Ancient Rome

== Fall of the Western Roman Empire ==
{{Main|Fall of the Western Roman Empire}}
In the late 4th and 5th centuries the Western Empire entered a critical stage which terminated with the [[fall of the Western Roman Empire]].{{Sfn|Duiker|Spielvogel|2001|pages=[https://archive.org/details/worldhistoryto1500duik/page/155 155]}} Under the last emperors of the [[Constantinian dynasty]] and the [[Valentinianic dynasty]], Rome lost decisive battles against the [[Sasanian Empire]] and [[Germanic peoples|Germanic]] [[barbarian]]s: in 363, emperor [[Julian (emperor)|Julian the Apostate]] was killed in the [[Battle of Samarra]], against the Persians and the [[Battle of Adrianople]] cost the life of emperor [[Valens]] (364–378); the victorious [[Goths]] were never expelled from the Empire nor assimilated.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gibbon |first=Edward |title=The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire |date=1906 |publisher=Fred de Fau and Co. |editor-last=Bury |editor-first=J.B. |language=en |chapter=Chapter XXVI |chapter-url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/25717/25717-h/25717-h.htm#Blink262HCH0001 |chapter-format=Online version}}</ref> The next emperor, [[Theodosius I]] (379–395), gave even more force to the Christian faith, and after his death, the Empire was divided into the [[Eastern Roman Empire]], ruled by [[Arcadius]] and the [[Western Roman Empire]], commanded by [[Honorius (emperor)|Honorius]], both of which were Theodosius' sons.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/un-dittico-imperiale-oriente-e-occidente-dopo-il-395_%28Storia-della-civilt%C3%A0-europea-a-cura-di-Umberto-Eco%29/|title=Un dittico imperiale: Oriente e Occidente dopo il 395|access-date=12 August 2023|language=it}}</ref>

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 |footer = Ending [[Migration Period|invasions]] on Roman Empire between AD 100–500. [[Visigoths]] entering [[Athens]]. ''The Sack of Rome by the Barbarians in 410'' by [[Joseph-Noël Sylvestre]].
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The situation became more critical in 408, after the death of [[Stilicho]], a general who tried to reunite the Empire and repel barbarian invasion in the early years of the 5th century. The professional field army collapsed. In 410, the [[Theodosian dynasty]] saw the [[Sack of Rome (410)|Visigoths sack Rome]].<ref>Lapham, Lewis (1997). ''The End of the World.'' New York: Thomas Dunne Books. {{ISBN|0312252641}}. pp. 47–50.</ref> During the 5th century, the Western Empire experienced a significant reduction of its territory. The [[Vandals]] conquered [[Vandal Kingdom|North Africa]], the [[Visigoths]] claimed the southern part of [[Gaul]], [[Gallaecia]] was taken by the [[Suebi]], [[Roman Britain|Britannia]] was abandoned by the central government, and the Empire suffered further from the invasions of [[Attila]], chief of the [[Huns]].<ref>[https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/BURLAT/8*.html#ref16] Bury, J.B.: ''History of the Later Roman Empire'', 8, §2.; [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/BURLAT/6*.html#ref82] Bury, J.B.: ''History of the Later Roman Empire'', 6, §4.; [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/BURLAT/6*.html#3] Bury, J.B.: ''History of the Later Roman Empire'', 6, §3.; [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/BURLAT/9*.html] Bury, J.B.: ''History of the Later Roman Empire'', 9.; {{Cite web |date=August 1996 |title=The Germanic Invasions of Western Europe |url=https://www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/firsteuro/invas.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130812103150/http://www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/firsteuro/invas.html |archive-date=12 August 2013 |access-date=22 March 2007 |website=University of Calgary}}; {{Harvnb|Duiker|Spielvogel|2001|page=[https://archive.org/details/worldhistoryto1500duik/page/157 157]}}</ref> General [[Orestes (father of Romulus Augustulus)|Orestes]] refused to meet the demands of the barbarian "allies" who now formed the army, and tried to expel them from Italy. Unhappy with this, their chieftain [[Odoacer]] defeated and killed Orestes, invaded [[Ravenna]] and dethroned [[Romulus Augustulus|Romulus Augustus]], son of Orestes. This event of 476, usually marks the end of [[Classical antiquity]] and beginning of the [[Middle Ages]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Roman Emperors – DIR Romulus Augustulus |url=http://www.roman-emperors.org/auggiero.htm |website=www.roman-emperors.org|date=23 July 2022 }}; [http://www.roman-emperors.org/auggiero.htm Romulus Augustulus (475–476 AD) – Two Views] by Ralph W. Mathisen and Geoffrey S. Nathan. De Imperatoribus Romanis. 26 August 1997. Retrieved 22 March 2007.</ref> The Roman noble and former emperor [[Julius Nepos]] continued to rule as emperor from [[Dalmatia (Roman province)|Dalmatia]] even after the deposition of Romulus Augustus until his death in 480. Some historians consider him to be the last emperor of the Western Empire instead of Romulus Augustus.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mathisen |first=Ralph A. |date=8 February 1998 |title=Roman Emperors – DIR Nepos |url=http://www.roman-emperors.org/nepos.htm}}</ref>

