Everything about The Western Roman Empire totally explained
The
Western Roman Empire refers to the western half of the
Roman Empire, from its division by
Diocletian in
285; the other half of the Roman Empire became known as the
Eastern Roman Empire, today widely known as the
Byzantine Empire.
Rome ceased to be the capital from the time of the division. In
286, the capital of the Western Roman Empire became
Mediolanum (modern
Milan). In
402, the capital was again moved, this time to
Ravenna.
The Western Empire existed intermittently in several periods between the 3rd century and 5th century, after Diocletian's
Tetrarchy and the reunifications associated with
Constantine the Great and
Julian the Apostate (
324-
363).
Theodosius I (
379-
395) was the last Roman Emperor who ruled over a unified Roman empire before the unification under
Zeno. After his death in
395, the Roman Empire was permanently divided. The Western Roman Empire ended officially with the abdication of
Romulus Augustus under pressure of
Odoacer on
4 September 476, and unofficially with the death of
Julius Nepos in
480.
Despite a brief period of reconquest by its counterpart, the Eastern Roman Empire, the Western Roman Empire wouldn't rise again. As the Western Roman Empire fell, a new era began in
Western European history: the
Middle Ages.
Background
As the
Roman Republic expanded, it reached a point at which the central government in
Rome couldn't effectively rule the distant provinces. Communications and transportation were especially problematic, given the vast extent of the Empire. News of invasion, revolt, natural disaster, or epidemic outbreak was carried by ship or
mounted postal service, often requiring much time to reach Rome, and for Rome's orders to be realized in the province of origin. For this reason, provincial
governors had
de facto rule in the name of the Roman republic.
Prior to the establishment of the Empire, the territories of the
Roman Republic had been divided among the
Second Triumvirate, composed of
Octavian,
Mark Antony, and
Marcus Aemilius Lepidus. Antony received the provinces in the East:
Achaea,
Macedonia and
Epirus (roughly modern
Greece),
Bithynia,
Pontus and
Asia (roughly modern
Turkey),
Syria,
Cyprus and
Cyrenaica. These lands had previously been conquered by
Alexander the Great; thus, much of the
aristocracy was of Greek and Macedonian origin. The whole region, especially the major cities, had been largely assimilated into Greek culture,
Greek often serving as the
lingua-franca.
Octavian, on the other hand, obtained the Roman provinces of the West:
Italia (modern
Italy),
Gaul (modern
France),
Gallia Belgica (parts of modern
Belgium, the
Netherlands and
Luxembourg) and
Hispania (modern
Spain and
Portugal). These lands also included Greek and Carthaginian colonies in the coastal areas, though
Celtic tribes such as
Gauls and
Celtiberians were culturally dominant.
Lepidus received the minor province of
Africa (roughly modern
Tunisia). Octavian soon took Africa from Lepidus, while adding Greek-colonized
Sicilia (modern
Sicily) to his holdings.
Upon the defeat of Mark Antony, a victorious Octavian controlled a united
Roman Empire. While the Roman Empire featured many distinct cultures, all were often said to experience gradual
Romanization. While the predominantly Greek culture of the East and the predominantly Latin culture of the West functioned effectively as an integrated whole, political and military developments would ultimately realign the Empire along those cultural and linguistic lines.
Rebellions, uprisings and political consequences
Minor rebellions and uprisings were fairly common events throughout the Empire. Conquered tribes or cities would revolt, and the legions would be detached to crush the rebellion. While this process was simple in peacetime, it could be considerably more complicated in wartime, as for example in the
Great Jewish Revolt .
In a full-blown
military campaign, the
legions, under generals such as
Vespasian, were far more numerous. To ensure a commander's loyalty, a pragmatic emperor might hold some members of the general's family
hostage. To this end,
Nero effectively held
Domitian and
Quintus Petillius Cerialis, governor of
Ostia, who were respectively the younger son and brother-in-law of Vespasian. The rule of Nero ended only with the revolt of the
Praetorian Guard, who had been bribed in the name of
Galba. The
Praetorian Guard, a figurative "sword of
Damocles", were often perceived as being of dubious loyalty. Following their example, the legions at the borders increasingly participated in the
civil wars.
The main enemy in the West was arguably the
Germanic tribes behind the rivers
Rhine and
Danube. Augustus had tried to conquer them but ultimately pulled back after the
Teutoburg reversal.
Parthia, in the East, on the other hand, was too remote and powerful to be conquered. Any Parthian invasion was confronted and usually defeated, and the Parthians similarly repelled any Roman invasion, creating a
stalemate situation.
