Title: Historiography of the fall of the Western Roman Empire - Wikipedia
Headings: Historiography of the fall of the Western Roman Empire
Historiography of the fall of the Western Roman Empire
Contents
Overview of historiography
Overview of events
Highlights
3rd century
4th century
5th century
Theories and explanations of a fall
Decay owing to general malaise
Edward Gibbon
Vegetius on military decline
Arnold J. Toynbee and James Burke
Michael Rostovtzeff, Ludwig von Mises, and Bruce Bartlett
Joseph Tainter
Adrian Goldsworthy
Monocausal decay
Disease
Environmental degradation
Lead poisoning
Criticism of lead poisoning theory
Catastrophic collapse
J. B. Bury
Peter Heather
Bryan Ward-Perkins
Transformation
Henri Pirenne
Lucien Musset and the clash of civilizations
Late Antiquity
See also
Notes
References
Further reading
Foreign language
External links

Content: The Empire of Late Antiquity already looked very different from classical Rome . The Roman Empire emerged from the Roman Republic when Julius Caesar and Augustus Caesar transformed it from a republic into a monarchy. Rome reached its zenith in the 2nd century, then fortunes slowly declined (with many revivals and restorations along the way). The reasons for the decline of the Empire are still debated today, and are likely multiple. Historians infer that the population appears to have diminished in many provinces—especially western Europe—from the diminishing size of fortifications built to protect the cities from barbarian incursions from the 3rd century on. Some historians even have suggested that parts of the periphery were no longer inhabited because these fortifications were restricted to the center of the city only. Tree rings suggest "distinct drying" beginning in 250. By the late 3rd century, the city of Rome no longer served as an effective capital for the Emperor and various cities were used as new administrative capitals. Successive emperors, starting with Constantine, privileged the eastern city of Byzantium, which he had entirely rebuilt after a siege. Later rename