio said, the emperor who turned Rome from a kingdom of gold to one of iron and rust. Marcus Aurelius died in the year 180 while still campaigning. His death marked the end of the period of the good emperors and of Pax Romana. The five good emperors had been chosen and adopted as sons by the past emperor based on merit. This was in part coincidence, as the leaders themselves often did not have their own sons, but historians tend to believe that this played a role in the prosperity of the age. Commodus was merely chosen because he was Marcus Aurelius' biological son. Commodus soon proved to be uninterested in the responsibilities that come with being emperor. Like Caligula, though many outrageous stories about him were likely exaggerated and fabricated later on, there is good evidence that he was mentally disturbed, egotistical, cruel, and irresponsible. First and foremost, upon becoming emperor, on the cusp of victory, he abandoned the conquests of his father and negotiated peace with the belligerent tribes. He returned home and soon showed he preferred a life of partying to one of duty and left administration to subordinate officials. One of his favorite pastimes, the great amusement of the crowd but disgust of the senate, was participating in mock gladiator fights in the coliseum. Assassination attempts were made, one even involving his own sister, but he survived them. As time passed, he grew ever more corrupt and egotistical, eventually claiming to be the reincarnation of Hercules. He would even go so far as to rename the Roman Empire after himself, Commodiana, and rename all the months after his long name. After years of this sort of worsening behavior, the senate had had enough, and in The tyrannical reign of Commodus had ended, but Rome would not rebound into its former prosperity, and the subsequent year of 193 AD would be known in history as the year of the five emperors. Commodus' memory was damned in a race across the empire, and he was succeeded by a conspirator named Pertinax. Pertinax was a known disciplinarian who had made his career in the army. His first and last mistake, however, was refusing to pay an adequate bribe to Praetorian guard. Thus, they killed him, only three months into his reign. Big surprise, the guard had acted rashly and killed Pertinax without having a successor in mind. In order to prevent civil war, acting quickly before news reached the rest of the provinces, they decided to auction the emperor off to the highest bidder. The highest bidder was Didus Iulianus, a former governor. Outside of the Praetorian guard, Iulianus was unpopular. His ascension was somewhat of a joke to the Romans, and as they opposed him, three individuals used the opportunity to declare themselves emperor. Prescanius Niger, Clodius Albinus, and Septimius Severus. Civil war soon broke out and in June, Severus killed Iulianus as well as Pertinax's murderers. To maintain power, Severus and Albinus agreed to joint rule. Albinus would handle administration while Septimius focused on the civil war. Niger was defeated near modern day Turkey in 194 AD at the battle of Issus and beheaded shortly after. Following this, another civil war broke out between Severus and his former ally, Albinus. This would last three years, finally ending in 197 with the battle of Lubrum. Thus, Severus gained full control of the empire. He would rule for 14 years, embarking on a couple military campaigns, one against Carthia and another in Caledonia. He would die in Caledonia of old age in 211 AD. His campaign there, like the others, was once again a failure and after this, in fact, the Romans permanently moved the border back to behind Adrian's Wall. Still, Severus likely hoped at least that his two sons, whom he had brought along, had learned something from the experience. Before dying, it is claimed that he told his sons, be harmonious, enrich the soldiers, and scorn all the others. The sons, known to history as Caracalla and Gaeta, would take this advice to heart. Almost. Severus had left the rule to both of them as joint rulers, but their mutual animosity was no secret. Though attempts at reconciliation were made, which even included a suggestion of splitting the empire between them, not even a year after their father's death, Caracalla had his brother Gaeta killed in front of their mother and became sole emperor. This was only the first of many atrocities committed by yet another unfit emperor in his six-year reign until 217 AD. Amid a reign of intimidation and fear, executions, massacres, and the like, Caracalla's one lasting benevolent achievement may have been that he extended citizenship to all Roman freemen across the empire. Was this benevolence or were there ulterior motives? Historians still debate that. However, Caracalla still had quickly angered a lot of important people and, predictably, he was assassinated, killed by a soldier who approached him while urinating during a military campaign against Parthia in 217 AD. The man who was likely behind the plot, Marcinus, succeeded Caracalla as emperor that year, inheriting an empire that was now beginning to feel the weight of scandals, self-interest, and improper governance. Adding to the political situation, the war with Parthia Caracalla had embarked on was not going well for Rome following a heavy defeat at the Battle of Nisibis and Marcinus was forced to negotiate peace. As if political chaos, military defeats, and general unrest weren't enough, at the same time, slowly and quietly, another issue was beginning to cripple the empire. Rome was facing the threats posed by past emperors who had been gradually debasing its currency. That is to say, the silver content of Roman coins was gradually being reduced so that basically they could make more coins with less silver. Now, because