The Fall of the Roman Empire

Terms and Names

• inflation- a drop in the value of money, resulting in the rise of prices
• mercenary- foreign soldiers that fought for money
• Diocletian- a strong willed ruler who became the emperor of Rome in 284 A.D.
• Constantinople- The new capital of the Roman Empire
• Attila- the chieftain of the Huns

Notes

• 161-180 ended Pax Romana
• Rome weakens because...
• Pirates disrupted trade
• lacked sources of gold and silver
• Government raised taxes
• Minted coins that contained less and less silver
• inflation
• Harvest in Italy and western Europe became weak
• food shortages
• disease
• low morale
• no loyalty
• Diocletian
• a strong willed army leader
• became emperor
• limited personal freedoms
• doubled the size of the Roman army
• claimed to be descended from the gods
• divided the empire
• The Divided Empire
• Split into the Greek speaking East (Greece, Antolia, Spain, Egypt)
• Latin Speaking west (Italy, Gaul, Britain, Spain)
• Diocletian took the East
• co-ruler for the West
• Diocletian still had overall control
• East was far wealthier than the west
• civil war soon broke out
• 4 rivals were competing for power
• Constantine
• Gained control of the west in 312
• later took control of the east
• Moved the capital of Rome to Byzantium, Now Turkey
• Byzantium
• Center of power shifted to the East
• capital stood protected by walls
• took the name Constantinople
• The West Crumples
• Germanic invasions
• in 370 A.D, Mongol Nomads from Asia, the Huns, moved into the region and destroyed all in their path
• Germanic people pushed into Rome, barbarians
• Moved through Gaul, then Spain, and North Africa
• IN 410 a.d, Germanics overran Rome
• Attila the Hun
• The Huns became a direct threat
• United order under a chieftain named Attila
• With 100,000 soldiers, Attila terrorized both halves of the Empire
• Plundered 70 cities
• Failed to conquer Constantinople due to it's high walls
• After Attila's death in 453, the Germanic invasions continued
• An Empire no More
• The last roman Emperor was a 14 year old bot named Romulus Augustus
• He was ousted by the Germanic people in 476
• the West of Rome was gone
• The east became the Byzantine Empire
• Preserved Greek and Roman Culture for thousand of years
• empire reigned until 1453

Questions

1. (answered in vocab section)

3. The Hun and German invasions, the movement of the capital, inflation, poor harvests

4. He doubled the size of  the army and split the empire

5. They were being destroyed by the Huns so they started invading Rome.