Why Did The Fall Of The Roman Empire

The demise of Theodosius the Great in 395 C.E. denoted a memorable defining moment in the Roman history. The Roman Empire was split into two, now perceived as the Western and Eastern Empire. There were numerous events as to why the West Empire fell while the East Empire survived in the fifth century.
Prior to the division of the two Empire 's, there was one Republic where all matters were taken care of. The Empire continued to flourish equally, but that all changed when the senate became too damaged. Diocletian, who was emperor at the time, made a decision to fix this conflict when signs of internal and external forces risen, compelling him to break the two sides apart. Emperor Theodosius died, about sixty years after the founding of Constantinople, leaving his two sons to inherit the two empires. Arcadius, the eldest son, took Constantinople for his capital and ruled over the Eastern Empire while Honorius, who was just a child of eleven years old, became the ruler of the Western Empire, with Rome as his capital.1 The expression, “united we stand, divided we fall” especially applied …show more content…
In 376, the Visigoths were allowed into the Eastern Empire to escape the Huns. When the Roman authorities failed to effectively take care for these migrants, the Visigoths revolted and destroyed an entire Roman army and Emperor Valens at the battle of Adrianople in 378. The Visigoths’ king, Alaric, wanted the Roman titles and lands for himself. The people of Visigoths took this opportunity to cause uproar not soon after Theodosius I died. A pandemonium broke out as the Visigoths surged into Italy and established their power. After this event, many other tribes started to do the same. Once a tribe was in the empire they would begin to loot and take whatever they wanted, demolishing the empire 's economy.4 The Visigoths, Vandals, Saxons, Huns, and Franks, now had control over many parts of Western