silver is the actual valuable part, this doesn't always work that well and the coins became less valuable. This inflation was preparing Rome for even greater economic crises. Now, I don't mean to imply that this happened too quietly. People, especially the army, had noticed the faults in the economy, but it was a long-term issue that the past emperors had been ignoring. Marcinus would attempt to remedy this situation a little bit, but he accomplished very little in his year-long reign. He was assassinated by Caracalla's aunt in favor of putting her grandson, whom she claimed was an illegitimate son of Caracalla, on the throne, 15-year-old Elagabalus. Elagabalus had been a priest of a god foreign to the Romans, the Syrian sun god, and when he arrived to Rome, seemed to show more concern for that position than that of emperor. The reign of Elagabalus is full of accounts of very strange behavior, especially all kinds of sexual debauchery. He was very effeminate, he sometimes called himself a queen, he apparently engaged in sexual acts with men and women of all ages, sometimes in public. While it is always unclear what is and isn't true with these bad emperors, the basics, at least, of their accounts are likely true. The Romans quickly hated Elagabalus and he was killed by the Praetorian guard, who witnessed much of his behavior firsthand. Caracalla's aunt, Iulia Maisa, had ordered the assassination of her grandson herself, and saw to it that her other grandson, Elagabalus' 14-year-old cousin, Severus Alexander, took the throne in 222 AD. One could argue that Alexander's 13-year reign was the eye of the storm for Rome. He, with heavy influence from his grandmother and mother, ruled stably and responsibly, at least relatively. However, it would only be momentary, and Rome would plunge back into chaos when he died. In Alexander's reign, two old enemies had recuperated and were ready to attack Rome. First, in the east, the Persians, who had now become the Assassinate Persians, under Ardashir the Unifier, intended to undertake a glorious campaign into Rome, taking all the eastern provinces which had formerly belonged to Persia, encompassing this territory here. While Alexander and his armies marched to deal with this threat, the many tribes to the north of the empire seized the opportunity to once again cross the border and begin large raids. Alexander sloppily and barely carved out a victory against Persia, and when he returned, was unprepared to deal with the barbarians effectively. Acting on his mother's wishes, he attempted to bribe the tribes off. His soldiers, however, had just marched back and forth around the world, and some had come home to discover that they had lost their homes and families to the raiding while away. Negotiation was unacceptable. They saw their emperor as a cowardly boy, unable to stand up to his mother, let alone a foreign invader. In the spring of 235, Alexander and his mother were both assassinated by the army, and so another emperor was claimed by the chaos of these tumultuous years, and Rome would find herself under yet another new serpent, this time by the name of Maximinus Thrax. However, this situation had now lasted around 60 years, and that was too long. Now, the empire was going to seriously begin to buckle under the weight of the instability. Alexander's death marked the beginning of what is remembered as the crisis of the third century. It would last for almost 50 years, and it would see the empire fracture under the conflict centered around what is likely over 30 different individuals claiming the position of emperor within that time span. It would nearly mark the end of the empire itself, had it not been for the reigns of two men who would eventually succeed in saving the day. Maximinus Thrax is remembered as the first of the soldier emperors. These were emperors who owed their reign to the success in the military. They basically acted as military dictators. While probably seen as a relief in comparison to the spoiled teenage emperors who had wrecked the empire, the civil wars that were caused by military men vying for the throne were at least equally as destructive. By 238, Maximinus had been killed, and that year became known as the year of the six emperors. Even when Gordianus III was able to secure reign, it would last only for a few years before he too was killed by his successor, and his successor killed by his successor. In 250, the general Decius was sent by the emperor to put down an uprising. Upon arrival, however, he turned around and became his leader. As the weakened empire fell into economic crisis and was being closed in on by Germanic tribes to the north, the Vandals, Alamanni, Franks, and most destructive of all these groups, the Goths, and then to the east by the far more dangerous Persians, the Romans took another devastating hit with the outbreak of the Cyprian plague. Rome grew fearful that this was all a punishment from the gods, and in an attempt to appease them, people such as the emperor Decius targeted the growing population of Christians, as well as all other non-Roman religions with the exception of the Jews, and the first major persecution in this era. This was cut short, however, as Decius was cut down. He died in combat against the Goths less than two years into his reign, the first emperor to be killed by foreign invaders. Not long after his death, the Persians were able to capture the famous city of Antioch, one of the largest and most important cities in the empire. A few years later, the emperor Valerian marched east to confront the Persians. Stopping the Persians was Rome's main priority. They were much more powerful than any Germanic tribe, under aggressive leadership, and seeking almost the whole of the eastern empire. Valerian would not succeed, however, and