Controlling the western border of Rome was reasonably easy, because it was relatively near, but controlling both frontiers at the same time during wartime was difficult. If the emperor was near the border in the East, chances were high that an ambitious general would rebel in the West and vice-versa, making the Empire doubly vulnerable. This wartime opportunism plagued many ruling emperors, and indeed paved the road to power for several future emperors.
Economic stagnation in the West
Rome and the
Italian peninsula began to experience an economic slowdown as industries and money began to move outward. By the beginning of the 2nd century AD, the economic stagnation of
Italia was seen in the
provincial-born Emperors, such as
Trajan and
Hadrian. Economic problems increased in strength and frequency.
Crisis of the 3rd century
Starting on
18 March 235, with the assassination of the Emperor
Alexander Severus, the Roman Empire sank into a 50-year civil war, known today as the
Crisis of the Third Century. The rise of the bellicose
Sassanid dynasty in
Parthia posed a major threat to Rome in the east. Demonstrating the increased danger, Emperor
Valerian was captured by
Shapur I in 259. His eldest son and heir-apparent,
Gallienus, succeeded and took up the fight on the eastern frontier. Gallienus' son,
Saloninus, and the
Praetorian Prefect Silvanus, were residing in Colonia Agrippina (modern
Cologne) to solidify the loyalty of the local legions. Nevertheless,
Marcus Cassianius Latinius Postumus, the local governor of the German provinces, rebelled; his assault on Colonia Agrippina resulted in the deaths of Saloninus and the prefect. In the confusion that followed, an independent state known as the
Gallic Empire emerged.
Its
capital was Augusta Treverorum (modern
Trier), and it quickly expanded its control over the German and Gaulish provinces and over all of
Hispania and
Britannia. It had its own
senate, and a partial list of its
consuls still survives. It maintained Roman religion, language, and culture, and was far more concerned with fighting the
Germanic tribes than other Romans. However, in the reign of
Claudius Gothicus (268 to 270), large expanses of the Gallic Empire were restored to Roman rule.
At roughly the same time, the eastern provinces seceded as the Empire of Palmyra, or the
Palmyrene Empire, under the rule of Queen
Zenobia.
In 272, Emperor
Aurelian finally managed to subdue Palmyra and reclaim its territory for the empire. With the East secure, he turned his attention to the West, taking the Gallic Empire a year later. Because of a secret deal between Aurelian and Gallic Emperor
Tetricus I and his son
Tetricus II, the Gallic army was swiftly defeated. In exchange, Aurelian spared their lives and gave the two former rebels important positions in Italy.
Tetrarchy
The external borders were mostly quiet for the remainder of the Crisis of the Third Century, although between the death of Aurelian in 275 and the accession of
Diocletian ten years later, at least eight emperors or would-be emperors were killed, many assassinated by their own troops.
Under
Diocletian, the political division of the Roman Empire began. In 286, through the creation of the
Tetrarchy, he gave the western part to
Maximian as
Augustus and named
Constantius Chlorus as his subordinate (
Caesar). This system effectively divided the empire into four parts and created separate capitals besides Rome as a way to avoid the civil unrest that had marked the 3rd century. In the West, the capitals were Maximian's
Mediolanum (now
Milan) and Constantius'
Trier. On
1 May 305, the two senior Augusti stepped down and were replaced by their respective Caesars.
Constantine
The system of the Tetrarchy quickly ran aground when the Western Empire's Constantius died unexpectedly in 306, and his son
Constantine was proclaimed Augustus of the West by the legions in Britain. A crisis followed as several claimants attempted to rule the Western half. In 308, the Augustus of the East,
Galerius, arranged a conference at
Carnuntum which revived the Tetrarchy by dividing the West between Constantine and a newcomer named
Licinius. Constantine was far more interested in reconquering the whole empire. Through a series of battles in the East and the West, Licinius and Constantine stabilized their respective parts of the Roman Empire by 314, and they now competed for sole control of a reunified state. Constantine emerged victorious in 324 after the surrender and murder of Licinius following the
Battle of Chrysopolis.
The Tetrarchy was dead, but the idea of dividing the Roman Empire between two emperors had been validated. Very strong emperors would reunite it under their single rule, but with their death the Roman Empire would be divided again and again between the East and the West.
