The Fall Of The West (COMPLETED)

Part 1: The Division

Above is the divided Roman Empire after Theodosius I's death.

In 395 AD, the emperor Theodosius I died, dividing the western and eastern halves of the empire between his sons Honorius and Arcadius respectively. He also appointed for his sons a regent each: Stilicho for Honorius and Rufinus for Arcadius.

Honorius.

Arcadius. He was described to be short and mentally deficient, so it was quite inevitable that he would be manipulated by powerful figures in the court.

The empire had been divided a few times before, mostly because it had grown too large to be ruled from the central government in Rome. Dividing it into two would allow for more concentrated and subsequently efficient administration. The divide in 395 AD, however, was the last one.

The Western Roman Empire was large, but due to its size it faced many problems.

Simply because it was too large, the weakening economy could not support enough troops to cover every frontier, most importantly the borders between the empire and the Germanic tribes that lay just across the Rhine, always itching for a fight. Civil wars always called for men to be pulled back from the borders to deal with the internal threat, emboldening the Germans to launch raids into Roman territory. Thus, troops were too spread out across the empire, with not enough manpower and money to deal with threats permanently.

Besides the Rhine frontier, there was also the British frontier, which had been penetrated many times, especially by Celts and Frisian raiders during the Great Conspiracy of 367 AD, and the Balkan front, which was also under the threat of Germans and later Huns.

The provinces of the Western Empire were also not as well-developed as the East, as there were too many cities and towns to develop, and too less money to develop them. As a result, economic, political and military power stayed concentrated in a few metropolises or regions, while most of the empire was largely countryside and small towns. If one of these regions fell, it could be fatal to the empire.

On the other hand, the Eastern Empire was smaller than the West, and the administrative ability of the Eastern government was much better than that of the West. Furthermore, the heavy urbanization of the East and the possession of valuable trade routes from the Silk Road made it a great economic power and much richer than the West. However, it faced its own difficulties.

The East had two main fronts to cover: the Balkan front and the Persian front.

Perhaps the most dangerous of them all was the Persian front. That front had existed ever since the Romans started expanding into Syria and Persia, and it had first started with the Parthians, but in 224 AD the Parthians were overthrown by the Sassanid king Ardashir and in its place was the Sassanid Empire. This new Persian empire brought about a fierce revival of the old Achaemenid traditions, such as the title of King of Kings and the reestablishment of the Immortals. It was also a fierce rival of the Eastern Empire. Sassanid kings had defeated Roman armies many times, and the Romans were cowed enough to let the Sassanids hold their land in Persia and beyond. However, wars between the two empires broke out every now and then, thus almost half of the Eastern forces had to be stationed at the Persian front all the time. This was very damaging to the already limited manpower.

What defined the Late Roman Empire was its political instability and frequent civil wars. Usurpers appeared every decade or so, often having the backing of a few armies and provinces, causing civil war to break out.

Civil wars are very damaging to an empire. Unlike wars of conquest, there is no booty to be looted from enemy territory, thus it drained the empire's coffers to send troops against a usurper. Also, since the usurper used Roman troops (including the barbarian auxiliaries), it was basically Roman army against Roman army, adding even more strain on the manpower shortage. Besides, there was no guarantee that the usurper would be defeated. Many emperors were once usurpers, like Vespasian and Constantine.

The political climate was also very toxic. There was little to no need to gain position based on merit. If a person could get enough important people to support him, and have enough money to bribe his way up, he could get any position in the government he wanted. This also meant that if a person could eliminate all his rivals, he was unstoppable. And that is exactly what many people did.

Honorius and Arcadius faced this kind of political battlefields in their courts. But they were weak emperors. Honorius wasn't even old enough to rule in 395 AD. Both emperors were extremely reliant on Stilicho in the West and Rufinus in the East, in the process putting imperial power in the hands of the latter two and making them the most powerful men in the empire.

Flavius Stilicho. No meaningful pictures of Flavius Rufinus could be found.

Rufinus was of Aquitanian origin, and rose to the position of magister officiorum in 388 AD. After Theodosius's death, he became Praetorian Prefect of the East, and Eastern Roman emperor in all but name, since he exercised so much influence over Arcadius.

He was described as tall, acute, ambitious, of quick movement and wit, and a greedy person, and had difficulty with his Greek, but he was a devout Christian. More than one prominent official at the court had been a victim of his malicious ambition. He had tried to further entrench his position in the court by marrying his daughter to Arcadius, but this plan was foiled by a chamberlain, Eutropius.

Stilicho was a half-Roman, half-Vandal general who was married to Theodosius's niece Serena, the connection to the imperial family giving him an advantage over Rufinus. Before Theodosius died both of them had led a force against the usurper Eugenius. As a result, Stilicho was in control of a huge bulk of the empire's army and was popular with them. Stilicho was also suspected of corruption and greed of the same level as Rufinus, but most of it was allegedly done for the sake of Stilicho's son. He saw himself as a guardian for both emperors, and tried to unite the two halves together.

Rufinus hated Stilicho right from the start, and an inevitable conflict between the man who had the ear of Arcadius and the man with the support of the imperial armies was imminent.