The Fall of Rome

= West Roman Empire   = East Roman Empire   = Lost territories 
= Territories ruled by foederati (Franks, Visigoths, Burgundians and Bretons)

395-397 The Visigothic king Alaric break the peace and start to pillage in the Balkans and in Italy. Peace is concluded when the Visigoths are given the task to defend the province of Illyricum.
401-402 Alaric breaks the peace again and march to Italy. But he returns to Illyricum when the West Roman commander Stilicho defeats him.
404 The capitol of the West Roman Empire is moved to Ravenna.
406 The Rhine frontier is severely weakened when the legions are transferred to northern Italy to ward off Germanic attacks. On new years eve the Rhine is crossed by Vandals, Suevi and Alans who then ravages Gaul the following years.
407 The Burgundians crosses the Rhine and create a kingdom of their own there.
408 Stilicho is murdered by orders from the emperor and the Visigoths under Alaric attack Italy again. They force the city of Rome to pay an indemnity before they settle in Tuscany.
409 The Vandals, Suevi and Alans crosses the Pyrenees to plunder in Spain.
410 Rome is sacked by the Visigoths. The last Roman legions abandon Britain, which is left to its own fate.
411 The Vandals, Suevi and Alans partition the Iberian Peninsula among themselves, only the northern part remain under Roman rule.
416-418 As foederati the Visigoths defeat the Vandals and the Alans. Rome then allows them to settle in Aquitaine in Gaul.
421-422 War against the Persians. In the peace the Persians agrees to stop the persecutions against the Christians in Persia and Romans agree to stop the persecution of the zoroastrians in the Roman Empire.
426 The Vandals conquers the Balearic Islands.
429-435 The Vandals move to Africa where they conquer five of six provinces before they are given the status as foederati.
436 The Burgundian kingdom at the Rhine is crushed by the Romans and the Huns.
439 The Vandals conquer Carthage and make it to their capital. Greek become an official language in the East Roman Empire.
440 Sicily is conquered by the Vandals.
440-442 A new short war against the Persians.
442 The Roman Empire recognise the Vandal kingdom as an independent state.
443 The Burgundians create a new kingdom at the Geneva lake as Roman foederati.
446 Pannonia is lost to the Huns.
450 Celts from Britain settle in Bretagne and are given the status as foederati.
451 Attila and his Huns are defeated by an alliance between Romans and Germanic tribes led by the Roman commander Aëtius in the battle of the Catalaunian Fields.
452 Attila invades northern Italy.
453 Attila dies and his empire that includes the territory between the Rhine, Danube, Baltic Sea and the Caspian Sea is partitioned by his sons.
454 The peoples the Huns had subjugated rise against them and crush their empire. Aëtius is murdered by orders from the West Roman emperor. The Vandals conquer Malta.
455 The Vandals sack Rome.
456 The Suevi who had taken control over the larger part of the Iberian peninsula Spain are defeated by the Visigoths and loses everything except the north-western corner of the peninsula. The Visigoths start to act more and more independent from Rome. The Ostrogoths settles at the same in Pannonia. The Vandals conquers Sardinia.
464 The Roman official Syagrius rule northern Gaul as an independent state.
469 The Vandals conquers Corsica.
473 The Ostrogoths leave Pannonia and migrate to Macedonia and Moesia, where from they ravage the Balkan Peninsula the following years.
474 The Visigoth king Euric cease to recognise the Roman emperor's supremacy and begin to conquer those parts of Gaul that are still controlled by Rome.
476 The German Odovacar depose the last West Roman emperor and proclaim himself king over Italy. The Vandals cede Sicily to him the same year.

483 The Ostrogoths ravaging of the Balkans cease when they are given the status as foederati. Thereby the Ostrogoths control large part of the Balkans and their king Theoderic the Great is appointed to consul for the year 484.
486 The Frankish king Clovis who controls Belgium defeats Syagrius and conquer his territory in northern Gaul.
488-493 The Ostrogoths led by Theoderic the Great march to Italy there they defeat Odoacer and take over his kingdom.
502-505 War against Persia.
507 The Visigoths are defeated by the Franks and lose the Gallic parts of their kingdom.

= Territories ruled by foederati   = East Roman Empire

527-532 War against the Persians. In the peace emperor Justinian agrees to pay Persia subsidies for defending the passes in the Caucasus against barbarian peoples.
529 Justinian close the academy in Athens.
533-534 The East Roman general Belisarius conquers the Vandal kingdom. The Franks conquer the Burgundian kingdom.
535-553 The Gothic Wars. The East Roman Empire destroys the Ostrogothic kingdom and return Italy to the empire.
540-562 War against Persia. It is interrupted by several armistices. Peace is concluded when the Roman Empire agrees to pay the Persians an annual tribute.
542 The Justinian plague break out and become endemic for a long time afterwards.
554 Andalucia in southern Spain is conquered by the Roman Empire. The Visigoths will spend the following decades to slowly take back the territory.

= Frankish kingdom  = Justinian's conquests  = East Roman Empire

567 The Avars conquers the central Danube region and subjugates the Slavic tribes. The East Roman Empire has thereby got a new formidable enemy.
568 The Germanic Lombards conquers large parts of Italy.
572-591 War against Persia breaks out when East Rome ceases to pay the annual tributes. The war ends when the East Romans intervene in a conflict over the succession in Persia and receives Armenia from the victorious candidate.
ca 580 Slavic peoples crosses the Danube and settles on the Balkan Peninsula. The Slavs will assimilate most of the indigenous population in the Balkans the following centuries. East Rome’s control over the countryside will for the most time only be theoretical during that period.
585 The Visigoths conquers the Suevi kingdom.
602-628 War against Persia, which occupies Syria and Egypt and together with Avars lay siege on Constantinople 626. Emperor Herakleios launches a counter offensive 627 and takes back all occupied territories.
624 The Visigoths seizes the last East Roman possessions in Spain.

634-659 War against the Arabs who conquers Syria, Palestine, Egypt and Cyrenaica. The Arabs keep their conquest after the peace in exchange of an annual tribute to the Byzantine Empire, which the East Roman Empire now is called. Cyprus will be administered jointly by the Arabs and the Byzantines. But the peace will not last and long series of war against the Arabs will take place the following years.
674-678 The Arabs siege Constantinople.
681 The Bulgars create a kingdom of their own along the lower Danube.
698 The Arabs retakes Carthage, which had fallen to them the previous year.
711 All of North Africa is under Arab control.

= Frankish kingdom   = Byzantine Empire   = Lost territories

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