Western Roman Empire

The Western Roman Empire is the name given to the western half of the Roman Empire after its division by Diocletian in 286. It would exist intermittently in several periods between the 3rd century and the 5th century, after Diocletian's Tetrarchy and the reunifications associated with Constantine the Great, and Julian the Apostate. Theodosius I was the last Roman Emperor who ruled over an unified Roman empire. After his death in 395 the Roman Empire was definitively divided and the Western Roman Empire ended officially with the abdication of Romulus Augustus under pressure of the Germanic chieftain Odoacer on the 4th of September, 476, and unofficially with the death of Julius Nepos, in 480.

Despite brief periods of reconquest by its counterpart, the Eastern Roman empire, widely known as the Byzantine Empire, the Western Roman Empire would never rise again. The Byzantine Empire would survive for another millennium being eventually conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1453.

As the Western Roman Empire fell, a new era would begin in Western European history: the Middle Ages.

Influenced by the most important legacy of the Western Roman Empire, the Roman Catholic Church, the new warlike "barbarian kingdoms" would rise from the ashes and ruins of the Western Roman Empire and would eventually adopt the Roman Catholic faith, Roman culture, and Roman law. Increasingly, these "barbarians" would also see themselves more and more as the "true heirs" of Rome.

Early divisions and cultural differences between East and West

As the Roman Republic expanded, it naturally reached a point in which the central government in Rome could not expect to rule effectively the distant provinces. This was due to slow communications and relatively slow transportation methods. The news of an enemy invasion, a revolt, an epidemic outbreak or of a natural disaster was carried by ship or by mounted postal service (similar to the Pony Express) and therefore needed "quite some time" to reach Rome and would require a similar amount of time until a response and then a reaction reached the trouble-spot. Therefore the provinces were administrated by governors who de facto ruled them in the name of the Roman republic.

Shortly before the Roman Empire, the territories of the Roman Republic had even been divided between the members of the Second Triumvirate, composed by Octavian, Mark Antony and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus. This division would be repeated much later.

Antony received all the provinces in the East, namely Achaea, Macedonia and Epirus (region) (roughly modern Greece), Bithynia, Pontus and Asia (roughly modern Turkey), Syria, Cyprus and Cyrenaica. This part had been previously conquered by Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC and a large portion of the local aristocracy were of Greek and Macedonian origin. The majority of the royal dynasties were in fact descendants of his generals. This region had been assimilated to a large degree by the Greek culture and Greek was the lingua-franca in most of the larger cities.

Octavian on the other hand obtained the Roman provinces of the West: Italia (modern Italy), Gaul (modern France), Gallia Belgica (parts of modern Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg) and Hispania (modern Spain and Portugal). This part had also many Greek and Carthaginian colonies on the coastal areas, but by the large had been culturally dominated by the Celtic tribes, like the Gauls and the Celtiberians.

Lepidus was given the minor province of Africa (modern Tunisia) to govern. After some political and military developments Octavian took the province of Africa away from Lepidus and also took possession of the much Greek-colonized island of Sicilia (modern Sicily).

After the defeat of Mark Antony, the victorious Octavian controlled the whole Roman Empire from Rome. During his reign, his friend Agrippa would temporarily rule over the eastern provinces as his personal representative. This happened again during the rule of Tiberius who sent his heir-apparent Germanicus to the east.

One has to be careful in order not to exaggerate, and see this early cultural East - West division as something unsurpassable, and see the later political division as something which was somehow "bound to happen" and unavoidable. The Roman Empire had many different cultures and all of them were subject to a gradual process of Romanization. Greek was also spoken in the West and Latin was also spoken the East. Greek culture as a whole was hardly an antagonist to Latin culture, in fact it helped to unify culturally the Roman Empire and both of these cultures were equal partners in the Greco-Roman world. Nevertheless, later military developments with its political consequences would divide the Roman Empire, and much later the Byzantine Empire would later regroup around the Greek culture.

