-
The fall of the Western Roman Empire marks the beginning of the Middle Ages. Western’s Rome collapse was due to a string of military losses. Rome had fought with Germanic tribes for centuries. In the 300’s barbarian groups encroached beyond the Empire’s borders. Several decades the Empire was under threat. In 476CE the Germanic Leader Odoacer staged a revolt and deposed of the Emperor Romulus Augustulus. -
Charlemagne’s prodigious range of activities during the first 30 years of his reign were prelude to what some contemporaries and many later observers viewed as the culminating event of his reign: his coronation as Roman emperor. In considerable part, that event was the consequence of an idea shaped by the interpretation given to Charlemagne’s actions as ruler