I learned this today. The Western Roman Empire ended in 476 and the Eastern Roman Empire ended in 1453.
The state of Rome became a republic in the 6th century BC and started to expand throughout Italy. By the 3rd century BC, it had taken over all of Italy and started to look for other places to rule. Rome was a republic for over 500 years before the rise of Augustus, the first Roman emperor in 27 BC.
The empire began to expand into southern Europe and northern Africa. It reached its greatest extent in 117 AD, under the emperor Trajan. It stretched as far north as the top of England, as far south as the bottom of Ethiopia, as far east as the Caspian Sea and as far west as Portugal and Morocco. It covered 5 million square kilometers and contained 20% of the world’s population.
Emperors had always used conquest abroad as a way of earning respect at home, but after 117 AD, it became too expensive to keep sending out the army. It also became harder to govern the extremities of the empire.
The Roman empire had a very hard time through the 4th century AD. It gradually lost control of a lot of its territories and the number of Goths, Huns, and other Germanic tribes living in Roman regions started to increase. There was civil war at home and huge inequality. The people were not content. The undefeatable Roman army lost several important battles against different forces.
The emperor Constantine was aware of the dangers to the empire, so he moved the capital from Rome to Constantinople. The city is named after him. It was a good place to defend Thrace, Asia, and Egypt. It was also closer to the wealthier cities of the empire. As the western half of the empire was attacked and raided, its population, wealth, and power all declined, well the eastern cities rose.
In 395 AD the emperor Theodosius died, and he left the empire to his sons Honorius and Arcadius. They established themselves as dual emperors, one in the western half of the empire and one in the eastern. Constantinople became the capital of the eastern empire.
The attacks on the western empire continued and it gradually lost more territory and a wealth and a power gap developed between the west and east. The western empire struggled on for a while, but it finally fell on 4 September 476. The barbarian Odocer deposed Romulus Augustulus, the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire. Odocer made himself king of Italy. The western empire had existed for 493 years since Augustus became emperor.
The western empire might have fallen, but the eastern empire was still going strong. The Roman empire in the east became known as the Byzantine empire. The city of Constantinople had been built on the site of the city of Byzantium.
The Byzantine empire was still part of Rome, but most of the people spoke Greek. The last Latin speaking emperor was Justinian who reigned from 527 to 565 AD. he wanted to reunite the empire and managed to reconquer some of the western territories. He is said to be the last Roman Emperor.
The Byzantine empire had good and bad years. It fought a lot of battles and reached its peak in 1025 on the death of Emperor Basil II. It stretched from Armenia in the east to Calabria in Southern Italy in the west. It started to decline from this point. Civil wars, the crusades, failed military campaigns, and misgovernment all added together to weaken the empire. In 1204, the city of Constantinople was sacked by the soldiers of the fourth crusade. The city was divided between the crusaders and the empire of Venice.
The Byzantine empire continued on in two successor states, the Empire of Nicaea and the Despotate of Epirus. The two states tried to conquer each other, which allowed the Ottoman Empire to flourish throughout southern Europe. The Ottoman’s took over the Byzantine territories one by one and then laid siege to what was left of Constantinople. The city was a shadow of its former self, but it still survived two months before it fell. The last Byzantine emperor was Constantine XI Palaiologos and he died defending the walls of his city on 29th May, 1453. The Eastern Roman Empire had lasted 1088 years since the split and 1480 years since the Roman Empire had been founded in 27 BC, by Augustus.
So, the Roman Republic was founded in the 6th century BC, and it finally breathed its last over 2000 years later. I find it odd to think that the Roman Empire still existed well into the Middle Ages. And this is what I learned today.
Photo by Oleg Magni: https://www.pexels.com/photo/the-roman-forum-896753/
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_the_Western_Roman_Empire
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odoacer
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_the_Great
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustus
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_Empire
https://www.vox.com/world/2018/6/19/17469176/roman-empire-maps-history-explained
https://www.history.com/news/ancient-roman-empire-map-julius-caesar-conquests
https://www.history.com/news/8-reasons-why-rome-fell
https://www.thoughtco.com/greek-language-in-byzantine-empire-118733
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justinian_I