Two military "Danger Zones", rebellions, uprisings and political consequences

In peacetime, it was relatively easy to rule the empire from its capital city Rome. An eventual rebellion was expected, and would happen from time to time: a general or a governor would gain the loyalty of his officers through a mixture of personal charisma, promises and simple bribes. A conquered tribe would rebel, or a conquered city would revolt. This would be a bad, but not a catastrophic event. The legions were spread around the borders and the rebel leader would, in normal circumstances, have only one or two legions under his command. Loyal legions would be detached from other points of the empire and would eventually drown the rebellion in blood. This happened even more easily in case of a small local native uprising as the rebels would normally have no great military experience. Unless the emperor was weak, incompetent, hated, and/or universally despised, these rebellions would be a local and isolated event.

During real wartime however, which could develop from a rebellion or an uprising, like the massive Great Jewish Revolt, this was totally and dangerously different. In a full-blown military campaign the legions under the command of generals like Vespasian, were of a much greater number. Therefore to be certain of the commander's loyalty, a paranoid or wise emperor would hold some members of the general´s family as hostages. In effect, Nero held Domitian and Quintus Petillius Cerialis the governor of Ostia, who were respectively the younger son and the brother-in-law of Vespasian. This would in normal circumstances be quite enough. In fact, the rule of Nero only ended with the revolt of the Praetorian Guard who had been bribed in the name of Galba. It became all too obvious that the Praetorian Guard was a sword of Damocles, whose loyalty was all too often bought and who became increasingly greedy. Following their example the legions at the borders would also increasingly participate in the civil wars. This was a dangerous development as this would weaken the whole Roman Army.

The main enemy, in the West, were arguably the "barbarian tribes" behind the rivers Rhine and Danube. Octavian had tried to conquer them, but ultimately failed and these "barbarians" were greatly feared. But by the large, they were left in peace, in order to fight amongst themselves, and were simply too divided to pose a serious threat.

Parthia, in the East, on the other hand, was simply too far away to be conquered. Any Parthian invasion was confronted and usually defeated, but the threat itself was ultimately impossible to destroy.

In the case of a Roman civil war these two enemies would seize the opportunity to invade Roman territory in order to raid and plunder. The two respective military frontiers became a matter of major political importance due to the high number of legions stationed there. All too often the local generals would rebel, starting a new civil war. To control the western border from Rome was reasonably easy, as it was relatively close. To control both frontiers, at the same time, during wartime, was difficult. If the emperor was near the border in the East, chances were high that an ambitious general would rebel in the West and vice-versa. It was no longer enough to be a good administrator, emperors were increasingly near the troops in order to control them, and no single emperor could be at the two frontiers at the same time. This problem would plague the ruling emperors time and time again, and many future emperors would follow this path to power.

Economic stagnation in the West

Rome and the Italian peninsula began to experience an economic slowdown as industries and money began to move outward. By the beginning of the second century the economic stagnation of Italia could easily be seen in the provincial born Emperors such as Trajan and Hadrian. Economic problems of the Late Empire increased in strength and frequency.

Crisis of the 3rd century

Starting on the March 18 235, with the assassination of the Emperor Alexander Severus, the Roman Empire fell into a period of fifty years of civil war, today known as the Crisis of the Third Century. The rise of the warlike Sassanid dynasty in Parthia had created a major threat to Rome in the east. Demonstrating the increased danger, Emperor Valerian was captured by Shapur I in 259. His eldest son and heir-apparent, Gallienus succeeded and was in the eastern frontier, fighting. The son of Gallienus, Saloninus and the Praetorian Prefect Silvanus were residing in Colonia Agrippina (modern Cologne) trying to maintain the loyalty of the local legions. Nevertheless, the local governor of the German provinces, Marcus Cassianius Latinius Postumus rebelled and assaulted Colonia Agrippina, killing Saloninus and the prefect, and created an independent state today known as the Gallic Empire.