became the first Roman emperor to be captured in combat. According to unconfirmed stories, he was never released, and was forced to bend over to be used as the Persian Shah's footstool when he was getting on his horse. Succession went to Valerian's son Gallienus, but some of the other provinces had had enough. Many around the Roman province of Gaul felt it was time to fend for themselves, and a leader named Postumus used this as an opportunity to declare himself emperor. But instead of invading Rome for the title, he simply broke his territory off, creating the Gallic Roman Empire, centered in Gaul and including part of Germania, Britain, and for a while, Hispania. Later on, in the east, a Roman governor named Odinathus managed to beat back the Persians, but then used his newfound power to rule autonomously. Though he was later assassinated, his power passed on to his wife Zenobia and their son. The Roman Empire was simply falling apart. It is interesting to note that in this time period, society begins to foreshadow early medieval society. Travel became dangerous, long distance trade ceased, communities erected walls and became isolated. People no longer looked to the government in Rome for leadership, but rather the local landlords. Many Roman freemen were forced to adopt a serf-like lifestyle in order to survive, but then the sun began to shine again. In 269 AD, the Romans defeated the Goths at the Later, the Emperor Claudius defeated the Alemanni at the Battle of Lake Benacus. These were two victories against the Germanic tribes necessary to save the empire. However, Claudius shortly after died of plague, and Zenobia split off the territory she had governed just as Postumus had done, creating the Palmyrene Empire. Coming to the throne to inherit this was the Emperor Aurelian. Aurelian had risen to become another soldier emperor. After defeating the vandals and remnants of other tribes in the empire, his main priority naturally became reunification, starting by shifting his attention on the east, where he invaded and reclaimed the territory of the Palmyrene Empire by 273. Next, Aurelian had to focus on the Gallic Empire. Within a year, his forces had defeated the Gallo-Romans at the First Battle of Chillon, and the lost territory was reincorporated into the empire. Aurelian was leading Rome into a successful rebound, but he was not a beloved emperor. He was strong, but harsh. He was assassinated by the Praetorian Guard in 275, and Rome was plunged back into instability. This instability would go on for another 10 years, but in 284, the crisis of the 3rd century would come to an end under the reign of an emperor whom we remember as Diocletian. In November of 284, the soldier emperor Diocletian was proclaimed emperor by the army. His reign would last until 305, and the reforms he made to the empire would alter it for the rest of its existence. Early in his rule, Diocletian came to the conclusion that appointing a co-emperor was an effective way of stabilizing things. To this position, he appointed a Roman general named Maximian. For the time being, Diocletian's plan was to appoint Maximian to handle the west, while he handled the east. This arrangement of things was considered a very effective move, and it later evolved into what is known as the Tetrarchy, the rule of four, when in 293, the west and east were further divided. There would be two senior emperors, called Augusti, Diocletian and Maximian in this case, who each adopted a son who would rule as a subordinate emperor, called a Caesar, Galerius and Constantius Chlorus. In Diocletian's plan, if one of the Augusti were to die, the Caesars would replace him as heir, and then select a new Caesar. Diocletian would rule the wealthiest and most populous east, with his capital of Nicomedia. His adopted son Galerius would rule the Balkans and Pannonia from Sirmium. Maximian would rule the western Mediterranean provinces from Milan, and Constantius would take the provinces of Gaul, Germania, and Britannia, ruling from Trier. These were considered to be four pieces of a single nation, though administration was, in theory, separate. The city of Rome would still serve as a kind of heart of the empire, but as you may have noticed, no emperor took residence there. This was partly intentional. Diocletian had felt that Rome's place in the empire had become obsolete, and that reducing its importance would also remind the senate that they were now also obsolete. The emperors were no longer simply the first citizens, and the idea that Rome was a republic was largely ignored. Beginning with Aurelian, but continued by Diocletian, the emperors were to be referred to as Dominus, meaning lord, and were appointed not by the senate, but by the gods. Under Diocletian, the senate's power barely reached outside of the city of Rome itself. Diocletian and his co-emperors spent much of their reign in wars against foreigners, as well as attempted usurpations. There would also be many other administrative, military, and legal reforms to handle. Rome's provinces were also divided to make administration easier, to prevent governors from maintaining too much power. The size of the legions changed, and civil and military positions split. Attempts to reinvigorate the economy were made, and another persecution of non-Roman religions, again largely Christianity with the exception of the Jews, took place. Not all of Diocletian's reforms would be successful. However, he is remembered as being one of Rome's greatest emperors, and had in many ways saved its life. The final move of Diocletian to stand out in history was his voluntary abdication. Entering his 60s in poor health, in 305 he abdicated, informing the Roman people that he was now too weak to govern, and that the empire must be kept in strong