5th century

Millennium: 1st millennium
Centuries: 4th century · 5th century · 6th century
Decades: 400s 410s 420s 430s 440s
450s 460s 470s 480s 490s
Eastern Hemisphere at the beginning of the 5th century AD.
Europe in 450
Eastern Hemisphere at the end of the 5th century AD.

The 5th century is the period from 401 to 500 in accordance with the Julian calendar in Anno Domini/Common Era.

Contents

Overview

This century is noted for being a time of repeated disaster and instability both internally and externally for the Western Roman Empire, which finally unravelled, and came to an end in AD 476. The west was ruled by a succession of weak emperors, and true power began to fall increasingly into the hands of powerful generals. Internal instability and pressing military problems caused by foreign invaders finally resulted in the sacking of Rome by a Visigoth army in 410. Some recovery was made in the following decades, but the Western Empire received a serious blow when another barbarian group, the Vandals occupied Carthage, capital of the extremely important province of Africa, a major supplier of wealth and grain. Attempts to retake the province were interrupted by the invasions of the Huns under Atilla. After Atilla's final defeat and death both Eastern and Western empires joined forces for a final assault on Vandal North Africa, but their campaign was a spectacular failure.

The Fall of the Western Roman Empire

The year 476 is widely understood as the point at which the Western Roman Empire came to an end. In 476 the last Western Roman Emperor, Romulus Augustus (nicknamed Augustulus "Little Augustus") was deposed by a Germanic foederati general named Odoacer. The Eastern Roman Empire finally ceased trying to prop up its hopeless Western twin, whose former lands were then divided into numerous barbarian kingdoms. The last de-facto Western Roman Emperor, Julius Nepos was murdered in Dalmatia in 480 AD. The last fragment of the Western Empire, the Domain of Soissons ruled by Duke Syagrius, was conquered by the Frankish King Clovis in 486. Roman power continued in the east however, under the rulers of Constantinople. Scholars normally refer to their empire as the Byzantine Empire, however its inhabitants considered themselves Roman throughout. Recognizable Roman culture continued to exist in the east for another 200 years before the Arab invasions of the 7th Century set off a chain of events that forever changed the face of the Eastern Roman Empire, and the entity that emerged in the next few centuries is what one might refer to as the true Medieval Byzantine Empire.

Events

Romulus Augustus, Last Western Roman Emperor

Significant persons

Inventions, discoveries, introductions

Other

The gomphothere , an elephant-like species, becomes extinct.

References

  1. ↑ Roberts, J: "History of the World.". Penguin, 1994.

Decades and years

Decades and years
5th century
3rd century←4th century← ↔ →6th century→7th century
390s 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399
400–409 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409
410s 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419
420s 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429
430s 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439
440s 440 441 442 443 444 445 446 447 448 449
450s 450 451 452 453 454 455 456 457 458 459
460s 460 461 462 463 464 465 466 467 468 469
470s 470 471 472 473 474 475 476 477 478 479
480s 480 481 482 483 484 485 486 487 488 489
490s 490 491 492 493 494 495 496 497 498 499
500–509 500 501 502 503 504 505 506 507 508 509
Centuries and millennia
Millennium Century
BC
4th 40th 39th 38th 37th 36th 35th 34th 33rd 32nd 31st
3rd 30th 29th 28th 27th 26th 25th 24th 23rd 22nd 21st
2nd 20th 19th 18th 17th 16th 15th 14th 13th 12th 11th
1st 10th 9th 8th 7th 6th 5th 4th 3rd 2nd 1st
AD
1st 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th
2nd 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th
3rd 21st 22nd 23rd 24th 25th 26th 27th 28th 29th 30th
4th 31st 32nd 33rd 34th 35th 36th 37th 38th 39th 40th