fall of Rome actually occurred gradually over a period of many years, but is usually set at 476 A.D., the year Odoacer, a chieftain from a Germanic tribe, seized the city and proclaimed himself emperor. Although the western Roman Empire and the government in Rome itself fell, the Empire lived on in the East. The Emperor Diocletian had divided the Empire during his reign (284-305) to increase administrative efficiency. The Emperor Constantine (reigned, 324-337) had erected a new capital on the site…
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