 The sun sets on all empires, but why and when did the western Roman Empire fail? In the 3rd century AD, the Roman Empire almost collapsed, with this period known as the crisis of the 3rd century. One of the reforms that was brought in to try and stave off any further crises was brought in in 293 AD by the Roman Emperor, Diocletian. He implemented a system known as Tetrarchae, which means government by four persons ruling jointly. What this meant in the context of the Roman Empire was that the administration of the Empire was to be split between two emperors, known as Augustae, who then each chose a junior emperor who would go on to succeed them, called Caeserys. This meant that Diocletian and Maximian ruled as co-emperors, with Diocletian ruling in the Eastern provinces, and Maximian governing the Western provinces. They both appointed Caeserys, who then succeeded them. This orderly system proved somewhat short-lived, as Constantine usurped it and went on to control the entire Empire for periods. After the reign of Theodosius I, the administration of the Roman Empire split into two separate imperial courts, one in the Latin West and the other in the Greek East. The reasons for the fall of the Western and Roman Empire are extensive and debated, with historians still debating the facts over 1500 years after the events themselves. There are various reasons, stretching from the strength of the military to the strength of the economy. One of the reasons often cited is the migration of peoples across Europe in the centuries prior to the collapse of the Empire. Beginning in the 4th century AD, there was a mass of influx and migration of different groups across Europe, some migrating, some invading. And many of them settled in different regions of the Western and Roman Empire. This itself helped to destabilise the Empire and the imperial system. Some of these groups were the Huns, the Goths and the Franks. In 410 AD, the Visigoths, or Germanic people, once again sat Rome. In September 476 AD, the last emperor of the Western and Roman Empire, Romulus Augustulus, was disposed by Odessa, a so-called barbarian military leader. This essentially signalled the final nail in the coffin of the Western and Roman Empire. Odessa became the king of Italy, ruling from 476 to 493 AD. The rest of the Western and Roman Empire broke up into various kingdoms and principalities. And the Western and Roman Empire ceased to exist as an integrated Empire. The Senate sent the imperial insignia to the Eastern and Roman Emperor Flavius Zeno. Astonishingly, the Eastern and Roman Empire, or Byzantine Empire, existed for another 1,000 years, fuelled in part by spies and exports, and only fell in 1453, when Constantinople was sacked by the Ottoman Empire. Thanks for watching. If you enjoyed this video and you enjoy my content in general, please consider supporting me through Patreon, buying me a coffee, PayPal, or simply by sharing my content with your friends, family and on social media. All the links to support this work are in the description below. A massive thank you to everyone who supports this work already. Please remember to subscribe and hit the bell to turn on notifications so you actually get alerted every time I post a video. Thank you for watching. I'll see you next time.