hands. In order to maintain the integrity of the Tetrarchy, he asked Maximian to step down as well, which he agreed to do, reluctantly. Thus the two Caesars, Galerius and Constantius, set up to govern their predecessor's territories as Augusti, and appointed new Caesars. However, while this is remembered as a relatively bright moment in Roman history, the Tetrarchy would not long outlive Diocletian, and though he intended to retire to a quiet life of cabbage farming, he would, in his final years, watch much his work fall apart. In the west, the new Augustus, Constantius Chlorus, was aging and in poor health. Despite his hopes, Constantius' son, Constantine, would not succeed his father to the rank of Caesar, as he had hoped. Even though Diocletian had admired the young Constantine, this was by his instruction, and it is possible that Diocletian favored doing away with blood inheritance altogether. Instead, a man named Valerius Severus became the new Caesar. This would not be enough to halt the young and ambitious Constantine, however. For the time being, however, he followed his father into a campaign in Britannia against the Picts. In 306, Constantius decided to winter in Aboricum, modern-day York. It was here that he died. Upon his death, the army, who had grown fond of Severus, however, claimed the title of Augustus, despite Constantine's claim. Severus reluctantly offered Constantine the position of Caesar to avoid conflict, which he accepted. But then came a third contender. Maxentius, the son of the former retired, but still living, western emperor, Maximian, revolted in Rome and claimed the position for himself. Upon joining forces with his father, Maximian and Maxentius ousted Severus. The Tetrarchy was now falling apart, and as I said, Diocletian was still alive to view it as it crumbled. He wouldn't die until 311. The Tetrarchy had worked wonderfully for him, but it still had to pass the next test of whether it could work without him. The almost immediate outbreak of rivalry and civil war suggested that, well, maybe not. By 312 AD, Constantine met Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge to battle for the position of Augustus of the West. Here, the odds were not greatly in Constantine's favor. Yet, a powerful legend surrounds this event of how Constantine was able to tip the balance in his favor. It is said that before the battle, Constantine looked up at the sun and had a vision. In the sky, he saw a cross appear, and heard the Greek words, Entutonica. In Latin, this is, In hoc signo vincis. In English, this is, By this sign, you shall conquer. This was a message, according to him, not from the traditional gods, but from the Christian gods. Constantine ordered his men to paint the Cairo symbol on their shields, the first two letters of the name of Christ in Greek. At the battle, Constantine crushed his enemy and secured victory for himself, now laying claim to all of the West, and was set to become Rome's first Christian emperor. In the East, all the while, power was consolidating under Constantine's ally, Licinius. Rome had gone from a Tetrarchy to now a Diarchy. Both Licinius and Constantine remained suspicious of each other, but, for the moment, the two were willing to work together. One of the first great changes made by Emperor Constantine was to issue what is remembered as the Edict of Milan in 313. A common misconception is that this is when the Roman Empire officially converted to Christianity. In truth, it merely legalized its worship. I mentioned that Constantine had converted to Christianity the year prior, but how genuine was he? It's hard to say. Throughout his rule, he seems to have mixed both pagan and Christian elements of belief and practice. He may have been truly into it, he may have also just seen it as a tool in his plotting, but either way, the important takeaway here is that the Christian religion now has a much better footing within the empire. Before long, the facade between Constantine and Licinius was over, and around the year 314, the two sides began a series of wars that would last for the next decade. In 324, the conclusion of things became clear when Licinius lost three key battles to Constantine, the battles of Adrianople, the Hellespont, and Chrysopolis. He surrendered and would later be killed. Constantine, therefore, now reigned as the emperor of a once more united Rome. That year, another major event occurred as well. The foundation of a city later called the city of Constantine, Constantinople. Like Diocletian, Constantine recognized the strategic irrelevance of the city of Rome, and that the majority of Rome's wealth, a larger portion of its population, and its greatest enemy at the time, Persia, were in the east. It simply made sense strategically for administrators to set up shop in the east, and the site Constantine chose was this very convenient area here, on top of a former, very ancient, Greek city called Byzantium. He intended for this city to be a nova Roma, a new Rome, or the Eastern Rome, and to serve as a Christian capital. This was more than just a change in perspective. In the Republican days, the Roman Empire was basically subject to the traditional capital. Despite its size, it was the people and the city with the majority of the power. Now, the Roman Empire was a little bit more flexible. Rome was, as they said, where the emperor was, and this newfound flexibility would help it adapt to coming changes. Constantine would do much to help Christianity come out from hiding and start establishing itself in daily life. One of the most famous events related to this was the Council of Nicaea, which he observed. This council would settle important debates regarding Christian worship and lay the foundation for modern Catholicism. He would furthermore try to