UNIT TWO
THE FALL OF ROME AND
BARBARIAN INVASIONS
The Fall of Rome
Historians say Rome fell in the year 476 AD. The last Roman emperor in the western part of the Roman Empire was dethroned by a barbarian leader. The end of the Roman Empire was a significant event as it ended the rule of the largest and longest-lasting empire the world had seen to that date and because of the importance of Rome to the people then. Rome had been around a long time, close to 1000 years, in fact. Because of the influence of Rome and the memories of Rome had on the people of Europe for hundreds of years after it was gone (in fact, some of our government institutions here in the United States still show that influence, even to the name of the Senate) it is necessary for you to know a little about Rome.
The Founding of Rome
According to one legend, Rome was founded by Romulus, who had a twin brother named Remus. The boys had been abandoned as babies and were raised by a she-wolf who found them by the side of the Tiber River. Romulus grew up and killed his brother in a quarrel. Later, he founded Rome. Another story is that Aeneas, a Trojan prince, took his fugitive followers to Italy and founded Rome on the banks of the Tiber River. The truth more likely is that Etruscans lived and ruled the area where Rome was, and that in 509 BC, the Latin people that the Etruscans ruled rebelled and threw out the Etruscan rulers. Within 250 years of that date, Rome had grown strong and dominated the Italian peninsula.
Rome's Early Government
For a government, early Rome set up a republic. A republic is a government that has no king. It does not have to be democratic, and the early Roman republic wasn't democratic in the sense of allowing all people a part in government. You had to be patrician, a member of an old and well-established family who owned land, to participate in the government. The patrician class supplied two consuls, who together with the Senate, a body of about 300 men, all patrician, and a body called the Centuriate Assembly, ruled Rome. In times of war, a dictator could be elected, a military commander whose power lasted only for six months. Gradually, over a period of time, more people were allowed to participate in the Roman republic, so that by the end of the republic, there were tribunes who represented the common people, known in Rome as plebeians. These tribunes met together in a body called the Tribal Assembly, and they had the right to pass on laws like the Centuriate Assembly did. So that everyone would know the laws, the consuls in 451 BC had the laws engraved on wooden tablets. These were called the Twelve Tables, and they were the beginning of the history of Roman written law..
Rome expands
During the time of the republic, Rome fought many wars and expanded their land holdings to include Italy, Spain, Gaul (today's France), parts of northern Africa, Syria, Bithynia (today's Turkey), Macedonia, Greece and the coastline of the Balkan peninsula, which the Romans called Illyria. Rome was successful in their wars because of their superior organization and the fact that they had a weapon called a javelin, which could be hurled from a distance. As a conqueror in these years, Rome was far-sighted in that, as a usual thing, she left the conquered provinces, as they were called, alone as long as the people who lived there paid taxes and did not revolt. Sometimes, Rome even extended to the conquered people Roman citizenship.
The republic falls apart
The addition of all the conquered land to the republic caused problems. The lands had to be governed; this job was given to governors who were not always honest and who did not always do the job. The republic did not have the administrative machinery to keep watch over all the land and all the officials. There were economic problems at home. Political dissension rose as different groups of people argued and fought over what should be done about, for example, the great numbers of poor people. Some wanted to help them, like the Gracchi brothers, and others did not. There were unrest and uprisings, with the result that political power soon passed to the one group of men everyone respected - the army generals, because they won the wars against the enemies, and they were admired.
Military governors rule Rome
The first of the military governors was Marius. Marius had won big victories against the Numidians in what is now Algeria, and against the Cimbri and the Teutons, barbarian tribes in France. Marius violated the custom that a consul had to wait 10 years for a second term and had himself elected consul 5 times in succession. He reorganized the army, and he changed the rule that a Roman citizen had to pay for his own equipment. The state now would provide the equipment. This encouraged the growth of a professional army since now everyone could join. The soldiers wanted booty, and they wanted a veterans' bonus. This meant that they wanted leaders who could provide those things - military leaders.
The second military governor was Sulla. Sulla became the leader after two years of bloody civil war. He had his opponents killed and tried to limit the power of the tribunes and the Tribal Assembly. He made laws to discourage new and younger politicians from trying for office. He also broke the custom of a dictator's giving up power after 6 months by staying longer than that. He retired in 80 B.C.
