Practice question · Put in order
Arrange these turning points in the western empire’s dissolution, earliest first.
- The Vandals cross into Africa
- Theodosius dies and the empire is divided between his sons
- Clovis defeats the Visigoths at Vouillé
- Valens is killed by Gothic forces at Adrianople
- Odoacer deposes Romulus Augustulus
- Alaric’s Visigoths sack Rome
Hints
- Two of these fall in the fourth century and the rest in the fifth and sixth.
- Adrianople is 378, the division 395, the sack of Rome 410, the African crossing 429, the deposition 476, Vouillé 507.
Show the answer
- Valens is killed by Gothic forces at Adrianople
- Theodosius dies and the empire is divided between his sons
- Alaric’s Visigoths sack Rome
- The Vandals cross into Africa
- Odoacer deposes Romulus Augustulus
- Clovis defeats the Visigoths at Vouillé
Why
The order matters more than the dates. Adrianople destroys the field army; the division of 395 removes the possibility of the East rescuing the West; the sack of 410 is shocking but strategically minor; the loss of Africa in 429 removes the western grain and tax base. By 476 there was very little left to depose.
Practise Late Antiquity and the Germanic Kingdoms
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