After 1200 years of independence and nearly 700 years as a great power, the rule of Rome in the West ended.{{Sfn|Durant|Durant|1944|page=670}} Various reasons for Rome's fall have been proposed ever since, including loss of Republicanism, moral decay, military tyranny, class war, slavery, economic stagnation, environmental change, disease, the decline of the Roman race, as well as the inevitable ebb and flow that all civilisations experience.
The Eastern Empire survived for almost 1000 years after the fall of its [[Western Roman Empire|Western counterpart]] and became the most stable Christian [[realm]] during the Middle Ages. During the 6th century, [[Justinian I|Justinian]] reconquered the Italian peninsula [[Gothic War (535–554)|from the Ostrogoths]], North Africa [[Vandalic War|from the Vandals]], and southern Hispania [[Spania#Conquest and foundation|from the Visigoths]]. But within a few years of Justinian's death, Eastern Roman (Byzantine) possessions in Italy were greatly reduced by the [[Lombards]] who settled in the peninsula.{{Sfn|Duiker|Spielvogel|2001|page=[https://archive.org/details/worldhistoryto1500duik/page/347 347]}} In the east, partially due to the weakening effect of the [[Plague of Justinian]], the Byzantine Romans were threatened by the rise of Islam. Its followers rapidly brought about the [[Arab conquest of the Levant|conquest of the Levant]], the [[Muslim conquest of Armenia|conquest of Armenia]] and the [[Muslim conquest of Egypt|conquest of Egypt]] during the [[Arab–Byzantine wars]], and soon presented a direct [[List of sieges of Constantinople|threat to Constantinople]].<ref name="Hooker'sByzantinepage">{{Cite web |last=Hooker |first=Richard |date=6 June 1999 |title=The Byzantine Empire |url=http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/MA/BYZ.HTM |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19990224072609/http://www.wsu.edu/%7Edee/MA/BYZ.HTM |archive-date=24 February 1999 |website=Washington State University}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Bray, R.S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=djPWGnvBm08C&pg=PA26 |title=Armies of Pestilence |publisher=James Clarke & Co |year=2004 |isbn=978-0227172407 |page=26}}</ref> In the following century, the Arabs [[History of Islam in southern Italy|captured southern Italy and Sicily]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kreutz, Barbara M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qamIQbPLMqgC |title=Before the Normans: Southern Italy in the Ninth and Tenth Centuries |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0812215878}}</ref> In the west, Slavic populations penetrated deep into the Balkans.

The Byzantine Romans, however, managed to stop further Islamic expansion into their lands during the 8th century and, beginning in the 9th century, reclaimed parts of the conquered lands.<ref name="Hooker'sByzantinepage"/>{{Sfn|Duiker|Spielvogel|2001|page=[https://archive.org/details/worldhistoryto1500duik/page/349 349]}} In 1000&nbsp;AD, the Eastern Empire was at its height: [[Basil II]] reconquered [[First Bulgarian Empire|Bulgaria]] and Armenia, and culture and trade flourished.<ref>[http://www.roman-emperors.org/basilii.htm Basil II (AD 976–1025)] by Catherine Holmes. De Imperatoribus Romanis. 1 April 2003. Retrieved 22 March 2007.</ref> However, soon after, this expansion was abruptly stopped in 1071 with the Byzantine defeat in the [[Battle of Manzikert]]. The aftermath of this battle sent the empire into a protracted period of decline. Two decades of internal strife and [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]] invasions ultimately led Emperor [[Alexios I Komnenos]] to send a call for help to the Western European kingdoms in 1095.<ref name="Hooker'sByzantinepage"/> The West responded with the [[Crusades]], eventually resulting in the [[Siege of Constantinople (1204)|Sack of Constantinople]] by participants of the [[Fourth Crusade]]. The conquest of Constantinople in 1204 fragmented what remained of the Empire into successor states; the ultimate victor was the [[Empire of Nicaea]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gibbon |first=Edward |title=The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire |date=1906 |publisher=Fred de Fau and Co. |editor-last=Bury |editor-first=J.B. |language=en |chapter=Chapter LXI |chapter-url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/25717/25717-h/25717-h.htm#Flink612HCH0001 |chapter-format=Online version}}</ref> After the recapture of Constantinople by Imperial forces, the Empire was little more than a Greek state confined to the [[Aegean Sea|Aegean]] coast. The Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire collapsed when [[Mehmed the Conqueror]] [[Fall of Constantinople|conquered Constantinople]] on 29 May&nbsp;1453.<ref>[http://www.theottomans.org/english/family/mehmet2.asp Mehmet II] by Korkut Ozgen. Theottomans.org. Retrieved 3 April 2007.</ref>