reinvigorate the Roman economy again by trying to fix the currency issue, and made a number of administrative reforms. He would place his sons in important positions around the empire, he would try to reduce famine and infanticide, and unsuccessfully tried to outlaw gladiatorial combat. Yet, he was not just solely a wonderful, lovable ruler, and though many of the events of his life are very ambiguous, there are tales of some corruption and selfishness. One such issue with Constantine's reign was how many relatives he killed in his quest for power. It's possible he even killed his own son from his first marriage and second wife to defend it, although there may be more to that story. Some evidence points to the possibility that this was done because his wife had lied about his son Crispus trying to seduce her, thus causing Constantine, who took a very harsh stance on adultery, to order his son's execution. Now, as according to plan, her sons were in line for the throne. If the story is true, then unfortunately he didn't find out that it was a lie until after his son's execution, and then his wife had to pay the price. This is just one example of Constantine's reign where the details are murky and conflicting accounts exist. While planning an invasion of around the year 337 AD, Constantine died of illness. Constantine's 31-year reign followed Diocletian's as a prosperous and stable interlude between Rome's crisis and turmoil, but it was simply only an interlude. Following the death of Constantine, the Roman Empire was divided into three to be ruled by his three surviving sons. Constantine II, Constans, and Constantius II. Yeah, I know, Roman names make it really easy to keep track of things. It was clear that the Constantinian Apples did not fall far from the tree, and the three brothers each vied for each other's domain. After 13 years, Constantius II's two brothers were dead, and he had reunited the empire again under a single ruler. With this having been concluded, Constantius got up to the other usual business for a Roman emperor of the age, fighting the Germanic tribes in the north, fighting the Sassanid Persians in the east, and attempting to sort out the internal issues piling up within the empire. In the late 350s, Roman troops in Gaul, led by his cousin Julian, had secured a hard-won victory against the Franks. Following this, the emperor demanded their presence in the east against Persia. As you may have noticed, the army in this time period was not always keen on following directions they didn't like. They didn't want to go to Persia, so instead they made Julian their emperor. Constantius rushed to counter him, but died of fever before he could, and Julian then became emperor in 361. Julian the Apostate, as he is remembered, apostate referring to the fact that he was a pagan who rejected Christianity, came to the throne with big plans. He first organized a force of around 75,000 men, and moved to invade Persia to settle the differences between the two empires once and for all the old-fashioned way, by taking their capital of Ctesiphon. The Romans and Persians met outside the walls of the city, and though they were victorious, the Romans were unable to also penetrate the city walls. Julian was forced to retreat, and along the way was stabbed in the stomach by a Persian spear in battle, dying a few days later. The reign of Rome's second philosopher emperor, and final pagan emperor, was cut short, and his army quickly appointed a new emperor, a commander named Jovian. However, Jovian died of unknown causes before he could really get going, and so then the army chose a new emperor, a commander known as Valentinian in 364 AD. First things first, he had to choose a co-emperor, one to govern the east, while he governed the more difficult west. Things were once again too unstable for everything to be in the hands of one man. He naturally chose his younger brother, Valens. This is very important. Apart from a brief interval, this severing of east and west would be permanent. It would have the benefit of two administrations with more focus, but would also isolate the two halves of the empire which were previously interdependent, and create administrations which, as time would show, were not always cooperative. Within the first few years of his reign, crises broke out across the empire. A rebellion in the east, and barbarian incursions in Britain and Gaul. The Alamanni were a main threat, along with other Germanic tribes, and Valentinian was determined to extinguish them. He assembled a large army and met them in battle in 368, at the Battle of Silicinium. It was a victory for the Romans, but just barely. They had taken heavy losses, and conflict soon resumed. In the 370s, Valentinian traveled to to negotiate with invading barbarians. Negotiations became very stressful, however, and Valentinian seems to have gotten so angry during a shouting match that he suffered from what seems to be an aneurysm or a stroke, and died there in 375 AD. Throughout the video so far, I've maybe sounded like a broken record. We started off in some pretty good days for Rome, and then things got worse, and then things got worse, and then things got worse, and then things got worse, and then things weren't too bad under Diocletian and Constantine, things then got shaky under Constantine's successors, but now things will get worse. But ladies and gentlemen, I do want to emphasize that it is in the late 4th century AD up through the 5th century that things get really bad. Germanic and Sarmatian barbarians had been increasing their attacks along the whole border of the empire since Marcus Aurelius. Their motivations aren't entirely clear, but it does seem that they were after land to settle, at least some of them, and had been pushed out of their old