a short history of the world by christopher lascelles

The Eastern Empire managed to continue not only because it had smaller borders to defend, but also because it contained more people and more wealth. Troops aside, how on earth does one administer such a large politically and culturally diverse territory? Finally, a lack of strong leaders led to a series of civil wars, most notably in the 3rd century, which undermined the empire and weakened its borders. The influx of barbarians from the east and their corresponding land grab stripped the empire of the tax base that it had used to fund its armies. By overextending itself, it did not have the sufficient number of troops to protect its lengthy borders, and where it did have troops there was difficulty in supplying, paying and communicating with them when the fastest mode of transport in the world at the time was the horse. The Western Empire collapsed for several reasons. The Eastern Roman Empire – encompassing modern Greece, Turkey, northern Egypt and parts of the Middle East – lasted another thousand years, gradually being whittled away until Constantinople finally fell to the invading Turks in AD 1453.

And so, with more of a whimper than a bang, the Western Roman Empire came to an end. Odoacer promptly deposed the emperor, Romulus Augustulus, and proclaimed himself king of Italy. The Western Roman Empire managed to limp on until AD 476 when Germanic troops in Italy mutinied and elected a Gothic commander, Odoacer, as king. Buy this book on Amazon: A Short History of the World The End of the Roman Empire in the West (AD 476)

A short history of the world by christopher lascelles