The third military governor of Rome was Pompey. Pompey had won victories in Spain and then at home, where he worked with a millionaire named Crassus to put down a famous slave revolt led by Spartacus. Pompey was made consul before he even reached the legal age to be one. He then took on a new war in Asia Minor, which he won. While Pompey was away, Crassus tried to build up his power by calling for annexation of Egypt. Caligula and some others who had been victims of Sulla plotted against Pompey but they were caught and executed. Later, Pompey joined in a "triumvirate" (a three man team) of Julius Caesar, Crassus, and himself.
Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar made his name as a military leader of great talent. He conquered Gaul and was governor of it. He also crossed the English Channel and fought the Celts who had helped the Gauls. Caesar wrote about the Gauls in his books, and that is one way we know about them. While he was in Gaul, Caesar found that he had to fight tribes of German barbarians every so often. Caesar massacred two tribes of them, and built a bridge across the Rhine River so he could go after them easily when they intruded. Once they had learned to stay on their side of the river, Caesar got rid of the bridge. However, Rome would continue to have trouble with German tribes crossing its borders. Caesar's conquest of Gaul meant that Roman culture and language spread into Gaul.
In 45 B.C. Caesar returned to Rome in triumph. Caesar also broke the conventions and rules of the republic. He was consul 5 times in a row, took the title of "Liberator" and, when elected dictator, he extended the term to be a life term. He "packed" the Senate with his own supporters. He also did some good things, too. He gave his veterans grants of land; he tried to limit the importation of slaves into Rome; he made gifts of money to people from his own fortune; he admitted Gallic nobles to the Senate; he reformed the calendar, and at the time of his death he was planning a great public works program. In 44 B.C., Julius Caesar was murdered, stabbed by senators who thought he was becoming a tyrant. A tyrant is a cruel and unjust ruler. The assassins had expected that the public would be grateful, but they were not! They had seen Caesar as someone who had done good things for them. To escape punishment, the assassins had to agree to accept the terms of Caesar's will, which made his adopted grand-nephew Octavian the inheritor of his fortune and soon, his power. Octavian took power in 27 A.D., and from that point forward, the republic was as good as dead.
The Roman Empire - Augustus to Nero, 27 B.C.-68 A.D.
Octavian was too smart and too clever to make himself an emperor all at once. He proceeded slowly. He preserved republican forms, but he also reorganized the government to one better able to rule a large empire. In 27 B.C. the Senate bestowed on Octavian the title of "Augustus" or "revered one". He is known to history as Augustus Caesar from that point on. During his reign, Roman power was extended into Switzerland, Austria, the former Yugoslavia, Hungary and Bulgaria. He had some trouble with German barbarians. The Rhine River seemed to be as far as the Romans could get into Germany. Thus, the Germans never received Roman influence or language. Augustus saw to it that the provinces were governed well, and as a result, had little trouble with them. In fact, he began a period of relatively little conflict called the Pax Romana (the Roman peace).
Augustus' successors were not of his stature. First was Tiberius, his step-son. Tiberius made himself unpopular by staying away from Rome and seeming uninterested in his people. Caligula was a tyrant, killing people and then taking the property of those he killed. Claudius was better; he added to the empire North Africa, the Balkans and Asia Minor. He also invaded Britain. His fourth wife, determined to get the succession for her son Nero, poisoned Claudius in 54. Nero apparently did not particularly appreciate his mother's efforts; he murdered her in 59! Nero was known for his persecution of Christians, whom he blamed for a fire that took place in Rome in 64. During his reign there were serious revolts in Britain, in the Middle East, where the Jews revolted, in Spain and in Gaul. As he was unable to control the situation, Nero was displaced by the Senate and committed suicide in 68.
The Roman Empire - Nero-Marcus Aurelius-68-180 A.D.
With Nero, the family of Julius and Augustus Caesar ran out. The second Roman dynasty was founded by Vespasian. Vespasian subdued the rebellions in Gaul and Britain. His son Titus was the ruler when Mount Vesuvius erupted and destroyed Pompeii. Vespasian's last son, Domitius was assassinated. With his death, Vespasian's family ended.
