The Western Roman Empire

The Western Roman Empire was the continuation of the Roman Empire in the western provinces with Mediolanum serving as its capital.

Western Roman Empire Flag

## Western Roman Empire

### Location

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### Succeded by

* Eastern Roman Empire
* Kingdom of Italy
* Kingdom of the Franks
* Visigoth Kingdom
* Vandal Kingdom
* Kingdom of the Suebi
* Kingdom of the Burgundians
* Kingdom of the Romans
* Kingdom of the Moors and Romans
* Alamannia
* Armorica
* Sub-Roman Britain

# History

In 293, Maximian made Mediolanum his capital.

The Tetrarchy collapsed after the death of Constantius in 306. His son, Constantine the Great, was declared Western emperor by the British legions, but several others attempted to seize the Western Empire.

In 308, Galerius held a meeting at Carnuntum, where he revived the Tetrarchy by dividing the Western Empire between Constantine and Licinius. But Constantine was more interested in conquering the whole empire than he was in the stability of the Tetrarchy,

in 324, After the Battle of Chrysopolis Constantine unified the empire, he refounded the city of Byzantium as Nova Roma ("New Rome"), later called Constantinople, and made it the capital of the Roman Empire.

Although several powerful emperors unified both parts of the empire, this generally reverted into an empire divided again into an East and a West after the deaths of Constantine and Theodosius I in 337. Constantius, received the eastern empire, while Constantine II received the West.

The W.R.E (Western Roman Empire) was in chaos with open rebelions until it was unified in 340 under Constans, who was assassinated in 350 under the order of Magnentius.

After Magnentius lost the Battle of Mursa Major and committed suicide, a complete reunification of the whole Empire occurred under Constantius II in 353.

In 361, Constantius II was poisoned by Julian, and Julian assumed power. but he was killed in 363 in the Battle of Samarra against the Sasanian Empire and was succeeded by Jovian, who ruled for only nine months.

The political situation was unstable. In 383, as the house of christ began the civil roman war with Magnus Maximus and the Eastern emperor Theodosius I clashed with great loss of life. Theodosius I won, and he briefly ruled a united Empire until his death in 395.

Arcadius inherited the eastern half while the younger Honorius got the western half. Both were still minors and neither was capable of ruling effectively. Honorius was placed under the tutelage of Flavius Stilicho,

Stilicho tried to defend Italy and bring the invading Goths under control, but to do so he stripped the Rhine frontier of troops and the Vandals, Alans, and Suevi invaded Gaul in large numbers in 406. Stilicho became a victim of court intrigues and was killed in 408.

The W.R.E began to collapse as Alaric's men sacked Rome in 410, and Italy was later invaded by Attila the Hun.

in 474, the Eastern Empire-backed claimant Julius Nepos invaded Italy and peacefully deposed Glycerius, but his brief rule ended in 475 when Romulus Augustus was placed in power by his father after a coup against Julius Nepos. In 476 Romulus Augustus, was deposed by Odoacer, a Germanic chieftain. This event marked the end of the Western Roman Empire. Odoacer became the king of Italy, but he acknowledged the nominal suzerainty of the Eastern Roman Emperor in Constantinople.