When did the fall of the Roman Empire begin?

The Roman Empire was one of the greatest that existed. But by the end of the 4th century A D, the Romans began to experience practical difficulties in managing the large empire. Gradually the empire began to disintegrate, falling prey to attacks from tribes such as the Goths, Visigoths, the Vandals and the Franks from Northern Europe.


Early in the 4th century Emperor Constantine concluded that Rome was not safe, and shifted his capital to the city of Byzantium (modern Istanbul), renaming it Constantinople. After his death, his sons squabbled over the empire, resulting in a division into the Eastern Roman Empire based on Constantinople and w Western Roman Empire based in Rome. The Western Roman Empire crumbled under its own weight and was victim to a series of conquests from Alaric, king of the Visigoths in 410 AD and Attila the Hun in 433 AD. When the last Roman Emperor, Romulus Augustulus ascended the throne in 475 AD, he had only a mere shadow of what was once the glorious Roman Empire. When he was taken prisoner by German King Odovacar in 476 AD, the curtains came down on the empire begun by Caesar Augustus, nearly 500 years ago.