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410
Visigoths First Sack Rome
In 410 CE, the Visigoths first sack Rome. This is an important event in the fall of Rome as well as the encouragement of the Dark Ages as it symbolizes the beginning of Rome’s collapse. The Visigoths were nomadic tribes, most of which had been slowly building and biding their time until they thought Rome weak. That time for them was 410 CE, when the Visigoths’ sacking led to turmoil and death until 476 CE, when all of Rome had fallen. -
410
Mount Vesuvius Erupts Part 1
In 76 CE, much before the beginning of this timeline, Mount Vesuvius erupted, shattering the entire island of Pompeii. The sound of the eruption was so vast that it was recorded by Philosophers 3,000 kilometers away as ‘The Scream of the Gods.’ The sound made all of the living people within 750 kilometers of the eruption become lightly deafened, their ears bleeding. When a volcano erupts, a substance known as Pyroclastic Flow erupts from the volcano, reaching speeds of 300 kilometers an hour -
410
Mount Vesuvius Erupts Part 2
and temperatures of 275˚C. The pyroclastic flow of Mount Vesuvius killed everything within almost 300 kilometers away, and ‘bodies’ found to recall the event were actually just human-shaped holes in solid rock, because the pyroclastic flow instantly obliterated everything it touched and immediately hardened into solid igneous rock afterwards. In order to excavate these ‘bodies’, archaeologists had to fill the human shaped holes with a plaster mold, and dig out the hole afterwards. -
410
Mount Vesuvius Erupts Part 3
Scientists say that if an eruption of this magnitude happened again, it would change the entire course of weather because most of the world would be covered with ash. Many scientists theorize that the eruption of Mount Vesuvius is what caused the ‘Mini Ice Age’ that plagued the Earth for nearly a nine hundred years afterwards. -
Period: 410 to Jan 1, 1066
Project Timespan
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453
Attila the Hun's First Raid
Attila the Hun is a major character in the fall of the Western Roman Empire. He became leader of the Huns in 434 CE, and starting rampaging cities near Rome an eventually Rome itself in the time of 437-451 CE. In 451 CE, Attila attempted to conquer Roman Gaul (France Today), crossing the Rhine in 451 and marching as far as Aurelianum (Orleans) before being defeated at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains. Attila then returned in 452 to claim his marriage to Honoria anew, ravaging Italy along the -
476
'Official' Fall of Rome
Many events from 410 CE to 476 CE led to the fall of Rome, but rome officially fell in 476 CE. -
476
Odoacer 'Removes' Romulus Augustulus
Flavius Odoacer, or Flavius Odovacer, was known as the ‘Barbarian’. He started off as a soilder in the Italian army, yet after a series of unknown event became king of Italy in 476, which was symbolized as the end of the Fall of Rome. This is mainly because Odoacer removed Romulus Augustulus from the throne of Western Rome (see Romulus Augustulus), sending what remained of Rome into savage turmoil. -
476
Romulus Augustulus Vanishes
In 476 CE, the end of Rome was signified by the vanishing of the last Western Roman Emperor, Romulus Augustulus. Some say that Odoacer, the so-called barbarian (see Odoacer) saw Romulus so ‘paltry’ of a threat that he didn’t even bother having him assassinated and instead forced him into retirement, but nothing can be proven of this, as he was never seen again until he was found dead near Italy, soon after his ‘retirement’. This may mean that he was assassinated, or that those remaining of the -
541
Plague of Justinian Part 1
The Plague of Justinian was a Necrotic Plague that affected the Eastern Roman Empire in 541 CE and 542 CE, especially in the Capital Constantinople as well as the Sassanid Empire, and cities around the Mediterranean Sea. The disease had an approximate death total of 25 million people in the initial outbreak, and a total of 50 million in the ears it lingered throughout society. Scientists have proven the cause of the pandemic to be Yersinia Pestis, the micro-organism also responsible for what -
542
Plague of Justinian Part 2
what we know as the Bubonic Plague. The disease was originally introduced to society by accident from stowaway rats and other pests from shipment vessels from Egypt. This disease plays a role in the encouragement of the Dark Ages because of the sheer death toll it had on the people, and the catastrophic nature of such an illness affecting such a large amount of people. -
Jul 8, 1000
The Crusades, Part 2
in the Holy Land under Muslim control. The long-term goal, however, was to reunite the East and West branches of Christendom after their Split in 1054. 200 years of slaughter began instead of uniting the people. -
Jul 8, 1000
The Crusades Part 1
The Crusades started around 1000 CE and ended near 1400 CE. Even though it is near the end of the timeline, the Crusades is an important both Encouraging and discouraging event of the Dark Ages. The crusades first started when Emperor Alexios I sent a religious ambassador to Pope Urban II in Italy pleading for help via military because of the growing
Turkish threat. The Pope responded immediately by calling soldiers to join the first crusade. The goal was to grant pilgrims access to holy sites -
First Viking Raid Part 1
The Vikings started 313 years after the initial fall of Rome. During this time, Europe had just begun to get back on it’s feet, with Emperors such as Charlemange (see light side) bringing back intelligence, learning, and organization via religion. When the Vikings first started ransacking Europe is when Charlemange died in his sleep of Old Age, throwing the recuperating Rome back into dismay. The Vikings pillaged villages and innocents ruthlessly until about 1066 CE, when -
Ivar The Boneless Part 2
seeing as he was always carried on a shield instead of not coming to the event. Yet, after the conquest of East Angila, Ivar left the Great Heathen Army, and his name disappeared from history by 870 CE -
First Viking Raid Part 2
they were killed or retreated back to the north form whence they came. (Continued from Part 1) -
Ivar the Boneless Part 1
Ivar the Boneless was the leader of the Great Heathen Army who invaded the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England starting in 865. Ivar, who according to the ancient texts such as his title, as well as the fact that he was famous for being carried on a shield, is theorized to have the bone disorder osteogenesis imperfecta, which gives immobility or complete loss of ones legs. Since Ivar was not killed at birth by his
father, he was viewed amongst the Heathens as a near deity, and, as was recorded by
