The reasons for the collapse of the Roman Empire briefly. Government corruption and political instability

It continued to exist, however, having lost its global significance, it was empty. The Roman Forum, the place where people's destinies were decided, was overgrown with grass. The brutal sacking of the city indicated the imminent fall of the Roman Empire as a whole. Few doubted the impending decline of culture and power. Anticipating the catastrophe, Hippo Regia Augustine (bishop of the city, one of the leading figures of Christianity at the beginning of the 5th century) began to create his famous work “On the City of God”. In it, he reflected on the rise and fall of earthly kingdoms, including Rome. Augustine put forward the theory of a divine city that would replace the existing empires on earth.

Great importance in the decline of the kingdom is given (4-7 centuries). During this period, the Huns who left China moved to the west. They began to crowd out the tribes that inhabited the territories on their way, forcing the inhabitants to withdraw from their places and cross into the territory of the Roman Empire.

The most warlike and numerous at that time were the tribes of the Germanic Vandals and the Goths. The Romans had long faced them and repelled their attacks. At the same time, some were federates (allies) of Rome. The Germans served in the army of the Empire, reaching high positions and holding very honorable positions.

From the end of the 4th century, the advance of the Germanic tribes began to take on the character of an invasion. It was harder and harder to resist him.

The Goths inhabited the territory of the Black Sea region before they began to disturb the Romans. From the 3rd century, other nationalities began to join the Gothic tribes. Thus, an association of barbarians was formed.

The Gothic tribes were divided into two groups: the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths. After an attack in 375 by the Huns, the Goths were forced to cross the Danube. Thus, they ended up on the territory of the Roman Empire.

The Goths were allowed to settle as federates. However, hunger reigned in their tribes, people were dying. The Goths held the Romans responsible for their troubles. A rebellion broke out. In 378, the Romans were defeated at Adrianople. Their emperor disappeared without a trace.

At the beginning of the 5th century, the Goths again made a campaign against Italy. In 410, the siege of Rome began, causing famine and the spread of disease among the inhabitants. The Gothic leader Alaric demanded a huge ransom from the townspeople. The Romans began to melt down their statues to make ingots and give them to the leader of the Goths. But Alaric, tired of waiting, took the city. For many centuries, the capture of the "Eternal City" took place for the first time. In three days, Rome became almost extinct and dilapidated.

In 455, the Vandals moved into Italy. For two weeks they plundered and burned Rome. Tens of thousands of inhabitants were killed, the rest were taken into slavery. The Empress and her daughters were also captured.

The fall of the Roman Empire was swift. The state, weakening, could not provide protection to its subjects. Both the rich and the poor were defenseless against the onslaught of enemies.

However, the reasons for the fall of the Roman Empire were not only in the invasion of the invaders. According to one of the ancient historians, the inhabitants of the country themselves have become their own worst enemies. Slaves and the poor suffered from unbearable taxes. They came to the desolation of the land, people died of hunger. In order to survive, the population often switched to the service of the barbarians, believing that humility with other customs and lack of freedom is better than injustice and cruelty in their own country.

The fall of the Roman Empire is conditionally dated to 476, when the last ruler, the boy Romulus Augustine, was deposed.

St. Augustine in his essay called the death of the kingdom a retribution for all its terrible sins of the past. The Father of the Church did not see any possibility of saving Rome.

5 215

In ancient times, a mysterious highly developed civilization flourished on Earth, which then disappeared for unknown reasons. But at the same time, we forget that we have known about at least one such civilization since childhood. This is the Roman Empire.

The greatness of the Romans

The Roman eagle spread its wings over the vast territories - from foggy Britain to the hot deserts of Africa. Thousands of years before the European Union, it already existed, and not on the map, but in reality - everything was subordinate to Rome. The unified financial system, introduced with a creak into the EU, has a perfectly working ancient Roman prototype. For international communication, there was Latin, which served as the basis for almost all European languages. Until now, this dead language of a civilization that has sunk into oblivion is used in scientific fugues to create a single semantic field.

Local government and record keeping, as well as legal and sales documentation, have been standardized and therefore most efficient. All modern civil jurisprudence is based on Roman law!

