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[0:16]On the 4th of September, 476, the last Roman emperor, Romulus Augustus, was removed from power by the barbarian Odoacer, over a thousand years after Rome's foundation. The Empire was vast, covering 1.9 million square miles at its peak, incorporating the largest professional army the world had ever seen. Despite its enormity, towards the end of its lifetime, Rome was plagued by relentless barbarian attacks that chipped away at its borders, and by the time of Romulus, there was little more than Italy left. While the eastern half of the Empire, known as the Byzantine Empire, survived until 1453, the Western Roman Empire crumbled in the 5th century, never to be seen again. In the end, it was Rome's failure to withstand the constant invasions and mass immigration of barbarians that brought it to its end. The ravaging of the Huns in the East led many barbarian tribes to seek shelter within the Roman Empire. One such tribe were the Goths, who sought shelter in 376. Upon letting them cross into their borders, the Romans treated the refugees terribly, given them no help when famine broke out. Many were forced to sell their children for food, receiving little more than dog meat. This maltreatment led to the outbreak of the Gothic War, in which the oppressed Goths rose up in protest against the Romans. This war was disastrous for Rome, with the Battle of Adrianople in 378 being one of the most devastating defeats throughout Roman history. Here, the Goths led a rebellion against the Eastern Emperor Valens at Adrianople, located in modern-day Turkey. Valens was completely overwhelmed, leading to a mass route in which two-thirds of the Roman army were killed, and the emperor himself was slain. The Gothic War was concluded by Emperor Theodosius I, who allowed the Goths to settle in the Empire. Their soldiers were allowed to join the ranks of the Roman army, and their people were permitted to stay together within Roman territory, which had not been seen before. Tensions between the Goths and Romans flared up once again when Alaric, King of the Visigoths, decided to take a stand against Rome. Alaric had previously served in the Roman army under Theodosius, but become disillusioned with the regime after Theodosius died and appointed his sons Honorius and Arcadius to rule each half of the Empire. The Gothic tribes living amongst the Romans had come to be known as the Visigoths, meaning Western Goths. Fed up with the mistreatment of the Romans, the Visigoths elected Alaric as their king and marched upon the Empire. After moderate success attacking the Eastern Empire, Alaric set his sights on the much weaker Western Empire. Alaric first besieged Rome in 401, but was beaten back by the legendary general Stilicho. Emperor Honorius became increasingly detached from events, moving his capital to Ravenna, near modern-day Venice, in response to Alaric's invasion. Then, in 408, Honorius executed Stilicho, the general who had so valiantly defended Rome all those years earlier, leaving the city wide open to attack. Alaric returned later in the year and besieged Rome until its starving citizens agreed to pay a great ransom and installed a rival emperor to represent Alaric in negotiations with Honorius. Alaric wanted land for his people, but Honorius refused to negotiate, leading Alaric to march on Rome for a third time in 410. This time, he met virtually no resistance and sacked the city for three days before marching southwards with his spoils. Upon hearing Rome had perished, Honorius was apparently distraught, thinking it was in reference to his favorite chicken, named Roma. Upon hearing it was the city instead, he was relieved, glad in the knowledge that his favorite chicken was safe. The Sack of Rome was a decisive moment in the fall of the Western Roman Empire, from which the end was nigh. The Empire fell to the relentless assaults from many barbarian groups, who were able to take over Roman territory and create several successor kingdoms. A contesting emperor by the name of Constantine III rose up against Honorius and managed to take Britannia and Gaul. The Romans in Britannia revolted against Constantine, asking Honorius for assistance, who refused them. However, they managed to drive out Constantine's forces without Honorius's help, leading Britannia to be lost to the Empire permanently. Constantine was defeated and executed in 411, but the Empire faced further problems as Germanic tribes came from across the Rhine and pillaged their way across Gaul before eventually settling in Hispania. The Suebi tribe were able to take over Western Hispania and set up the Kingdom of the Suebi. Another two of these tribes, the Vandals and the Alans, led by King Gaiseric, were able to move south through the Strait of Gibraltar and take most of North Africa, including the legendary city of Carthage. They were eventually able to seize Sicily and several Mediterranean islands, establishing the Vandal Kingdom. The Visigoths were also able to take advantage of the situation, capturing parts of Southern Gaul and allying with Emperor Honorius, who gifted them Western Gaul in exchange for their help driving out the barbarians from Hispania. The Visigoths soon turned on their ally and started taking undefended Roman land before the invasion of Attila the Hun forced them to once again ally with the Empire. Once Attila was successfully driven back, having sown chaos across Gaul and decimating large parts of the Roman army, the Visigoths once again attacked their crippled ally, managing to take over the last part of Hispania that was under Roman control, creating the Visigothic Kingdom. At this point, the Western Empire had little left. The senior military commander of the Roman forces, Orestes, deposed his emperor, Julius Nepos, in 475 and placed his son Romulus on the throne. At the same time, the Foederati, who were barbarian soldiers in the employment of Rome, sought land within Italy for their service. Orestes refused them, and so they turned to Odoacer, an official in the army. Odoacer led the group against Orestes, successfully killing him before they