Fall of the Roman Empire
Reasons for the Fall
I. First great history book was ______written by
______
a. Claimed the reason Rome fell was because of ______
b. Main argument:
______
______
______
II. Other Arguments why Rome fell
a. Slavery
i. ______
______
______
b. Invasion
i. ______
______
______
c. Corruption
i. ______
______
______
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d. Invasion
i. ______
______
______
e. Insanity
i. ______
______
III. Was there a single reason Rome fell?
a. ______
______
Problems facing Empire
I. Death of Commodus
a. Commodus wastes Roman money on
______
b. Killed by his ______who was hired by
______
c. Left Empire facing many problems
II. Civil War
a. After Commodus’ death, Rome ruled by a series of ______
i. Definition:
______
______
______
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ii. Rome Experiences ______Emperors in ______years
b. Left ______in the Roman borders as generals fought one another
i. From ______Rome had ______vying for the throne
III. Size
a. Roman Emperor had become too large to rule from a single city
b. Problems with corrupt or rebellious ______
c. Unable to ______
d. Civil wars left Rome with ______
IV. Famine
a. Throughout the ______, Europe undergoes a ______
i. ______drop significantly
ii. ______shorten leading to ______
iii. Europe experiences ______
iv. Ironically, ______
______
1. One of the motivating factors stopping Attila from invading Italy was
______
V. The Money
a. Too much of the coinage was being ______
i. Definition:
______
______
ii. Allowed Rome to ______but drastically
______
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iii. Allowed barracks emperors to quickly ______
VI. Invasion of Barbarians
a. Tribes from ______and ______invading Roman
territory
b. Military too weak to stop it
Attempts at Reform
I. Emperor Diocletian
a. Defeats ______by turning his barbarian armies against
him
b. Attempted to solve 2 problems simultaneously
i. ______
ii. ______
c. Made his assistant ______into a ______
d. Gave him control of ______and moved his capital to
______in ______
e. Divided military into a ______
i. Definition:
______
______
______
f. Great Persecution
i. Diocletian targeted ______to be tortured or killed
ii. Feared them because ______
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iii. Blamed ______on Christians
iv. Burned ______
v. Punishments were so harsh that
______
Emperor Constantine
I. Constantine takes over after Diocletian ______
a. Definition:
______
______
b. Oldest of Diocletian’s sons
II. Finalized Diocletian’s reforms by ______
a. He makes Rome ______
instead of ______
b. Takes control of Byzantium and renames it ______
c. Gives control of Rome to ______
III. Why Constantinople?
a. Strategic: ______
b. Wealthy: ______
c. Safe: ______
IV. Constantine’s conversion
a. 313, Edict of Milan: Constantine declares that Christians can follow faith without fear of
______
b. Constantine then ______
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i. Claims he saw ______
ii. Real reason more likely his ______
c. Closes all ______and dismisses all ______
d. Replaces ______with ______
i. Gives ______
e. Ends ______
f. Constantine takes a direct hand in shaping the religion
g. While Constantine does not make it a requirement for citizens to convert he does ____
______
i. This means ______
h. Replaces Roman holidays with ______
i. Allows Romans to ______
V. Council of Nicea
a. Problem:
______
______
b. Constantine calls church leaders to Nicea:
i. Leaders decide on a single ______
ii. Declares all other writings ______
iii. Breaks Christianity from Jewish traditions such as ______
iv. Declares ______to be leader of Church
VI. Religious Conflict
a. Not all Romans ______
b. Julian the Apostate(361-363)
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i. Attempted to retake ______territory lost to ______
______
ii. Moved capital to ______
iii. Reinstated all ______
1. Was killed in battle possibly by one of his own soldiers
2. Christianity restored by ______
VII. Military Collapse
a. Much of Roman military moved to ______-
b. Rome left to hire ______
i. Definition:
______
______
The Barbarians
I. Barbarian comes from the ______language
a. Means:
______
______
b. To the Romans, Barbarian meant:
______
II. The Huns
a. Originally come from ______
b. United by a war chief called a ______
i. Greatest of these was ______
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c. The Huns were the masters of the ______
d. They were masters of the ______
i. Developed ______which allowed them to
______
e. Typically Huns would ride into battle with ______
i. Switch mid-battle when they ran out of arrows or spears f. Attila the Hun
i. Called “______” by the Romans
ii. Inherited various tribes of ______
1. Unified them into a single army g. By ______the Huns had devastated ______and were raiding
______h. Threatened Empire because
______
i. Eventually would attack ______
ii. Destroyed city of ______so thoroughly even its foundation could
not be identified
iii. Dissuaded from attacking Rome only when ______
______i. Attila in Europe
i. Dissuaded from attacking France only when ______
______
ii. Defeated Roman armies at ______and ______
1. Stopped only at gates of ______
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j. Treaty of Margus
i. Romans fully admit they cannot defeat Attila, agree to ______
1. Offer ______
2. Huns ultimately ______
k. Attila’s death:
III. The Goths
a. ______tribes from ______
b. Several different tribes that included the ______, the
______and the ______
c. Pushed out of their original territory by the ______
d. Invaded Roman Territory
i. Took control of ______and ______
e. Ostrogoths
i. Eastern tribe that was ______
1. After Attila’s death they ______
f. Visigoths
i. Escaped both ______and ______rule to challenge the Empire
ii. Defeated and killed ______at the ______
1. Seen as the final defeat of the Roman military in ______
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g. The Vandals
i. Originally from ______
ii. Fled Hun invasion all the way to ______
iii. Resisted all ______
1. Eventually ______in 455CE
2. Though portrayed as savages they were master ______
IV. The Franks
a. Group of Germanic tribes that invaded ______
b. Take territory without a fight
c. Rome acknowledges Frankish Kingdom in ______
d. Franks build ______to protect their territory
The Sack of Rome
I. Last Emperor of the Western Roman Empire was ______
II. Placed on the throne by his ______
III. Rome invaded by ______led by ______in
______
IV. Last Emperor replaced by ______who declares himself ______
a. Pope chooses to endorse this change (rather than by murdered)
Was this the end of Rome?
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