With no family around to provide an emperor, the Senate chose a man named Nerva. He figured out his own way of picking a successor - he adopted someone! Nerva adopted his general Trajan, and Trajan became the next emperor. Trajan added more land to the empire. His successor, Hadrian, is known for the wall he built in Britain to keep the Scots and Picts out, and for putting down the rebellion of the Jews. He made himself popular with the upper and middle classes by canceling all private debts to the government; and he made himself popular with the lower classes by helping charities. Hadrian inspected troops and defenses, built another wall in Germania to keep the barbarians out, and had the Pantheon built in Rome. He was successful and admired. Antoninus came next. He adopted the great Marcus Aurelius as his successor. Marcus Aurelius, in addition to being emperor was also a great philosopher. Marcus had to fight barbarians, and while he was victorious, he allowed certain of them to settle inside the Roman Empire. This began a bad precedent, as the more that he allowed to settle inside the empire, the more there were that wanted to, and you could not count on them to be loyal to the Roman Empire.
At this point the population of Rome began to decline. No one knows exactly why but there were probably several factors in the decline. One was the increasing barbarian raids, which killed Romans; another was the fact that Romans traded all over the known world, and often picked up and carried diseases back to Rome to which the population had no immunity; another factor was the crowding in cities which made it so that if disease was brought into a city, it spread rapidly; the crowding also meant that if fire broke out, it also spread quickly and killed hundreds of people. Barbarians were allowed to come in and settle to try to get more people, but that was not a very satisfactory solution. The population drop was significant because it weakened Rome and meant that there were not enough people to both defend it and produce enough food for it.
The Roman Empire-Commodus-Diocletian-The beginning of the end.......
After Marcus Aurelius, the emperors lacked leadership and creative ideas; many of them were chosen by soldiers and many of them were assassinated. A bright spot in the dreary succession of unremarkable emperors was Diocletian, who ruled from 284-305. He put through numerous reforms and tried to stop the downward slide of the empire. Diocletian began the practice of dividing the empire . He appointed a "Caesar" who later was promoted to "Augustus" or co-emperor with Diocletian. Then each man appointed another Caesar who would be his successor. Each person had part of the empire to govern. Diocletian also subdivided the old provinces, creating new provinces that were smaller than the old ones had been. He then grouped the provinces into twelve dioceses. Diocletian retired in 305, and forced his co-emperor to do the same. Then a power struggle broke out. Out of this emerged Constantine, who ruled from 324-337, and is known for being the first Christian emperor. Constantine carried on Diocletian's reforms and tried to keep the empire from collapsing.
Why do we remember the Romans?
The Romans were known for their ability to organize governments and for their prowess in war. They gave to all the peoples they conquered Roman law and the Latin language. The Christian Church copied the Roman administrative structure and the language. Most of the Western nations today still have law systems based on Roman civil law, and in the United States, some of our government institutions go back to Roman ones.
For the people who lived in the years after Rome ended, it seemed like Rome had been a "golden age" compared to what they were living in at that time. They held on to the memory of Rome and dreamed of one day reconstructing it. In fact, they spent about 500 years trying to reconstruct it. They could think of nothing better than having a Roman Empire again. We will see what happens.
The Barbarian Attacks
The Roman Empire began to be attacked by Germanic tribes as early as Julius Caesar's reign. These attacks continued, and as you already know, Marcus Aurelius actually allowed some of the barbarians to live inside the Roman Empire. As long as too many of the Germans didn't come at once the Roman Empire could assimilate them fairly well. However, in the fourth century a group of people from Asia, known as the Huns, invaded Europe, starting a panic among the Germanic tribes. The Huns were fierce fighters, and the German tribes needed protection. The tribes then penetrated the Roman Empire and, having little idea of its worth, destroyed much of it.
Who were the "barbarians"?
The so-called barbarians were simply new arrivals of the same kinds of people that had gradually been settling in Europe for thousands of years. The name "barbarian" is a good example of writing a story from your own point of view. The Romans tended to call anyone who was not a Roman a "barbarian" and to look down on such people as being inferior to Romans. Since the only written records we have about these new arrivals were written by either Romans or early Christian churchmen, we cannot be sure just how "uncivilized" these peoples were. It is true they had not attained the level of Roman civilization; however, they weren't headhunters feasting on human flesh at night either. The barbarians who invaded the Roman Empire were mainly from the area today known as Germany, the area the Romans called "Germania"; this is why they are called "Germanic" barbarians. They were not German in the sense that a person born today in Hamburg, Germany, is German. They had no national consciousness like that. Some of the names of the various tribes of barbarians are interesting in view of the fact that some of today's countries are named after the groups that settled there; some provinces in countries are named for them, and some of the words in our language come from them. Here are some of the names: one group of barbarians were called "Franks"-they gave their name to France; the "Angles" and "Saxons" invaded Britain and gave the name "England" ("Angleland",said quickly, soon became "England"); names like "Wessex" are short for "West Saxons"; our words"vandal"and "vandalize" come from the barbarian group known as the Vandals; the "Lombards" gave their name to an area in Italy called "Lombardy" and so on. Look at your map for other names.