Its capital was Augusta Treverorum (modern Trier), and it quickly expanded its control not just over the German and Gaulish provinces, but also over all of Hispania and Britannia. It had its own senate, and a partial list of its consuls still survives. It maintained Roman religion, language, and culture, and was far more concerned with fighting the Germanic tribes than other Romans. However, in the reign of Claudius Gothicus (268 to 270), large expanses of the Gallic Empire were returned to Roman rule.

At roughly the same time, the eastern provinces seceded as the Empire of Palmyra, ruled by Queen Zenobia.

One should see the tacit acceptance of the Gallic Empire and the Empire of Palmyra and other later breakaway empires at the beginning of any civil war through a real-politik perspective. The "rightful" Emperor would slowly deal with all the "Rebels or/and Usurpers" , one by one in due time. In fact, many Emperors we today take for "rightful" were former "Rebels or/and Usurpers" who simply won their respective civil war.

In 272, Emperor Aurelian finally managed to subdue Palmyra and reclaim its territory for the empire. With the East secure, he turned his attention to the West, and in the next year, the Gallic Empire also fell. Due to a secret deal between Aurelian and the Gallic Emperor Tetricus I and his son Tetricus II, the Gallic army was swiftly defeated. In exchange, Aurelian spared their lives and went so far as to give the two former rebels important positions in Italy.

Tetrarchy

The external borders were largely quiet for the remainder of the Crisis of the Third Century, although between the death of Aurelian in 275 and the accession of Diocletian ten years later, at least eight Emperors or would-be Emperors were killed, many assassinated by their own troops. It was under Diocletian that the political division of the Roman Empire would start. In 286, through the creation of the Tetrarchy, he gave the western part to Maximian as Augustus, and named Constantius Chlorus as his subordinate (Caesar). This system effectively divided the empire into four parts, and created separate capitals besides Rome as a way to avoid the civil unrest that had marked the 3rd century. In the West the capitals were Maximian's Milan and Constantius' Trier. On May 1, 305, the two senior Augusti stepped down and were replaced by their respective Caesars.

Constantine

The system of the Tetrarchy quickly ran aground as the Western Empire's Constantius died unexpectedly in 306, and his son Constantine was proclaimed Augustus of the West by the legions in Britain. A crisis followed as several claimants attempted to rule the Western half. In 308, the Augustus of the East, Galerius arranged a conference at Carnuntum which revived the Tetrarchy by dividing the power between Constantine and a newcomer named Licinius. Constantine was far more interested in reconquering the whole empire. Through a series of battles in the East and the West, Licinius and Constantine stabilized their respective parts of the Roman Empire by 314, and they now competed for sole control of a reunified state. Constantine emerged victorious in 324 after the surrender and the murder of Licinius following the Battle of Chrysopolis.

The Tetrarchy was dead, but the idea of dividing the Roman Empire between two Emperors, one of them in the East and the other in the West, had been proven too good to be simply ignored and forgotten. Very strong Emperors would reunite it under their single rule, but with their death the Roman Empire would be divided again and again between the East and the West.

Second division, reunification and Eastern focus

The Roman Empire was ruled by a single Emperor, but with the death of Constantine in 337, civil war erupted among his three sons, dividing the empire into three parts. The West was reunified in 340, and the complete reunification of the whole empire occurred in 353, with Constantius II.

Notably, Constantius II focused most of his power in the East, and he is often regarded as the first Emperor of the Byzantine Empire. Under his rule, the city of Byzantium, only recently refounded as Constantinople, was fully developed as a capital.

In 361, Constantius II took ill and died, and Constantius Chlorus' grandson Julian, who had served as Constantius II's Caesar, took power. Julian was killed carrying on Constantius II's war against Persia in 363, and was replaced by Jovian who ruled only until 364.

Final division

Following the death of Jovian the empire fell again into a new period of civil war similar to the Crisis of the Third Century. In 364, Valentinian I emerged. He immediately divided the empire once again, giving the eastern half to his brother Valens. Stability was not achieved for long in either half as the conflicts with the barbarians intensified, especially with the Huns and the Goths. A serious problem in the West was a political reaction caused by paganism against the Christianizing emperors. In 379, Valentine I's son and successor Gratian declined to wear the mantle of pontifex maximus and in 382 he rescinded the rights of pagan priests, as well as removing the pagan altar from the Roman Curia.

