Question

Why did the western part of the roman empire fall?

I just need a good short answer. It is for a paper, and I could answer it by saying it fell because of barbarian invasions and such but I don't want to be repetitive.

Answer 1

I think it was due to it's size and how hard it was to communicate to other leaders of western provinces far away from Rome

Answer 2

In the simplest terms, the Roman Empire's authority in the West was gradually eroded by waves of barbarian migrations and invasions. Some tribes were peaceful, others hostile, but overall they overwhelmed the Empire, but it was never a concerted effort on their part to do so. To make matters worse, the Empire's wealth was increasingly focused in the east with the new capital at Byzantium, or Constantinople. This robbed the Western Roman Empire of much needed wealth that it could have used to support its armies and hold onto control of some of its provinces.

The final nails in the coffin was the sacking of Rome 410 and then again in 455. As a government, the Western Roman Empire basically ceased to exist past this point. However it is important to keep in mind that the Roman authority didn't disappear completely. The Roman Catholic Church essentially carried on the Roman legacy in the West, and many peoples continued to think of themselves as Romans. Note the various figures throughout European history that had the Pope crown them "Emperor of the Romans" or some such title, like Charlemagne or Napoleon. Rome died in the West physically, but the idea of the Roman Empire was honestly alive as recently as the Third Reich in Germany during WWII.