How civilized were these barbarians?
"Civilized" means many things to many people but to a historians it means does a certain society have all or at least some of certain things that historians agree are things civilized societies have. Here is a list of those things. Read the list carefully and decide whether you think the barbarians were truly civilized:
environment.
#4 could not exist)
traditions down to another generation. Usually, the group of people is literate.
decorations and sports beyond just competition.
some things may happen in the future.
to life.
Before you can make that decision, you need to know a little more about these barbarian tribes.
How the barbarian tribes were organized and how they lived
The Germanic barbarians were divided into tribes. The tribe was the central unit of organization. A tribe is an extended family; this means your immediate family (Mom, Dad, and the kids) and any other relatives you have on your dad's side. That's grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, great-uncles, great-aunts, and so on. A tribe, as I'm sure you can see, could be quite large! The barbarians chose a leader. He was responsible for the tribe's safety and protection, and he was responsible for deciding disputes and dispensing justice. Being leader DID NOT give him any more power or importance that anyone else. He HAD to live by "the customs and traditions of the people". If he tried to take power, or if he broke the customs, or if he didn't protect the tribe, he was kicked out, just like that! Quite different from the Roman emperors, who used to claim they were gods and make people worship them. The older people in the tribe were very important because they were the ones who knew best about "the customs and traditions" of the people. When a barbarian leader settled a dispute, he went to the older people to find out "what had been done before" in a case like the one he was trying to settle, and probably did the same thing as had been done earlier.
The Germanic barbarians did have a religion; if you have ever read Norse mythology, read stories about Thor and Frigga; the "bad" Giants and Valhalla, that was their religion. (If you haven't read these stories, I highly recommend them) They had some art, though not very well developed; you couldn't compare it to Greek art, for example. The barbarians did pass down their stories and history father to son, but they had no writing, and no real idea of "school" such as a Greek had. They lived very simply; were mainly agricultural; and they moved around as they needed to. They, for example, saw no point to cities, so they let the Roman cities they found fall into rot and ruin. They could not read, so they didn't know that the Greek and Roman books they burnt were priceless treasures; they just made good kindling......
It was important to barbarians to fight wars and to do well in them. A leader was supposed to WIN the wars, and if he did not, he'd probably be kicked out. Barbarians liked to fight. It was sort of like a sport to them. They didn't have any concept of real organized warfare like Romans did. They fought more of a "hit and run" kind of warfare; the kind of warfare we call today "guerrilla" war; the kind of war the Vietcong fought against the U.S. in Vietnam, and which goes on in the Middle East today between Arabs and Jews. It might seem that it wouldn't be very successful against a big enemy (like Rome was to the barbarians), but it is amazingly effective. It throws the big enemy off guard, and it wears down his morale because he feels he isn't getting anywhere since there are no battles on battlefields. Barbarians just expected that all healthy and with it men would want to fight....
Certain things about these barbarians are important for you to remember. These things are the ideas that they gave Western culture, and which, if you will be observant, you will see are still very much around today. One is the idea that a leader, whatever you want to call him-president, king, whatever-cannot operate "above the law". We expect our leaders to obey the laws just as we do. In the United States, we even have a procedure for removing a President who decides not to obey the law. Another idea is that we still to this day settle disputes by finding out what has been done in similar cases in the past.
Now it is time for you to decide if the barbarians were civilized. As you look at the requirements for civilization, you will notice that while the barbarians had some of the characteristics of civilized societies, they did not have others. In fact, they lacked some very important ones. This is why the early Middle Ages often have been referred to as a "Dark Age"-because so many of the things we consider "civilized" were missing, and in particular, because education, knowledge and literacy almost died out completely. It is also referred to as "dark" because there was so much fighting.