In 388 a powerful and popular general named Magnus Maximus seized power in the west, and forced Gratian's son Valentinian II to flee to the east and ask for the aid of the Eastern Emperor Theodosius I who quickly restored him to power, but also caused a ban on paganism to be implemented in the west in 391, enforcing Christianity. In 392, the Frankish and pagan magister militum Arbogast assassinated Valentinian II, and a senator named Eugenius was proclaimed emperor until he was defeated in 394 by Theodosius I, who, having ruled both East and West for a year, died in 395. This was the last time in which a single ruler ruled over both parts of the Roman Empire.

A short period of stability under the puppet emperor Flavius Augustus Honorius controlled by Flavius Stilicho ended at Stilicho's death in 408. After this, the two empires truly diverged, as the east began a slow recovery and consolidation, while the west began to collapse entirely.

Economic factors

While the West was experiencing a huge economic decline throughout the late empire, the East was not so economically decadent, especially as Emperors like Constantine the Great and Constantius II began pouring vast sums of money into the eastern economy. The economic decline of the West, especially following the Crisis of the Third Century in the end helped to aid in the eventual collapse of this area of the empire. Without sufficient taxes, the state could not maintain an expensive professional army and resorted to hiring unreliable mercenaries. As the central power weakened, the State also lost control of its borders and provinces and the vital control over the Mediterranean Sea. To the last Roman Emperors tried to keep the 'barbarians' away from it, but once the Vandals conquered North Africa the imperial authorities had to cover too much ground with too few resources. Decisive intervention from the East could have reversed the situation. The Roman institutions collapsed along with the economic stability. Most barbarian invaders required a third of the land they conquered from their Roman subjects, and this could turn into much more, as different tribes conquered the same province. Tens of square kilometres of carefully developed land was abandoned due to lack of economic viability and political stability. Because most of the economy of Classical antiquity was based upon agriculture, this was a severe economic blow. This occurred because most plots of land require a certain investment of time and money in simple maintenance to maintain production. Unfortunately, this meant that any attempt to recover the West by the East was very difficult, for the huge decline in the economy made these new reconquests too expensive to maintain.

Conquest of Rome and fall of the Western Roman Empire

With the death of Stilicho in 408, Honorius was left in charge, and although he ruled until his death in 423, his reign was filled with usurpations and barbarian invasions, particularly by the Vandals and Visigoths. In 410, Rome was sacked by barbarians for the first time since the Gallic invasions of the 4th century BC. The instability caused by usurpers throughout the Western Empire helped the barbarians in their conquests, and in the 5th century the barbarians became usurpers themselves. In 475, Orestes, a former secretary of Attila the Hun drove the Emperor Julius Nepos out of Ravenna and proclaimed his son Romulus Augustus as Emperor. Although some pockets of Roman civilization continued, (in north-western Gaul under Syagrius and Britannia, with Ambrosius Aurelianus) the rule of Rome over the West had effectively ended. In 476, Orestes refused to grant the Heruli led by Odoacer federated status, and Odoacer sacked Rome and sent the imperial insignia to Constantinople, installing himself as King over Italy.

The last Emperor, Romulus Augustus or Julius Nepos ?