Second division
The Roman Empire was under the rule of a single Emperor, but with the death of Constantine in 337, civil war erupted among his three sons, dividing the empire into three parts. The West was reunified in 340, and a complete reunification of the whole empire occurred in 353, with
Constantius II.
Constantius II focused most of his power in the East, and is often regarded as the first emperor of the Byzantine Empire. Under his rule, the city of
Byzantium, only recently refounded as
Constantinople, was fully developed as a capital.
In 361, Constantius II became ill and died, and Constantius Chlorus' grandson
Julian, who had served as Constantius II's Caesar, took power. Julian was killed carrying on Constantius II's war against
Persia in 363 and was replaced by
Jovian who ruled only until 364.
Final division
Following the death of
Jovian,
Valentinian I emerged as emperor in 364. He immediately divided the empire once again, giving the eastern half to his brother
Valens. Stability wasn't achieved for long in either half as the conflicts with outside forces intensified. In 376 the
Visigoths, fleeing before the
Huns, were allowed to cross the river Donau and settle into the Balkans by the Eastern government. Maltreatment on the side of the Romans then caused them to rebel, and in 378 they inflicted a crippling defeat on the Eastern Roman field army in the
Battle of Adrianople, in which Valens also died. After roaming the Balkans for a while, the Visigoths settled in
Epirus, where they remained a hostile foreign element within the empire that posed a constant threat to both halves until they finally moved into Italy shortly after 400.
More than in the East, there was also opposition to the Christianizing policy of the emperors in the western half of the empire. In 379
Valentinian I's son and successor
Gratian declined to wear the mantle of
pontifex maximus, and in 382 he rescinded the rights of pagan priests and removed the pagan altar from the
Roman Curia, a decision which caused dissatisfaction among the traditionally pagan aristocracy of Rome.
The political situation was unstable. In 383, a powerful and popular general named
Magnus Maximus seized power in the west and forced Gratian's son
Valentinian II to flee to the east for aid; the Eastern Emperor
Theodosius I promptly restored him to power. He also caused a ban on the native paganism to be implemented in the west in 399, enforcing
Christianity. In 392 the
Frankish and pagan
magister militum Arbogast assassinated Valentinian II and proclaimed an obscure senator named
Eugenius as emperor. The rebellion was overcome in 394 by Theodosius I, who then shortly ruled a united Empire until his death in 395. This was the last instance in which a single ruler ruled both parts of the Roman Empire; his sons,
Honorius and
Arcadius, were given the western and eastern half, respectively. Still minors, they were placed under the tutelage of the semi-barbarian
magister militum Flavius Stilicho.
Stilicho ably defended Italy against the invading Goths, but he became a victim of court intrigues in
Ravenna (where the imperial court resided since
402) and was executed for high treason in
408. In the preceding year
Vandals,
Alans and
Suevi had invaded Gaul in massive numbers, and while the East began a slow recovery and consolidation, the West began to collapse entirely.
Economic factors
While the West was experiencing an economic decline throughout the late empire, the East wasn't so destitute, as Emperors like
Constantine the Great and
Constantius II had invested heavily in the eastern economy. The economic decline of the West contributed to its eventual collapse. While being much less urbanized and less densely populated, it stretched over a larger area and had a longer boundary to defend than the Eastern empire. The Byzantine Empire could afford large numbers of professional soldiers and augment them with mercenaries while the Western Roman Empire couldn't afford this to the same extent. Even in the case of a major defeat the East could, certainly not without difficulties, buy its enemies off with a ransom. The Western empire's resources were much more limited, and the lack of available manpower forced the government to rely ever more on confederate barbarian troops operating under their own commanders.
As the central power weakened, the State lost control of its borders and provinces, as well as control over the
Mediterranean Sea. Roman Emperors tried to maintain control of the sea, but once the
Vandals conquered
North Africa, imperial authorities had to cover too much ground with too few resources. In many places the Roman institutions collapsed along with the economic stability. In some regions, such as Gaul and Italy, the settlement of barbarians on former Roman lands seems to have caused relatively little disruption, whereas elsewhere, notably in certain parts of North Africa, the Roman landowners were expelled and their lands confiscated.
Conquest of Rome and fall of the Western Roman Empire
With the death of Stilicho in 408,
Honorius was left in charge, and although he ruled until his death in 423, his reign was filled with usurpations and invasions. In
410, Rome was sacked by Alaric's forces. This event made a great impression on contemporaries, as this was the first time since the Gallic invasions of the 4th century BC that the city had fallen to a foreign enemy. Under Alaric's successors the Goths then settled in Gaul, where they operated as Roman allies against the Vandals and Suevi. Meanwhile, Roman Britain was stripped of its defenses by the usurpator
Constantine, and the Romanized population became subject to invasions by the
Saxons and
Angli, who began to settle there permanently in the middle of the 5th century.