Chapter Questions and Outline
The Fall of Rome
I. Introduction
C. Why is it necessary for you to know a little about Rome?
II. The founding of Rome
A. According to the stories, how was Rome founded?
1.
2.
B. Who probably really were the real founders of Rome?
III. Rome’s early government
IV. Rome expands
A. During the time of the republic, what lands did Rome add to itself?
B. Why was Rome successful in their wars?
C. How was Rome farsighted in her treatment of the conquered provinces?
V. The republic falls apart
A. Why did the addition of all the land cause problems?
B. What problems came up at home?
1.
2.
3.
4.
VI. Military governors rule Rome
A. ................................................was the first military governor
B. What positive things did Marius do?
1.
2.
C. What rule of the republic did Marius violate?
D. The second military governor of Rome was .......................................
E. This man did 3 things that were rather negative for the republic.
What were they?
1.
2.
3.
F. The third military governor of Rome was ................................................
G. Where had this man won victories?
H. Why is Spartacus famous?
VII. Julius Caesar
A. The next military leader was Julius Caesar. How had he made
a name for himself?
B. What did Caesar’s conquest of Gaul mean for the people there?
C. How did Julius Caesar also break the rules and the conventions
of the republic?
1.
2
3.
D. What good things did Caesar do for Rome?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
E. What happened to Caesar?
F. What is a tyrant?
G. What did the assassins have to agree to do to avoid punishment?
H. With whose taking power did the republic end?
VIII. The Roman Empire: Augustus to Nero, 27 BC to 68 AD
A. How did Octavian improve the government?
B. What areas did Augustus add to the Empire?
C. Why did Germans never receive Roman influence or the Latin
language?
D. What was the ‘Pax Romana’?
E. Give examples from the reading that show that Augustus’ successors were not of his quality!
1. Tiberius
2. Caligula
3. Nero
IX. The Roman Empire: Nero to Marcus Aurelius, 68 to 100 AD
A. By whom was the second Roman dynasty founded?
B. Who was emperor when the famous eruption of Mt. Vesuvius
happened?
C. Who chose a new emperor after Domitius?
D. This person devised a new way to pick the successor. What was it?
E. What was the Emperor Hadrian known for?
1.
2.
3.
F. How did he make himself popular with the middle and upper classes?
G. What was Marcus Aurelius known for, other than being emperor?
H. What precedent did Marcus Aurelius set, with regard to barbarians?
I. Explain why this was not a good idea.
J. What factors were there in the decline of Rome’s population?
X. The Roman Empire: Commodus to Diocletian
A. Who was one exception in the dreary succession of unremarkable emperors after Diocletian?
B. What did Diocletian do to try to halt the decline of the empire?
C. How did Diocletian reorganize the empire?
D. How did he get rulers for the new divisions?
E. What was Constantine known for?
XI. Why do we remember the Romans?
A. What were the Romans known for?
B. What did the Romans give the places they conquered?
C. What institution copied the Roman administrative structure?
D. On what is much of Western nations’ law systems based?
The Barbarian Invasions
I. Introduction
A. When did the Roman Empire begin to be attacked by barbarians?
B. What event happened that set off a panic among the Germanic tribes?
C. Why did the barbarians destroy much of the Roman Empire?
II. Who were the barbarians?
A. Who were the barbarians? Who called them barbarians?
B. How do we know about these barbarians- that is, who wrote about them?
C. Where did the barbarians come from?
D. Give some examples of nations named for barbarians or words in our language from them.
III. How civilized were the barbarians?
A. What does ‘civilized’ mean to a historian? Make a list of the things
civilized societies have. You will need to know these.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
IV. How the barbarian tribes were organized and how they lived
A. How were the barbarians organized?
B. What was considered a ‘tribe’?
C. What was the leader’s responsibility to the people?
D. As leader, what did barbarian have to do, regarding the rules and customs?
E. What happened if he took power or did not fulfil his responsibilities?
F. How was this different from the concept of power that Roman emperors had?
G. Why were the older members of the tribe important?
H. How did a barbarian leader settle disputes?
I. What was the barbarians’ religion?
K. What ideas did the barbarians donate to Western culture?
L. Why was the early part of the Middle Ages considered ‘dark’?
1. ????
2. ??????
Extra Credit Projects and Questions