Deck 13: The Fall of the Western Roman Empire 375-476

Question 1

The last nine western emperors are often collectively referred to as the ______

A) Last True Kings of Rome
B) Shadow Emperors
C) Disgraced Emperors
D) Brave Emperors

Answer 1

B

Question 2

In 376, the Visigoths appeared on the Danube, fleeing the onslaught of the ______.

A) Ostrogoths
B) Scirians
C) Huns
D) Sasanids

Answer 2

C

Question 3

In his great work The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, the eighteenth-century writer ______ called the fall of the western Roman empire the "triumph of Christianity and barbarism."

A) Edmund Burke
B) Edward Gibbon
C) David Hume
D) Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Answer 3

B

Question 4

The barbarization of the Roman army was accelerated by the increased hiring of ______, barbarian contingents serving under their own warlords.

A) foederati
B) alieni
C) hastati
D) Annona

Question 5

In 451, Aëtius and his motley band of allied barbarians defeated ______ and the Huns at the Battle of Châlons.

A) Odovacar
B) Gaiseric
C) Alaric
D) Attila

Question 6

Which of the following was the last western emperor to fund pagan ceremonies?

A) Gratian
B) Theodosius
C) Honorius
D) Eugenius

Question 7

Which of the following was not one of the ways that the eastern empire dealt with the influx of barbarians into its territory?

A) Paying the barbarians off so that they would not cause trouble
B) Training secret squads in the countryside to assassinate barbarian leaders
C) Hiring the barbarians to serve in the Roman army
D) Playing one barbarian tribe off against another

Question 8

After the Battle of the Frigidus River, a victorious ______ found himself emperor of a united western and eastern Roman empire-the last emperor who would ever be able to claim such a thing.

A) Theodosius
B) Valentinian II
C) Stilicho
D) Aëtius

Question 9

When its king Ezana was converted to Christianity by Frumentius, the Empire of ______ became the first major nation officially to become Christian.

A) the Blemmynes
B) Aksum
C) the Heruls
D) the Huns

Question 10

Which Visigothic warlord sacked Rome in 410?

A) Attila
B) Stlicho
C) Alaric
D) Odovacar

Question 11

In the middle of the fifth century, the western empire's best hope was the Master of Soldiers Aëtius, who is often called the "Last of the Romans."

Question 12

The balance of power in the empire steadily shifted back from its eastern half to the western half as the fourth and fifth centuries progressed.

Question 13

Volcanic eruptions and lead poisoning are now considered two of the leading causes for the fall of the western Roman empire.

Question 14

Romulus Augustulus is widely considered the last western Roman emperor for symbolic reasons; in fact, the last legal Roman emperor in the west was Julius Nepos.

Question 15

By the end of the fourth century, the old legions of the Roman army had been replaced by smaller units posted throughout the countryside, often billeted with the local population.