Pressure from the Visigoths caused the Vandals to cross over from Spain to
Roman Africa in
429, where under their king
Gaiseric they established an independent state with a powerful navy centering on
Carthage (
439). They plundered Rome a second time in
455.
The instability caused by usurpers throughout the Western Empire helped these tribes in their conquests, and in the 5th century the Germanic tribes became usurpers themselves. In 475,
Orestes, a former secretary of
Attila the Hun, drove Emperor
Julius Nepos out of
Ravenna and proclaimed his own son
Romulus Augustus as emperor.
In 476, Orestes refused to grant
Odoacer and the
Heruli federated status, prompting him to send the imperial insignia to Constantinople, installing himself as king over Italy. Although isolated pockets of Roman rule continued even after 476, the city of Rome itself was under the rule of the barbarians, and the control of Rome over the West had effectively ended. There is considered to be three
rump states that continued under Roman rule in some form or another after 476, Julius Nepos controlled
Dalmatia until his murder in 480,
Syagrius was declared
King of the Romans and ruled the
Domain of Soissons until his murder in 487. Lastly, a Roman-Moor Kingdom survived in north africa, this last bastion of Roman rule in the West resisted Vandal conquest and was re-united with the
Eastern Roman Empire c.533 when
Belisarius reconquered North Africa.
Last Emperor
Historical convention has determined that the Western Roman Empire ended on
4 September 476, when Odoacer deposed
Romulus Augustulus. However, the issue isn't clear-cut.
Julius Nepos still claimed to be Emperor of the West, ruling the rump state in Dalmatia, and was recognized as such by Byzantine Emperor
Zeno and by
Syagrius, who had managed to preserve Roman sovereignty in a
exclave in northern Gaul, known today as the
Domain of Soissons. Odoacer proclaimed himself ruler of Italy and began to negotiate with Zeno, who eventually did grant Odoacer
patrician status as recognition of his authority and accepted him as his own viceroy of Italy. Zeno however insisted that Odoacer paid homage to Nepos as western emperor. Odoacer accepted this condition and even issued coins in Nepos' name throughout Italy. This however was mainly an empty political gesture as Odoacer never returned any real power or territories to Nepos. Nepos' murder in 480 prompted Odoacer to invade Dalmatia, annexing it to his Kingdom and ending any claims to the western throne.
Theodoric
The last hope for a reunited Empire came in 493, as Odoacer was replaced by
Theodoric the Great, king of the
Ostrogoths. Theodoric had been recruited by Zeno to deal with a dangerous Odoacer. While in principle Theodoric was a subordinate, a
viceroy of the emperor of the East, actually he was an equal.
Following Theodoric's death in 526, the West no longer resembled the East. The West was now fully controlled by invading outside tribes, while the East had retreated and Hellenized. While the East would make some attempts to recapture the West, the Roman Empire was never the same again.
Byzantine reconquest
Throughout the
Middle Ages, the eastern, so-called "
Byzantine Empire" laid claims on areas of the West which had been occupied by several tribes. In the 6th century, the Byzantine Empire managed to reconquer large areas of the former Western Roman Empire. The most successful were the campaigns of the Byzantine generals
Belisarius and
Narses on behalf of Emperor
Justinian I from 533 to 554. The Vandal-occupied former Roman territory in
North Africa was regained, particularly the territory centred around the city of
Carthage. The campaign eventually moved into Italy and reconquered it completely. Minor territories were taken as far west as the southern coast of the
Iberian Peninsula.
It appeared at the time that perhaps Rome could be reconstituted. However, the tribal influence had caused far too much damage to these former Roman provinces, both economically and culturally. Not only were they extremely costly to maintain, the invasion and propagation of the Germanic tribes throughout these territories meant that much of the Roman culture and identity that had held the empire together had been destroyed or severely damaged.
Although some eastern emperors occasionally attempted to reconquer some parts of the West, none were as successful as
Justinian. The division between the two areas grew, resulting in a growing rivalry. While the Eastern Roman Empire continued after Justinian, the eastern emperors focused mainly on defending its traditional territory. The East no longer had the necessary military strength, spelling the end of any hope for reunification.