The Roman army, which became a decisive factor in the development of the power of its state, predetermined the tactical formation of troops for thousands of years ahead - until the advent of missile forces, all the armies of the world were built according to the manipulative principle of the Romans (with the main tactical unit in the form of a battalion). The Romans knew how to build. One of the most impressive monuments of the lost empire is the bridge over the river Gar, built by ancient Roman engineers twenty centuries ago. A three-tier structure, as high as a 16-storey building, connected the two banks of the river, but not in a straight line, but with a slight bend. This was done in such a way that seasonal floods would not destroy the structure.

It is amazing, but until recently, the bridge, built by the slaves of Rome, was still vehicular traffic!

However, this will not be so surprising if we remember that some Roman roads in many parts of Europe were used for their intended purpose until the beginning of the 20th century. It is impossible even to imagine that a modern road can be used without repair not for two thousand, but at least 20 years.

Roads, roads...

An empire could not exist without roads, therefore, figuratively speaking, the Romans, building roads, built an empire. A special department headed by a procurator, Quattuorviri viarum curandarum, was responsible for the construction. The total length of roads in the Roman Empire ranged from 250,000 to 300,000 kilometers. The Russian Empire of 1913 had a total of 50,000 kilometers of roads (mostly pounds), while the Romans had only 90,000 kilometers of paved roads. Moreover, in Italy itself, the length of highways was only 14,000, the rest of the mileage was in the provinces.

Roman road builders were practically no different from their modern counterparts, except that they did not have bulldozers, dump trucks and excavators; so everything had to be done manually. The technology of building the roadway now practically copies the ancient Roman one: at the beginning, as now, a trench about a meter deep was pulled out. If the pound was loose, wooden piles were driven into the bottom of the ditch, and the walls were reinforced with stone slabs. Then they put

what today is called a road cushion is a layer of large stone, then smaller stone, sand, again stone, lime, tile powder and, finally, stone slabs. By the way, they were located with a slight slope to the roadsides so that rainwater would flow into the side drainage ditches.

The ancient Roman builders tried not to repeat the terrain - why should the roads of the great empire wag like a Marchian boat? If there was a depression ahead, a bridge was thrown over it, if there was a rock, a tunnel was cut through it. You can judge the character of the Romans by looking at the tunnel near Naples - it reaches a length of 1300 meters.

Cities

Almost all major modern cities in Europe were founded by the Romans: Paris, London, Budapest, Vienna, Belgrade, Orleans, Sofia, Milan, Turin, Bern ... In the Roman Empire, there were about 1800 cities, while in the Russian Empire of the early XX century, with a territories - about 700.

No less amazing are the achievements in urban planning of the ancient Romans. The population of Rome at the peak of the power of the empire was one million people. In European cities, humanity reached such a level of urbanization only by the beginning of the 20th century.

To ensure the livelihoods of such a large number of citizens, water was needed. Imperial aqueducts were technological marvels even by today's standards - for example, a system of canals 90 kilometers long was built to provide water to Rome. Europe will not see such a pipeline for another thousand years.

Sewerage (the famous cesspool of Maximus), without which no modern city is conceivable, was also first built in Rome in the 7th-6th centuries BC.

The Roman cities also implemented a system of rainwater drainage, and it is so efficient that it is currently being tested in the Netherlands for implementation in modern cities.

Fall of the titan

But why did such a powerful empire fall at the hands of illiterate barbarians? There have already been many hypotheses on this topic, so we will focus only on the most popular ones.

One of the funniest is "lead". Say, lead pipes, through which water was diluted in Rome, as well as lead utensils from which the Romans ate, gradually poisoned the townspeople. Here it is only necessary to mention that the calcium contained in the mountain water gradually covered the walls of the pipes with a build-up that would have prevented hypothetical lead poisoning.

A similar version from the "green" - "asbestos". Like, the asbestos tablecloths used by the townspeople gradually poisoned them. True, it is not clear how asbestos could poison the poor, who did not even see these tablecloths.

And, finally, one of the most plausible versions: after the end of the wars of conquest, the flow of slaves to the metropolis dried up, which caused a decline in agriculture and, as a result, the decline of the entire state. But, however, let each of you choose the version that seems most correct.

Sorry for a lot of bacuff

Causes of the fall of the Western Roman Empire (Dryazgunov K. V.)
Publications December 27, 2006
Dryazgunov K. V.