History regards that the Western Roman Empire ended on the 4th of September 476 as Odoacer deposed Romulus Augustus. However the issue is not as simple and clear as that. Julius Nepos still ruled in the rump state of Dalmatia, claiming sovereignty over the Western Roman Empire and was recognized as such by the Byzantine emperor Zeno, and by Syagrius who had managed to preserve a Roman exclave in Gaul, known today as the Kingdom of Soissons. Odoacer proclaimed himself ruler of Italy and began to negotiate with the Byzantine emperor. Zeno eventually did acknowledge Odoacer's position as patrician of the Roman Empire and accepted him as his own viceroy of Italy, but insisted that Odoacer acknowledged in his turn Nepos formally as western emperor. Odoacer did this, and even issued coins in Nepos' name throughout Italy. It was largely a empty political gesture, as Odoacer never returned any real power to Nepos, who was eventually murdered in 480. Upon this Odoacer invaded and quickly conquered Dalmatia. A similar situation occurred in northern Gaul where the Roman general Syagrius minted coins in Nepos' name until his own defeat in 486. Nevertheless, Julius Nepos is largely ignored and Romulus Augustulus entered history as the Last (Western) Roman Emperor.

Theodoric

The last hope for a reunited Empire came in 493, when Odoacer was replaced by the Ostrogoth Theodoric the Great. Theodoric had been recruited by Zeno to reconquer the western portion of the empire, Rome most importantly. De jure he was a subordinate, a Viceroy of the Emperor of the East. De facto Theodoric was an equal. Following Theodoric's death in 526, the west no longer resembled the east, as both had transformed. The west was now fully controlled by barbarians, while the east retreated and hellenized. While the East would make some further attempts to recapture the West, it would never more be the old Roman Empire.

Byzantine reconquest

Several times throughout the middle ages, the eastern Byzantine Empire managed to reconquer large areas of the West which had been occupied by several barbarian tribes. The greatest success were the campaigns of the Byzantine generals Belisarius and Narses on behalf of the Emperor Justinian I from 535 to 554. Much of the then Vandal occupied former Roman territory in North Africa was regained, particularly the territory centred around the city of Carthage. The campaign eventually moved into Italy itself, eventually reconquering it completely, with some minor territory being taken as far west as the southern coast of the Iberian Peninsula.

It appeared at the time that perhaps Rome could be saved. Throughout the empire's history, there had been times when great losses of territory were later reversed. However, the barbarian influence had caused far too much damage to these former Roman provinces, both economically and culturally. Not only were they extremely costly to maintain, the invasion and propagation of the barbarian tribes throughout these territories meant that much of the Roman cultural influence that had held the empire together had been destroyed, or at the very least severely damaged.

Although some eastern emperors would occasionally attempt to reconquer some parts of the West, none would be as successful as Justinian. The division between the empires would only grow as the influence of the Pope on the former territories of the West grew, resulting in a growing rivalry. While the Eastern Roman Empire continued, after Justinian, the eastern emperors focused mainly on defending its traditional territory. The East itself no longer had the military strength like it had in the early days, spelling the end of any hope for reunification.

Legacy and the final conquest of Rome

As the Western Roman Empire crumbled, the barbarian warlords who had conquered the provinces felt compelled to uphold many Roman laws and traditions. These "barbarians" were already Christians, but most of them were followers of Arianism. Wisely, they quickly converted to the Roman Catholic faith, gaining more loyalty by the local Romanized population and at the same time recognition and support by the powerful Roman Catholic Church. Although they initially continued to obey tribal laws, they were more and more influenced by Roman Law and began gradually to use it.

Roman law, particulary the Corpus Juris Civilis collected by order of Justinian I, is the ancient basis on which the modern Civil law stands. In contrast, Common law is based on old english law.

Latin as a language never really disappeared. It combined with the "barbarian" languages, giving origin to many modern Romance languages such as: Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian and Romansh, and influenced many Germanic languages such as English, German, Dutch and many others to a certain extent. It survives in its "purer" form as the language of the Roman Catholic Church (the Mass was spoken in Latin until 1970) and was used as a lingua franca between many nations. It remained the language of medicine, law, diplomacy (most treaties were written in Latin), of intellectuals and scholarship.

Another Roman legacy is the Latin alphabet which was improved with new letters: J, K, W and Z. Roman numerals also continue to be used, but were largely replaced by Arabic numerals.