territories by climate fluctuations, overpopulation, and or pressure with neighboring groups. Now, from the east, rode a new enemy, that would not only take on Rome, but likely heavily influenced the Germanic migrations into Rome by displacing them. These people we know as the Huns. The Huns had no system of writing, and leave behind very few clues of who they were, so we don't know too much about them. They were a nomadic people who came from the Eurasian steppes, probably somewhere within or near modern Kazakhstan. They were likely unable to penetrate the borders of China, and thus began a slow march westward. As skilled horse warriors, they soon began causing havoc in the region, as mentioned, attacking and displacing the Germanic tribes. In 376 AD, the year after Valentinian's death, his younger brother Valens began to feel the weight of the imbalance the Huns had now caused. The Goths, under a number of leaders, such as one named Fritigern, began to cross the Danube. In total, as many as 100,000 may have moved into Roman territory seeking refuge. Valens, with the bulk of his forces distracted fighting Persia, had little choice but to allow them to settle in Thrace. He may have even welcomed the opportunity. Why? Because a large migration containing many young Germanic men meant low-cost mercenaries to hold the border. Valens allowed them entrance so long as they promised military service as well as conversion to Christianity. This was not the first time barbarians were to be used as mercenaries, nor even the first time that they were allowed to settle within the Roman Empire and form a kind of buffer state. The Franks, a few decades earlier, settled in Gaul under Constantine, for example, but the repeated occurrence of it was a sign of the loss of Rome's integrity. Because of these mercenaries, the army was becoming heavily Germanic as well. These foreigners had little actual loyalty to the empire which had taken them in, certainly not above the welfare of their own people anyway. They adopted Roman customs, language, many converted to Christianity, and in many ways they became Romans. But in other ways, especially for now, they would never fully assimilate and would eventually be a main cause of Rome's demise. Quite quickly, however, relations became tense. The Goths were faced with some food shortages in Roman territory. Local officials took advantage of this. In some circumstances, the Goths had to sell their children into slavery simply to acquire dog meat. In some cases, one child for one dog. The Romans likely didn't do a whole lot to remedy the situation, and that year the Goths rose in rebellion, thus beginning the Gothic War of 376-382. Picking up support from some Alans and Huns nearby, the Goths easily overran the limited Roman presence and began ravaging the countryside. Events culminated in the year 378 at the Battle of Adrianople. Here, the Romans were crushed, and Valens himself died in the fighting. Alongside Cannae, Arausio, and the Teutoburg Forest, this Battle of Adrianople is remembered as one of Rome's greatest defeats. Now, basically the entire region was exposed to raiding. The only safe areas for the Romans were behind city walls. The Western Emperor Gradian appointed a man named Theodosius to deal with the situation in the East. By making him commander of the Eastern army, this basically paved the way for him to become Eastern Emperor very easily. Even with Western support, the Goths and Romans stalemated, and after peace negotiations, it was decided that the Goths were to be allowed to remain in the area as what are called Federati, tribes which the Romans granted privileges like settlement within the Empire in exchange for military assistance. While this war was only one of many with the barbarians in this age, it was among the most profound because of all the changes it signaled. When the Western Emperor Valentinian II was assassinated, Emperor Theodosius marched west to confront the usurper. The two sides met at the Battle of Phrygidus in September of 394. The significance of this battle is in its components. Both sides had a large share of barbarians in their service. Some estimates state that around a quarter of the Roman army in this time period consisted of barbarian Federati. The Emperor Theodosius' right-hand man, in fact, was a half-barbarian named Stilicho, who had organized the assistance of the Goths under a leader named Alaric. Theodosius won the battle and thereby became Emperor of a whole united Roman Empire once again. As I previously hinted at, however, he would be the last. Regardless of treaties and alliances, the Romans and Germanic barbarians were never true friends. At the Battle of Phrygidus, Theodosius' strategy became clear to Alaric and many other Goths. He had sent them in first and intended them to endure a large share of the fighting and casualties in an attempt to reduce them in number. Anger spread among the Goths as they returned home and when Alaric was denied the position of general within the Roman army after his service, he was proclaimed King of the Goths by his people and set off in rebellion, thundering the Balkans. In 395, Theodosius fell ill and died. The empire was divided between his two sons, Honorius and Arcadius. Neither Honorius nor Arcadius would prove to be remarkable emperors. Both of them were very out of touch with the circumstances of the day, being frankly uninterested, and therefore left the government to their courts. But their egregious errors would only help to secure the downfall of the empire. For the moment, however, Honorius was only a boy being raised by his father's trusted general, his cousin's husband, and later also his father-in-law, Silico. All the while, barbarians of all kinds were on the move. Alaric and his Goths continued