Crisis phenomena in the empire actually began in the 3rd century, when there were profound changes in political, economic and cultural life. Political anarchy associated with the constant change of emperors and usurpers in different parts of the state, combined with the invasion of the Germanic tribes, led to the destabilization of the entire empire. Barbarians constantly penetrated the border, and the emperors did not have enough time, strength and resources to drive them out of the provinces.

The economy of the Roman Empire developed unevenly for a long time. The western regions were less economically developed than the eastern ones, where more significant labor, industrial and commercial resources were concentrated, and thus an unfavorable balance of trade was formed.

According to S.I. Kovalev, the progressive barbarization of the army more and more destroyed the opposition between those who defended the empire and those who attacked it.

The crisis hit the entire state, numerous problems within it and constant intrusions from outside led to its liquidation.

Here is a list of the reasons for the fall of the empire in the form of a complex plan for their better perception.

military bloc

1. The inability of the rulers to control the actions of their commanders gave rise to:

1.1. Loss of combat capability by the army:

A) poor leadership
b) exploitation of soldiers (appropriation of most of their salaries)

1.2. Dynastic crises

2. The lack of a combat-ready army due to:

2.1. Impossibility or insufficient recruitment due to:

A) demographic crisis
b) unwillingness to serve, since there were no incentives to do so (the empire no longer inspired the soldiers, did not arouse in them a patriotic desire to fight for its salvation)
c) the reluctance of large landowners to send workers to the army (the focus of recruitment shifted to the rural population, and this inevitably affected agricultural production. It would have suffered even more damage if only draft evasion had not become widespread)

2.2. Large losses in the army, including most of its professional units

2.3. Recruits of "low quality" (the townspeople were unsuitable for military service, "unnecessary" people were called up from the village

3. Hiring barbarians for service led to:

A) weakening the army
b) the penetration of barbarians into the territory and into the administrative apparatus of the empire

4. Mutual feeling of hostility between the army and the civilian population. The soldiers did not fight as much as terrorized the local population, which aggravated:

A) the economic situation of the population and the empire as a whole
b) the psychological climate and discipline in the army and the population

5. Defeats in combat operations led to:

A) the loss of manpower and equipment of the Roman army
b) crisis demographic and economic phenomena

Economic bloc

1. The decline of the main base of the empire's economy - medium land ownership:

1.1. unprofitable housekeeping within small villas

1.2. breaking up large estates into small plots and leasing them either to freemen or slaves. Colonial relations arose, which led to:

A) to the emergence of subsistence forms of economy: both on large plots and within the emerging rural communities of peasants
b) to the decline of cities and the ruin of urban farmers
c) to sever ties between individual provinces, the landed nobility of which aspired to independence

2. There is a formation of a split form of property of a new type, which in the future will develop into various forms of feudal property.

3. Heavy tax burden. It was unfair, since the poorest of the agricultural areas suffered the most from it.

4. Forced engagement of citizens to provide various services

5. High cost of transporting products, stagnation in production and reduction in acreage as a result of encroachments by foreign invaders:

A) the deterioration of the situation of the population, the ruin of farms
b) tax evasion
b) the emergence of protest moods of the population
c) appeal for patronage to the military command or large local landowners, who, for a certain remuneration, assumed the responsibility to manage all the affairs of the inhabitants with the imperial tax collectors. The formation of the fortress system begins.
d) The emergence of gangs of robbers and robbers due to the inability to earn honestly

6. Galloping inflation

7. Naturalization of the economy with a sharp social stratification

8. Destruction of the monetary system

The wealthy sections of the population and the government more often saw eye to eye with each other. So, for example, entire villages began to apply for patronage to the military command, which, for a certain fee, took upon itself the responsibility of managing all the affairs of the inhabitants with the imperial tax collectors. However, many more villages chose their patrons not from among the officers, but from among the big local landowners. Individuals were also looking for such patrons, for example, the former owners of small peasant farms, who in desperation left their homes and land and found shelter in the nearest large farm.

At the same time, there were still too many cases of exemption from service, which put in a more privileged position those social groups that achieved it rather easily. Corruption was also rampant, as evidenced by numerous but ineffective attempts to combat it.
In the political sphere, it was expressed in the frequent change of emperors, who ruled for several years, if not months; many of them were not native Romans.

On the other hand, the urban culture was fading away. The class of wealthy citizens, vital for the urban structure, disappeared. Urban production and trade fell into decline, the size of policies was reduced, as evidenced by archaeological evidence.

