Created by María Jesús Campos, teacher of Social Studies, Geography of History in a bilingual section in Madrid

1. THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES (PART 1):
THE DECLINE OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE AND THE
GERMANIC INVASIONS
María Jesús Campos
learningfromhistory.wikispaces.com

2. THE MIDDLE AGES: CONCEPT
 Historians have divided
the past in different
periods or stages to help
people understand past
events.
 The period that goes from
the fall of the Western
Roman Empire in the year
476 A.D. to the discovery
of America by Christoper
Columbus in the year
1492 A.D. is known as the

3. THE DECLINE OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE
 The Roman Empire was established by Augustus
in the 1st century.
 The empire was extensive and included most of
the territories of the Mediterranean Sea.

4. CAUSES OF THE DECLINE OF THE ROMAN
EMPIRE
The empire was
expensive and
difficult to
protect
The empire’s Some emperors
economy were weak
suffered a crisis leaders
The military did
not want to
defend the
empire

5. CRISIS
 Emperors were weak
and the military
struggled for power.
Between the 2nd and
the 3rd century there
were 29 emperors but
only 4 died of natural
causes.
 The military was less
willing to defend the
territories and urged
emperors to hire more
and more barbarian
mercenaries to protect
the borders.

6. CRISIS
 The economy was hurt
because:
 Hiring mercenaries was
expensive
 Trading routes were
interrupted by the
attacks so neither
money nor supplies
arrived to Rome.

7. THE ROMAN EMPIRE IS DIVIDED
 To change the
situation, emperor
Theodosius decided to
divide the empire
between his two sons to
better defend it.
 In the year 395 A.D.
Theodosius created the
Eastern Roman
Empire, which became
dominant and
wealthy, and the
Western Roman
Empire which became
increasingly defenseless
against invasions.

9. THE GERMANIC INVASIONS
 The decline of the
Roman Empire
coincided with an
increasing number of
“barbarians” migrating
from the north of
Europe and Asia to the
borders of the Empire.

10. •The word “barbarian” in
•At first, small groups moved
Latin was used by the
into the empire to farm, to
Romans to describe the
settle or as mercenaries paid
tribes outside the boundaries
by the Romans to protect
of the empire.
their boundaries.
•Romans considered them
uncivilized as they were
nomadic peoples with
strange customs.
•These “barbarians” were, in
fact, Germanic Tribes that
came from Asia or from the
north of Europe.

11.  But when the Huns in Asia began to move
towards the West, attacking all the tribes in their
path, those tribes massively migrated to Europe
and the borders of the Roman Empire

12.  At first, the Romans
and the Germanic
tribes allied to fight the
Huns but as the Empire
became weaker and
weaker, the Germans
decided to conquer its
territories.
 On the year 476 A.D.
the last emperor of
the Western Roman
Empire, Romulus
Augustulus, was
deposed when the
ostrogoths conquered
Rome.

13.  The fall of Rome in the year 476 marks the beginning
of the Middle Ages.
 Although the Eastern Roman Empire was also
attacked by different tribes, it survived and became
prosperous. It changed its name to Byzantine
Empire.

14. Developed by María Jesús Campos
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