Legacy
As the Western Roman Empire crumbled, the new Germanic rulers who conquered the provinces nonetheless upheld many Roman laws and traditions. Many of the invading Germanic tribes were already Christianised, though most were followers of
Arianism. They quickly converted to
Catholicism, gaining more loyalty from the local Roman populations, as well as the recognition and support of the powerful
Roman Catholic Church. Although they initially continued to recognise indigenous tribal laws, they were more influenced by
Roman Law and gradually incorporated it as well.
Roman Law, particularly the
Corpus Juris Civilis collected by order of Justinian I, is the ancient basis on which the modern
Civil law stands. In contrast,
Common law is based on the Germanic
Anglo-Saxon law.
Latin as a language never really disappeared. It combined with neighboring Germanic and
Celtic languages, giving rise to many modern
Romance languages such as
Italian,
French,
Spanish,
Portuguese,
Romanian and
Romansh. Latin also influenced
Germanic languages such as
English,
German, and
Dutch. It survives in its "purer" form as the language of the Roman Catholic Church (the
Mass was spoken exclusively in Latin until
1969) and was used as a
lingua franca between many nations. It remained the language of medicine, law, diplomacy (most treaties were written in Latin), of intellectuals and scholarship.
The
Latin alphabet was expanded with the letters J, K, W and Z and is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world today.
Roman numerals continue to be used but were mostly replaced by
Arabic numerals.
The ideal of the Roman Empire as a mighty Christian Empire with a single ruler continued to seduce many powerful rulers.
Charlemagne, King of the
Franks and
Lombards, was even crowned as Roman Emperor by
Pope Leo III in 800. Emperors of the
Holy Roman Empire like
Otto I,
Frederick I Barbarossa,
Frederick II, and
Charles V,
French King Louis XIV, as well as
French Emperor Napoleon I, among others, tried to a certain extent to resurrect it, but none of their attempts were ultimately successful.
A very visible legacy of the Western Roman Empire is the Roman Catholic Church. The Church slowly began to replace Roman institutions in the West, even helping to negotiate the safety of Rome during the late 5th century. As Rome was invaded by Germanic tribes, many assimilated, and by the middle of the medieval period (c.9th and 10th centuries) the central, western and northern parts of
Europe had been largely converted to the
Roman Catholic Church and acknowledged the Pope as the
Vicar of Christ.
List of Western Roman emperors
Gallic Emperors (259 to 273)
Tetrarchy (293 to 313)
Augusti are shown with their
Caesares and regents further indented
Maximian: 293 to 305
Constantius Chlorus: 305 to 306
Flavius Valerius Severus: 306 to 307
Maxentius/Maximian: 307 to 308
Licinius: 308 to 313
Maxentius: 308 to 312 Usurper
Domitius Alexander: 308 to 309 African usurper
Constantinian dynasty (313 to 363)
Constantine I: 313 to 337 Sole emperor of the whole Roman Empire 324 to 337
Constantine II: 337 to 340 Emperor of Gaul, Britannia, and Hispania
Constans I: 337 to 350 Initially emperor of Italy and Africa; emperor of the west 340 to 350
Magnentius: 350 to 353 Usurper
Constantius II: 353 to 361 Sole emperor
Julian: 361 to 363
Non-dynastic (363 to 364)
Jovian: 363 to 364
Valentinian dynasty (364 to 392)
Valentinian I: 364 to 375
Gratian: 375 to 383
Magnus Maximus: 383 to 388 Usurper
Valentinian II: 383 to 392
Non-dynastic (392 to 394)
Eugenius: 392 to 394
Theodosian dynasty (394 to 455)
Theodosius I: 394 to 395 Sole emperor
Honorius: 395 to 423
Constantine III: 407 to 411 Usurper
Priscus Attalus: 409 to 410/414 to 415 Usurper
Jovinus: 411 to 412 Usurper
Valentinian III: 423 to 455
Joannes: 423 to 425 Usurper
Non-dynastic (455 to 480)
Petronius Maximus: 455
Avitus: 455 to 456
- Ricimer: 456 to 472 Power behind the throne
Majorian: 457 to 461
Libius Severus: 461 to 465
Anthemius: 467 to 472
Olybrius: 472
Glycerius: 473 to 474
Julius Nepos: 474 to 480 In exile 475 to 480
Romulus Augustus: 475 to 476
Flavius Orestes was killed by revolting Germanic mercenaries. Their chieftain, Odoacer, assumed control of Italy as a de jure representative of Julius Nepos and Eastern Roman Emperor Zeno.
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