Colon received housing, a plot of land and the necessary tools for production, for which he paid the magnate part of the crop. The magnates surrounded their estates with walls, built luxurious villas in them, organized fairs, recruited armed guards, and sought to free their possessions from state taxes. Such estates became new centers of social life, preparing the transition to feudal relations in the Middle Ages.

On the other hand, by the 3rd century, having hardly had time to take shape, the national culture had practically fizzled out and the Roman people as such had disappeared. Cosmopolitanism has become an integral part of the worldview of citizens, since the syncretism of the early imperial era did not lay the foundations for civil unity among the inhabitants of the empire. The state was eating itself.

The decline of Rome was due to economic, political, and social reasons, but first of all, the crisis began in the spiritual sphere, and its first symptoms arose not in the 5th or 4th century, but much earlier, when the ideal of a harmoniously developed person was lost. , collapsed polis religion and ideology, which embodied the real worldview of ancient man, after the abolition of the republic and the establishment of an actual monarchy. That is, the real crisis originates from the era of Augustus, when the Roman state reached the pinnacle of its power and began a gradual rollback, as in the case of a pendulum, which, having deviated as much as possible to the side, begins to move in the opposite direction. The Roman state did not collapse after Augustus and not only existed, but even prospered, as evidenced by the reign of the Antonines (II century), called the "golden age", but its spiritual framework was already broken: Roman history lost the spiritual foundation that cemented it. In the words of one thinker, this kind of civilization is capable of "pulling its dry branches" for a long time to come.

social bloc

1. The rich and the government were in confrontation with each other. The influence of the rich increased while governments declined:

A) Class consciousness, snobbery of the rich reached extreme limits
b) The estates were something like small principalities, closed socio-economic entities that contributed to the usurpation of control over the country
c) The senators of the fourth and fifth centuries stubbornly kept aloof from the life of society. Many of them did not hold any government positions. They did not take their due part in public affairs either in Rome or in the provinces.
d) Often, senators undermined the well-being of the empire, sharply opposing imperial officials, providing refuge to deserters and robbers. Sometimes they took over the functions of justice, creating private prisons.
e) Difficulty recruiting recruits, as they lost their hands

2. The ruin of the middle class (attacks by external enemies, internal rebellions, inflation, recruitment) and the decline of city councils

2.1. Decline of urban civilization

3. Strict regulation of all life to meet the needs of the army and preserve the imperial system

3.1. Loss of loyalty and personal initiative of the population

3.2. Generation of social tension:

A) economic decline

4. A cumbersome and increasingly inefficient civil service apparatus that was self-evolving as many of its institutions became hereditary.

4.2. Decreased management efficiency:

A) Unrest in various spheres of society

5. At the imperial court, there were carefully thought-out ceremonials, hypocrisy and servility flourished:

A) Reduced the effectiveness of empire management

6. Unsuccessful attempt to assimilate the living Germans, or at least reach a realistic agreement with their leaders

6.1. Deputies and military commanders subjected immigrants to blatant brutal exploitation

6.2. The Romans kept the Germans in spiritual and social isolation:

A) unrest and rebellious moods in mercenary troops
b) social tension in the German community
c) armed clashes, territorial seizures, violence against the Romans, usurpation of power

7. Refusal of more and more people to participate in public life. Hermits, monks, etc. appeared:

A) Loss of labor resources
b) Fertility decline

8. Violence against pagans and Christians of various persuasions

9. Christian theologians actively urged Christians not to work for Rome, either in peace or in the military field.

9.1. Social apathy:

A) the decline of spiritual and economic life

The fall of the Roman Empire is often associated with the era of the Great Migration of Nations. Let's see if this process is the root cause of the collapse of the world's largest empire at that time? In what year did the fall of the Roman Empire occur, or does this event have no exact date?

Causes of the fall of the Roman Empire

With the growth of lands controlled by Rome, its fragmentation into provinces also increased. After the land reforms of the Gracchi brothers, subsistence farming began to develop in Rome, which led to a reduction in the share of the processing industry, and prices for the transportation of goods increased. Trade began to experience an extreme degree of decline, which led to the termination of relations between some provinces.

The increase in taxes affected the solvency of the population. Small landowners began to ask for protection from large owners, which finally ruined them and created a layer of large feudal lords.

