Rome - September 4th, 476AD

"Rome fell SEPTEMBER 4, 476AD. In the century preceding, Rome was overrun with illegal immigrants: Visigoths, Franks, Anglos, Saxons, Ostrogoths, Burgundians, Lombards and Vandals. They first assimilated, many working as servants, but then came so fast they did not learn the Latin Language. Highly trained Roman Legions marched rapidly on advanced roads but were strained fighting conflicts worldwide. Rome had a trade deficit, having outsourced its grain production to North Africa, and when the Vandals captured that area, Rome did not have the resources to retaliate. Attila the Hun committed terrorist attacks. The city of Rome was on welfare with citizens given free bread. One Roman commented: "Those who live at the expense of the public funds are more numerous than those who provide them." Tax collectors were "more terrible than the enemy." Gladiators had provided violent entertainment in the Coliseum There had been injustice in courts, corrupt government bureaucracies, exposure of unwanted infants, infidelity, perverted bathhouses and sexual immorality as seen in the ruins of Pompeii. 5th-Century historian Salvian wrote: "O Roman people be ashamed...Let nobody think otherwise, the vices of our bad lives have alone conquered us."
-- Bill Federer

Thomas Cole - The Course of Empire Destruction 1836

LARGE Graphic of the above painting

To learn more about the Roman Empire - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Rome

To learn more about Bill Federer - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_J._Federer