to plunder the east, effectively acting as an independent power within the empire, though not settling down long enough to form a state. All the while, the Huns had made direct contact and spilled into the borders of both eastern Rome and Persia, raiding modern Greece, Turkey, Syria, and Iran. Their other conquests as well would continue to push the barbarians further into Rome. Silico would clash with Alaric as well as other invading barbarians on multiple occasions, dutifully defending the empire and saving it twice from Alaric. However, as the Roman army suffered and as potential civil war loomed between east and west, Silico found the army was critically lacking in manpower. To remedy this, he would attempt to forge an alliance with his former foe, and also former ally, Alaric. To secure the new alliance, Alaric demanded a payment of four thousand pounds of gold. Silico agreed, and initially Emperor Honorius agreed. However, likely influenced by his court, Honorius later changed his mind, and in 408, ordered Silico's execution. Silico, a loyal servant to the empire, went without a fight, and thus fell a great Roman leader in an age where there was a critical lack. This really was a very bad time for Silico to die. A few years prior, the Rhine river had actually frozen over. Add onto this that Silico had had most of the forces guarding that river moved to Italy to deal with barbarians there, and the Germanic peoples essentially saw a wide open door. As for Alaric, naturally with Silico gone, he once again became hostile to the empire. Furthermore, he now had an open route to the city of Rome itself, which between 408 and 410, he would besiege three times. In the first two, he would not enter the city, as he and his people received what he viewed as adequate tribute, really a huge amount of wealth. But on the third, the city of Rome was sacked by the Goths on August 24th, 410 AD. For the first time in centuries, Rome itself fell to the barbarians. The emperor was not present in the city during the sack. He was stationed in his new capital of Ravenna, to the northeast. There is a legend that upon hearing the news that Roma had fallen, western emperor Honorius cried out, and yet it had just eaten from my hands. He evidently thought his court was referring to his pet chicken, which he had named Roma. When he was informed that it was instead the city and not his beloved chicken, he breathed a sigh of relief. It's unlikely that the story is actually true, but it paints a picture of how detached the emperor Honorius really was from things and how his people saw him. It is in this time period that the province of Britannia was effectively abandoned, as troops there were recalled to deal with the threats on the continent. The Romans would never return, leaving the island and its Romano-Britain inhabitants, as well as some new inhabitants on the way, to a new path in history. Other parts of the empire in Gaul and Hispania basically were relinquished as well that same decade, and the decay began to become evident. Vandals, Visigoths, Swaby, Alans, Burgundians, Franks, and others took up permanent autonomous residence within the former borders of the empire. Honorius died of illness in 423, leaving behind an empire in pretty bad shape with no clear heir. The throne went to Valentinian III, Honorius's cousin. He would be a weak ruler, however, and not long after this, there are really no more strong western emperors. Some in fact, especially later on, were really just the puppets of barbarian warlords who couldn't be emperor themselves. In the 430s, North Africa was conquered by a Germanic tribe called the Vandals, who set up a kingdom in the region under a king named Geiseric. This, while being a huge loss of territory, also cut off the food supply to Rome, as North Africa had been a major breadbasket for the empire. In the 450s, Rome received another devastating blow, as the Huns finally launched a massive invasion of the western empire, now under a fearsome ruler named Attila. The Huns had been harassing the eastern empire for years. Now, Attila, having received a marriage offer from a traitorous Roman princess, was likely going for the heart of the dying western empire itself. He would be stopped, however, by another of what historians call the last of the Romans, Flavius Aetius. A coalition of tribes such as the Franks, Visigoths, Alans, Burgundians, and Celts, along with the Romans, assembled under Aetius and met the Huns at the Battle of the Catalonian Plains in 451 AD. Rome and its barbarian allies came out successful, though the battle was very costly. The following year, in 452, Attila invaded the empire again, this time focusing on Italy. But for unknown reasons, he turned back after meeting with Pope Leo. We don't know what was said exactly in the meeting between Pope Leo and Attila the Hun, but likely either disease was ravaging Attila's forces, or there was a lack of necessary supplies to continue the war. Shortly after, the Hunnic empire collapsed. The year after that, Aetius was assassinated by Valentinian III, who feared his power, and the year after that, Valentinian was assassinated by Aetius' former men. Following these events, it is painfully clear that Rome was too weak to hold itself up. The gradual loss of territory to foreign invaders began to pick up. In 455, in fact, the Vandals sailed across the Mediterranean and sacked Rome again. As the foundations of the empire began to break down, in 476, the stage was set for the final act. A general of the Roman Federati, Odoacer, overthrew Rome's last western emperor, the young, ironically named Romulus Augustus. He spared the boy's life, but did not claim the title of Roman emperor. Instead, he sent the imperial regalia to the eastern emperor Zeno, saying it was