The decline of the economy has caused a wave of indignation in the country. A demographic crisis occurred in the empire - the death rate increased and the birth rate decreased. The policy of allowing barbarians to settle in the border territories of the empire allowed to improve the situation in the country, provided that they take an oath to defend their new homeland.

Rice. 1. The Roman Empire in the period of its power.

With the replenishment of the population of the empire with barbarians, their number in military service also grows. The native Romans no longer had an interest in military service, where they went for the sake of obtaining land and wealth - they already had it all. Leading positions, first in the army, and then in politics, began to be occupied by barbarians. There was increasing social apathy among the native Romans. In society, there has been a destruction of spirituality and patriotism.

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In the later history of the empire, there was no strong political figure like Caesar or Pompey at the head of power. The frequent change of emperors reduced the authority of the imperial title itself.

And, of course, the decomposed society and the weakened army could no longer compete with the barbarians advancing on the borders of the empire. A more efficient method of government was needed to counter the external threat.

Reforms of Diocletian and Constantine

In order to prevent further weakening of the empire, a more effective system of governance was required for it. Emperor Diocletian (285-305) carried out a reform, dividing the empire into 4 parts between two Caesars, who took two Augusts as their assistants. This was the beginning of the divisions of the empire. Diocletian deprived Rome of the status of the capital, finally took away his last functions from the Senate, united the imperial treasury with the state and abolished the division of provinces into senatorial and imperial.

Ascended to the throne after him, Constantine the Great (306-337) continued his work. He began to independently appoint officials in the provinces, and also officially recognized Christianity as a religion in the empire.

Rice. 2. Constantine the Great 306-337.

Fall of an empire

In 378, the first major clash of Goths who fled from the Hun invasion took place in the Balkans. Choosing a war against the Romans or the Huns, they preferred the former and won the battle at Adrianople.

In this battle, the Roman army was destroyed and the emperor was killed. Since then, the army of the empire was completely mercenary, and the service was mostly barbarians.

After this battle, the ever-increasing attacks of the barbarians could no longer be stopped. Internecine wars and the struggle for the throne weakened the country even more. In its western part, people spoke Latin and the denarius was in circulation, while in its eastern part Greek was used and the drachma was chosen from money.

Rice. 3. Division of the Roman Empire.

All this forced the dying emperor Theodosius in 395 to permanently divide the empire into Western Roman and Eastern Roman, transferring the reins of government to his sons Honorius and Arcadius, respectively. This is where the history of the unified Roman Empire ends. The fate of the two sister empires will be different and the Western Roman Empire will fall as a logical conclusion to the fall of a single empire. The eastern half in the status of Byzantium will exist for more than ten centuries.

The final division of the empire was predetermined by the peculiarities of the historical development of the two regions of the Mediterranean - the Romanized West and the Hellenistic East. In the western provinces of the once unified state, proto-feudal relations developed at an accelerated pace, cities fell into decay due to unbearable fiscal oppression, and with them commodity production, crafts and trade, the naturalization of the economy progressed, a general economic decline and the ruin of the taxable population were observed, the central part and the influence of magnates increased, the barbarization of the population increased, which led to the degradation of the military machine and the decline of culture. On the contrary, there was a strong imperial power in the East, the eastern provinces were less ruined than the western ones, the development of proto-feudal relations did not reach such a depth here as in the West, and the urban system (in socio-economic and cultural terms) was preserved to a much greater extent. These objective circumstances determined the different historical destinies of the two parts of the former Roman Empire.

In 395 - 396 years. The rebellious Visigothic federates, led by King Alaric, subjected Macedonia and Greece to a terrible defeat. The vandal Stilicho, who opposed the Visigoths and guardian of Emperor Honorius, defeated the hordes of Alaric in southern Greece. Nevertheless, the government of the Eastern Empire hastened to conclude an agreement with Alaric, recognizing him as the ruler and supreme commander of the Illyrian provinces (397). Under the banner of Alaric, detachments of barbarians, fugitive slaves and columns flocked from all over the Eastern Empire. By the beginning of the 5th c. he already had a formidable army.