The ideal of the Roman Empire, as a mighty Christian Empire with a single Ruler, would continue to seduce many powerful rulers. Charlemagne, King of the Franks and Lombards, was even crowned as Roman Emperor by Pope Leo III in 800. Emperors of the Holy Roman Empire like Frederick I Barbarossa, Frederick II and Charles V, and mighty Sultans like Suleiman the Magnificent of the Ottoman Empire. All of them (and some others) tried to a certain extent to resurrect it, but it was a hopelessly impossible task and none of their attempts were successful.

The most important legacy of the Western Roman Empire is the Roman Catholic Church. The Church slowly began to replace Roman institutions in the West, even helping to negotiate the safety of Rome during the late 5th Century. As the barbarians invaded, many converted, and by the middle of the medieval period (ca. 9th and 10th centuries) the central, western and northern parts of Europe had been largely converted to the Roman Catholic Faith and acknowledged the Pope as the Vicar of Christ.

Ironically, Rome's final victory and conquest of the Germans and Slavs came after her fall as an Empire through the church-sponsored missionaries spreading ever further north, until paganism was stamped out throughout Europe.

List of western Roman emperors

Gallic Emperors (259 to 273)

Postumus: 259 to 268
Laelianus: 268 Usurper
Marcus Aurelius Marius: 268
Victorinus: 268 to 271
Domitianus: 271 Usurper
Tetricus I: 271 to 273
- Tetricus II: 271 to 273 Son and co-emperor of Tetricus I

Tetrarchy (293 to 313)

Augusti are shown with their Caesares, regents, etc., further indented

Maximian: 293 to 305
- Constantius Chlorus: 293 to 305
Constantius Chlorus: 305 to 306
- Flavius Valerius Severus: 305 to 306
Flavius Valerius Severus: 306 to 307
- Constantine I: 306 to 313
Maxentius/Maximian: 307 to 308
Licinius: 308 to 313
Maxentius: 308 to 312 Usurper
Domitius Alexander: 308 to 309 African usurper

Constantinian dynasty (313 to 363)

Constantine I: 313 to 337 Sole emperor of the whole Roman Empire 324 to 337
Constantine II: 337 to 340 Emperor of Gaul, Britannia, and Hispania
Constans I: 337 to 350 Initially emperor of Italy and Africa; emperor of the west 340 to 350
Magnentius: 350 to 353 Usurper
Constantius II: 353 to 361 Sole emperor
- Julian: 355 to 361
Julian: 361 to 363

Non-Dynastic (363 to 364)

Jovian: 363 to 364

Valentinian dynasty (364 to 392)

Valentinian I: 364 to 375
- Gratian: 367 to 375
Gratian: 375 to 383
- Valentinian II: 375 to 383
Magnus Maximus: 383 to 388 Usurper
Valentinian II: 383 to 392

Non-Dynastic (392 to 394)

Eugenius: 392 to 394

Theodosian dynasty (394 to 455)

Theodosius I: 394 to 395 Sole emperor
Honorius: 395 to 423
- Flavius Stilicho: 395 to 408 Power behind the throne
- Constantius III: 421
Constantine III: 407 to 411 Usurper
Priscus Attalus: 409 to 410/414 to 415 Usurper
Jovinus: 411 to 412 Usurper
Valentinian III: 423 to 455
- Galla Placidia: 423 to 433 Regent
- Aëtius: 433 to 454 Regent
Joannes: 423 to 425 Usurper

Non-Dynastic (455 to 480)

Petronius Maximus: 455
Avitus: 455 to 456
- Ricimer: 456 to 472 Power behind the throne
Majorian: 457 to 461
Libius Severus: 461 to 465
Anthemius: 465 to 472
Olybrius: 472
Glycerius: 473 to 474
Julius Nepos: 474 to 480 In exile 475 to 480
Romulus Augustus: 475 to 476
- Flavius Orestes: 475 to 476 Power behind the throne

Orestes was killed by revolting barbarian mercenaries. Their leader Odoacer assumed control of Italy as a de jure representative of Julius Nepos and Eastern Roman Emperor Zeno.

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