marched against Romulus. Odoacer deposed Romulus but spared his life, as the emperor was only 16 years old. Odoacer became the King of Italy, sending the Imperial Insignia to the Eastern Emperor, signifying an end to Rome's imperial power in the West. While it was the barbarian invasions that eventually brought down the Empire, the causes of Rome's fall were vast. Rome saw massive issues due to the colossal size of its Empire. The Empire reached its territorial peak in 117 under the Emperor Trajan, with its borders stretching from Britain to Syria. This led to many problems. One of these was that communication could take weeks or longer to travel from the frontiers to the capital, meaning it was difficult to manage the administration of distant provinces. It was also impractical to oversee wars in areas such as Syria or Germany from a position in Italy. For these reasons, in 285, the Emperor Diocletian decided to divide the Empire into a Western and Eastern half that were to be ruled by two different emperors of equal power. This plan saw short-term success, with each half being able to govern its provinces and defend its borders much more effectively, but in time, it spelled doom for the Western Empire. The Western Empire began to fall into bankruptcy as the Eastern Empire contained a majority of the wealthy provinces, while many Western provinces were focused on agriculture and were much poorer. The funds of the Western Empire were also devastated due to constant war, whether it was barbarians at the gates or internal civil wars. The Western Empire was in an almost continuous state of conflict and therefore required a very large army. This army ate heavily into the budget of the state, leading development of infrastructure and civil projects to be put on the sidelines in favor of military expenditure. Rome's economy was also driven by slave labor. After the expansion of Trajan, further emperors acted much more defensively and sometimes lost more land than they gained. This lack of expansion meant that no new people were conquered, and therefore there was no steady supply of slaves to fuel the economy. This caused the economy to collapse, as it could no longer sustain itself. A lack of funds meant the state had much less money to spend on the army, causing there to be a shortage of professional legionaries. Rome's army was once the envy of the ancient world, but the Empire was now forced to relax its recruitment criteria in order to defend its borders. Known as Foederati, barbarian units were allowed into the legions, and foreign mercenaries were hired to support the army. These new soldiers had often never stepped foot inside Rome, and cared little for it. They were loyal to their commanders, their wages, and their people, not the Empire, leading many to turn on Rome when it was profitable. Another issue plaguing the Empire was ineffective leadership. Many of the later emperors were incredibly out of touch, possibly because the capital was moved away from Rome, first to Mediolanum in 286 and later to Ravenna in 402. Succession often passed to children as well, leading to several incompetent emperors who had only attained the position through birthright. The last emperor, Romulus, was only 16 when he was deposed and provided little resistance to the invading barbarians. The aristocracy grew incredibly powerful due to low taxes, with some acquiring more wealth than the central government. This led them to effectively control weaker emperors who desperately needed their money, with profit taking priority over matters of state. With such a corrupt and ineffective leadership, it is no wonder the population and many of the new barbarian soldiers had little faith in their rulers. It has also been argued that Christianity played a role in the decline of the Empire. Christianity was legalized in 313 and became Rome's official religion in 380. The fact that Christianity had a single God was drastically opposed to Roman methods of control. When conquering new land, the Romans would often incorporate local gods into state religion, allowing them to be worshipped by locals or likening them to an existing deity and merging the two. This was an effective tool of Romanization, slowly integrating the newly conquered into Roman society. Having multiple gods also allowed the Roman emperors to be worshipped as gods, and it was from this that they gained a lot of their legitimacy. The first emperor, Augustus, deified his adopted father, Julius Caesar, and proclaimed himself as the son of a God. Christianity could not allow this however, leading to the loss of a significant amount of authority for the emperors and making the process of integrating new people much more difficult. While the Empire fell in 476, Rome's legacy lived on far past this date. The Empire managed to survive territorially with the Byzantine Empire keeping the Roman East alive until its fall in 1453 to the Ottomans. The Empire even saw a resurgence of sorts in the West with Charlemagne, King of the Franks being crowned the Holy Roman Emperor in 800 AD. Roman culture has had a tremendous effect on the Western world, with many European languages seen their roots in Latin, such as French, Spanish, and Italian. Rome's religion, Latin Christianity, also saw complete dominance over the medieval West, with the Pope serving as a figurehead for all of Europe from his seat in Rome. Roman technology and infrastructure also helped greatly in the development of Europe in the Middle Ages, with many Roman towns still being important today, such as Londinium, the predecessor to London. So while the Empire fell with Romulus, his influence has persisted throughout history, marking it as one of the most impactful empires to have ever existed. And this brings us to the sponsor of the video, The Great Courses Plus. The Great Courses Plus, a world of knowledge is ready at your fingertips, available anytime on any device. With a subscription, you gain access to lectures from the world's greatest professors and experts, from Neil DeGrass Tyson to National Geographic and the Smithsonian. 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