In 401, Alaric, at the head of his hordes, moved to Italy. The following year, at the cost of extreme effort (in particular, troops from the provinces were called in to defend Italy, freed slaves and columns were recorded in the legions), Stilicho managed to defeat the Visigoths twice and oust them from Italy. On the occasion of the victories of Stilicho over the hordes of Alaric in Rome, a triumph was celebrated for the last time. Nevertheless, the government of Honorius is forced to agree to the settlement of the Visigoths in Illyria. In 405, Italy was invaded by an alliance of Germanic tribes led by King Radagaisus. In a bloody battle near Florence, Stilicho defeated the barbarian army (Radagaisus himself died). Meanwhile, the undefended western provinces were easily overrun by the Germanic tribes. Stilicho tried to persuade Alaric to ally with Honorius, but in 408 he was slandered before the emperor and, with the connivance of the insignificant Honorius, was treacherously killed. In him, Italy lost its only defender.

Upon learning of the death of Stilicho, Alaric moved to Rome and laid siege to the Eternal City. Having received 5,000 pounds of gold and 30,000 pounds of silver as a ransom, he left Italy. The following year, Alaric again laid siege to Rome, but the walls of the city were impregnable, so the leader of the Visigoths, together with the usurper Attalus (409 - 410), went on a campaign to Ravenna, where Honorius took refuge. The barbarians also failed to take Ravenna, and Alaric laid siege to Rome for the third time, abandoned by the emperor to the mercy of fate. In the capital of the empire cut off from supply, hunger and disease began to rage. In August 410, the doomed city fell (slaves opened the city gates at night) and was sacked by the barbarians. The fall of Rome made a strong impression on his contemporaries. Alaric moved to the south of Italy, but fell ill on the way and died at the age of 40. A few years later, the Visigoths settled in Aquitaine, where they created their own kingdom.

The mediocre emperor Honorius, who died of dropsy, was replaced by the usurper John (423 - 425), after which the throne passed to the nephew of Honorius, the son of his co-ruler Constantius III and sister of Galla Placidia, Valentinian III (425 - 455). Meanwhile, the Western Roman Empire was falling apart before our eyes. In 407, the Roman troops of the usurper Constantine III left Britain, and the island gained independence. The Burgundians settled in southeastern Gaul (formally in the position of federates), the Suebi settled in the northwestern part of Spain, and the kingdom of the Vandals arose in Africa with its capital in Carthage (439).

Huns who settled in Pannonia posed a great danger to the dying empire. In 451, under the leadership of Attila, they invaded Gaul. In the "battle of the peoples" on the Catalaunian fields, the commander of Valentinian III Flavius ​​Aetius, under whose banner the Visigoths, Franks and Burgundians fought, defeated the hordes of Attila. The following year, the Huns invaded northern Italy and devastated it. In 453, Attila suddenly died, and the nomadic union of the Huns fell apart. The following year, Aetius fell victim to court intrigues. A few months later, Valentinian III was also killed. In June 455, under the pretext of revenge for the murder of the emperor, the Vandal king Gaiseric captured Rome. Valentinian III's successor Petronius Maximus died in a street fight, and the vandals robbed and devastated the Eternal City for two weeks, in connection with which the term "vandalism" later arose, meaning the senseless destruction of cultural property.

Shortly after the departure of the Vandals, the actual power over Rome and Italy passed into the hands of the commander Flavius ​​Ricimer. The all-powerful temporary worker, at his own will, appointed and dismissed emperors: thus, one after another, the Gall Avitus (455 - 456), Julius Majorian (457 - 461), Libius Severus (461 - 465) and the Greek Procopius Anthemius (467 - 472) were replaced on the throne . All of them were killed. In 472, first Ricimer and then the emperor Olybrius died of the plague. Ricimer's nephew Gundebald in March 473 proclaimed emperor Glycerius (473-475), who was forced to abdicate by the Dalmatian Julius Nepos, who put on himself the imperial diadem (474-475). He was deposed by the Illyrian Orestes, who made his teenage son Romulus Augustus (475 - 476) emperor, who, ironically, bore the names of the founder of the Eternal City and the creator of the principate system. The young emperor of the Romans was derisively nicknamed "August".

In August 476, the Scythian leader Odoacer seized power in Rome and became the ruler of Italy. Orestes was killed, and Romulus Augustulus was deposed (August 23) and sent into exile in a villa near Naples, where he died the same year. Odoacer achieved an official decision to eliminate the title of emperor of the Western Roman Empire and sent the imperial regalia to Constantinople (formally, it was about restoring the unity of the Roman Empire under the scepter of the emperor of the East). This imperceptible event ended the history of ancient Rome.