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 AD. 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 his later successors, and is generally held to have ended with the abdication of Romulus Augustus on September 4, 476, under pressure of the Germanic chieftain Odoacer. Its counterpart, the Eastern Roman Empire, or Byzantine Empire, survived for another 1,000 years.

Economic factors

While the West was experiencing an overall economic decline throughout the late empire, the East was maintaining economic stability and growth, especially as Emperors like Constantine the Great and Constantius II began pouring vast sums of money into economic development of eastern cities. The severe 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. Once the west did collapse, the economic stability collapsed along with the Roman institutions. Most barbarian lords required the Roman subjects in the provinces they conquered to give a third of their land as tribute when they conquered an area, and this could turn into much more, as different lords conquered that same land and demanded similar tribute. Tens of square kilometres of carefully developed land was abandoned due to lack of economic viability. Because most of the economy of Antiquity was based upon agriculture, this was a severe blow. This occurred because during the height of western development, many plots of land were developed that required a large investment in time and money simply to maintain production, and these were abandoned in favour of more easy to farm land. Unfortunately, this meant attempts to reconquer the west by the east were very difficult, as not only was the land occupied by barbarian tribes, the huge decline in the economy made these new reconquests impossible to maintain.

Related Topics:
Constantine the Great - Constantius II - Crisis of the Third Century - Antiquity

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~