The Fall of the Western Roman Empire was was precipitated by numerous causes. The sack of Rome by
Alaric and the
Visigoths in August 410CE may seem to some as the final blow dealt to the Western Empire, but one would have to look at the events of the past which led to the final demise of the Western Roman Empire, and the chaos in Europe that soon followed it.
When
Augustus was declared Princeps (or ,first citizen), in 27BCE, the path to appointing successors was lined up for future emperors to use. As the appointment to the rank of Caesar and Augustus was passed from one family generation to the next (Julian, Claudian, Flavian, Antonian etc.), the seat of power in Rome was kept, for the most part, secure. After the death of
Commodus in 192CE, the Empire began a rapid downward spiral into the illegal appointments of emperors, the usurpation of the throne by military generals, and even the purchase of the throne, which was auctioned to the highest bidder by the Praetorian Guard in 193CE(won by
Didius Julianus). The highest seat of the Empire was an almost guaranteed death sentence for a usurper or lineage claimant.
The power struggles, the intrigues and murders, and the use of veteran legionaries to help a contender to the throne, instead of using them on the fragile frontiers of the Empire, contributed significantly to the fall of the Western Roman Empire.
Another contributing factor was the debasing of currency. At the time of
Diocletian's Edict on Coinage(296CE), and The Edict on Maximum Prices(301CE), The Roman Empire was facing a serious financial crises. The debasing of currency by former usurpers who minted coins themselves caused rapid inflation and increased debt. Diocletian attempted to stop, or at least slow down the effects, by issuing new tax reformations, and dictating a price maximum, but not a fixed price, on over one thousand different goods. Though his edicts may have been in good faith, they did not help the financial crises, as Diocletian continued to mint coins, and the maximum price Edict was considered too low, and merchants either used the black market, or haggled for their goods. Roman coinage was not saved, and the financial crises deepened.
By the reign of
Valens in 376CE, the Roman military was dangerously depleted of soldiers and veterans. The Visigoths, fleeing from the
Huns, asked permission to be settled within the borders of the Roman Empire. Valens assented, seeing the Visigoths are prime recruits to strengthen the military.
When famine broke out in 377CE, Valnes refused aid to trhe settlers, which caused an open revolt. The Visigoths rampaged throughout the Balkans, and at the
Battle of Andrianople in 378CE, the Roman forces were defeated, and the emperor Valens slain. The Visigoths had free reign over the Balkans, which opened the doorway for other barbarians to enter Roman territory, with virtually no one to resist them.
Finally, the Eastern section of the Roman Empire was the more luxurious and wealthier part of the Empire. From the time of
Julius Caesar, military commanders and emperors set forth to conquer and plunder the riches of the East. By the time of the Tetrarchy of Diocletian,
Maximian,
Constantius and
Galerius, the cities of the east were more favored as seats governing than of Rome herself. Constantine, the first ruler of the Byzantine (or the Eastern Roman) Empire, made
Byzantium the capital of his domain. Though a few incursions into the Western Empire occurred, Constantine gave up, allowing the Western Roman Empire to eventually be sacked by Goths(410CE), and to have the Western rulers as appointed puppets of the Goths and other Germans, who were the actual rulers of the West after 410CE.
The Fall of the Western Empire led to chaos and uncertainty throughout Western Europe. As the Eastern Roman Empire held out for another thousand years, until their fall at the hands of the
Turks, the Western Roman Empire had all but faded from the minds of the Western Europeans, until relative times of peace led to the revival of interest in the past that had so alluded them during the Middle Ages.