History Final

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The Western Roman Empire is the western half of the Roman Empire . The other half is the Eastern Roman Empire-widely known today as Byzantine Empire (Peter , 2000 . This division was brought about by Diodetain in 285 and since then Rome ceased to be the capital . The Western Empire is said to have existed between 3rd-5th centuries but rather existed intermittently (Peter , 2000 . The fall of the Western Roman Empire started during the reign of Emperor Honorius who ruled from between 408 and 423

. During his reign the empire was filled with usurpation and invasions and in particular the Vandals and Visigoths . The usurpers caused great instability in the Western Empire and this (instability assisted these tribes in their conquest . As a matter of fact , the Germanic tribes became the usurpers in the 5th century . In 475 Emperor Julius Nepos was driven out of power by Orestes and proclaimed his son Romulus Augustus as the emperor Historical conventions dates the fall of the Western Empire to 476 when Odoacer who was a Germanic general deposed Romulus Augustus . The invaders gained ground to corrupt government , social breakdown , and uncaring Roman citizens . The Goths plundered Rome in 410 , the Germanic tribe invaders places now Spain France and North Africa . The Huns attacked about 70 cities in the East Empire before moving to Western Empire

The aftermath of the fall of the Roman Empire resulted to change of life in the entire Western Europe trade and commerce declined public structures roads and the infrastructure as a whole was left in a devastated state . The former Roman lands were claimed by the Germanic kingdoms and the Roman Catholic Church became a powerful force and a unifying factor (Peter , 2000

As the Western Roman Empire continued to fall under the invaders , the Eastern part became successful with the growth of Constantinople . This city was at a strategic position thus it was easily protected from intruders thus it could not be overtaken . The people of Constantinople observed the culture and traditions of the Roman Empire . Constantinople was the centre for the Eastern Empire-today called Byzantine Empire . Its location was the meeting point of Europe and Asia . Due to this factor the Empire became a mixture of Romans , Asians and Greeks . One of the most famous leader in the Byzantine Empire was Justinian who ruled from 527-567 AD . His credibility was for organizing Roman laws . He ed some scholars to gather and organize them and even to revise some of them and then write down in books due to the fear that the Romans laws were to be lost or bleached . These revised laws came to be known as Justinian 's code . It is said that for many centuries after that the laws were made in accordance to Justinian code . Many governments referred to the Roman law when writing their country 's laws . A good example is law concerning the individual rights where the law stipulates that a person is innocent until proven...