The Fall of Rome

Why did Rome fall?

A new interpretation of an old story. The fate of Rome was decided not just by emperors, soldiers and barbarians but also by an environmental disaster.

A catastrophic megadrought on the Asian steppes in the fourth century AD forced the migration of entire peoples – Huns, Goths, Vandals and others – west into the Roman Empire. They met an empire weakened from war with Persia. Rome’s misfortunes multiplied as it made tactical errors on the battlefield. Civil war, religious unrest and political incompetence compounded a worsening situation. The result was one of the greatest disasters in the ancient world – the sack of Rome by the Goths in AD 410. 

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