Date Event

​27 BCE The Pax Romana begins.

The Emperor Nerva, the first of the Five Great

​96 CE
Emperors, takes the throne.

​180 CE The Pax Romana ends.

The new Eastern Roman Empire capital is

​324 CE renamed Constantinople after Emperor

Constantine.

​410 CE Alaric, a Visigoth, invades western Rome.

Odoacer deposes Emperor Romulus Augustus

​476 CE
ending the Roman Empire in the west.

The Roman Empire was one of great proportions leading it open to many opportunities,

but also problems it may encounter. These issues collectively piled up, ultimately leading to the

fall of the Roman Empire. Rome became so large, it was split into eastern and western sections,

making it difficult to control the whole of it. This was one of the cracks in the empire that helped

lead to its demise. Rome also suffered continuous attacks from ​Germanic invaders, who were

very fierce. Roman citizens and leaders alike became too weak to hold off these attacks, another

blemish that the Roman Empire suffered. There were many imbalances between the split Empire,
not just including the size of each. The citizens in the eastern part of the empire were able to pay

their taxes but the westerns couldn’t do the same. Juxtaposed to the eastern part of the empire,

the west relied more on slaves to do the work. Citizens of the western part of Rome weren’t able

to get jobs because slaves could do the same job for free. Without the tax money, how is West

Rome going to pay for the army or roads? As such, people known as Barbarians greatly

weakened the west through a series of attacks over several years. After many years of weak

leaders, Rome became open to the idea of an outsider leader. Rome’s army pooled in more and

more mercenary soldiers, making Rome become very reliant on these said mercenaries. Odoacer

was a barbarian who joined the Roman military and proved to be a strong soldier, as well as a

great leader. Eventually, Odoacer attacked the Empire from the inside leading to him

overthrowing and disposing of the then Emperor, Romulus Augustulus. With this event came the

fall of Western Rome. Eastern Rome then became a part of an Empire known as the Byzantine

Empire, thus marking the end and fall of the Roman Empire. As we can see, many things tilted

the scales in the eventual fall of the Roman Empire spanning from insufficient tax money, to

barbarians, and even betrayal in the army. The event happened like dominos, one thing leading to

another and causing the literal fall of an Empire.