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.

How were shoes invented?

How were shoes invented?

A foot covering was one of the first things made by our primitive ancestors, who recognized early the importance of protecting their feet. They used grass and bark and hides to devise some method of protecting their feet from the jagged rocks, burning sands, and rough terrain over which they had to roam in search of food and shelter. In 8000 BC, Native Americans in Missouri left evidences of the earliest remaining shoe. When the “Ice Man” died in the Alps in 3, 300 BC among the relics he left behind was a primitive pair of shoes stuffed with grass. Early Egyptian civilizations have also left behind sandals, finely made from plaited papyrus leaves. The Romans, intent on spreading their empire, were the first ones to devise a practical military shoe for their legions. The moccasin was the original shoe made and worn in cold climates by races as different as North American Indians, Eskimos, Laplanders and Siberian tribesmen. This distinctive leather shoe had a puckering string that was gathered up and tied about the ankles to give all over protection to the foot.

Even today moccasins with a distinctive ‘seam’ on the upper part are very popular