no longer necessary, as the west no longer needed an emperor. The western Roman empire, which had stood for over a thousand years, had fallen. Odoacer then began to form his own kingdom in Italy, amid all the others forming in the corpse of the former western empire. It's easy for us to look back on Rome, and look at 476 as the defining moment the Roman empire fell, almost as if one moment Rome was there, the next it was gone. But it is important to keep in mind that Rome did not fall in a day. 476 is the accepted symbolic date for the fall of the western empire, but the influence of the empire would continue on for quite a while afterward. Some would place the fall of Rome as late as the 8th century, others argue it was a few decades earlier. It depends on how you mean it. In many ways, the influence of the empire lasts a day. However, it is important to note that many of these Germanic peoples who we see as overthrowing the Roman empire were, in their view, simply integrating themselves into Rome and becoming Romans. Arguably both perspectives are true. It's worth pointing out furthermore that the Roman senate continued functioning until 603, and while they may not have wholeheartedly meant it, many of the Germanic kings at first pledged fealty to the eastern emperor. Thus the fall of Rome, even looking at just the fall of the western Roman empire, is a very murky subject. Speaking of the eastern empire, one might expect it to, at this point, simply wither away after the fall of the west or something of that nature, but it didn't. As I've been mentioning throughout the video, the east lived on, not just for a little while, but for another thousand years. The eastern empire is known to us as the Byzantine empire, but they never stopped calling themselves Romans, nor did they see themselves as anything different. This brings quite a bit into question about the supposed fall of Rome, that we will address in part 3. We often look back on the fall of western Rome as an event where history may offer us some of its most important lessons. Some today place special attention on problems in our society that were shared by Rome, and even make comparisons between Rome and the US or Europe or the west in general. While I of course won't share my opinions on those kinds of things, I would say to anyone who asks, why did Rome fall, that it's complicated. We can look at many different reasons and interpretations. The main ones are the ones I've been highlighting here, barbarian invasion and migration, inflation and economic difficulties, political corruption, etc. Historian Alexander de Mont, actually, has compiled over 200 theories attempting to explain why Rome fell, from a change in values, to the slave trade slowing down, to lead poisoning. Regardless, I think an important takeaway is that not all of Rome's problems came randomly out of the blue one day. I mean sure some did, but keep in mind how many other problems built up over the course of decades, maybe even centuries, some as far back as Commodus in the 180s. In hindsight, we understand these issues much better than the Romans who were living at the time. Many issues the empire faced built up over lifetimes, so slowly that the average person didn't really notice. Remember for example that the crisis of the third century lasted around 50 years. That's easily enough time for people to view it as normal life. If I could offer one of my own views here, I would say that one important thing history is telling us is how important it is that society remember the big picture and think long term. Remember that our decisions affect not only us, but mistakes may even build up and affect austerity as well. If any of you have anything to add regarding the fall of Rome, I would love to read it in the comment section below. I would also like to add the words of Edward Gibbonfear, the famous Roman historian, on his interpretation as to why Rome fell. He said, Maybe he makes a fair point. How many other nations and peoples could lift themselves up from their hardships and overcome their problems in the same way the Romans had? Finally, I would like to add that we shouldn't forget that Rome didn't and never did fully fall. The Roman Empire has lived on in the hearts and minds of western civilization for millennia, and though we have made a habit of idolizing them, we also clearly see that they were far from perfect. Yet the fact that they were imperfect only makes them more interesting and only makes understanding their history more important. Though separated by ages, we can easily see ourselves in them, and by understanding their past and the lessons they offer, we can better change our present and prepare for our future. In the next video, we will continue this story as we explore the fate of the Eastern Roman Empire and how it reacted to these circumstances. Will that be the next documentary I do? Maybe, although I do have some other plans I might work on first. In between. If you enjoyed this video and found it informative, I'd invite you to come check out some other cool content we have here on Fire of Learning like the videos shown here, and to subscribe to keep up with more like them. The documentary on Germany, England, and the Dark Ages for example, each started right after the fall of Rome, so you can learn a bit about what happens next. To help with the cost of production, Fire of Learning does take donations on Patreon, the link to which you can find in the description. You can support the channel with as little as a $1 contribution, however simply subscribing to the channel for free is also a large help. A special thanks once again to our Patreon supporters listed here. We are also on Instagram, Facebook, and now Twitter, so come check us out there too. Gracias tibiago for watching.