The fall of Rome and the end of civilization

Why did Rome fall? Vicious barbarian invasions during the fifth century resulted in the cataclysmic end of the world's most powerful civilization, and a 'dark age' for its conquered peoples. Or did it? The dominant view of this period today is that the 'fall of Rome' was a largely peaceful transition to Germanic rule, and the start of a positive cultural transformation.

Bryan Ward-Perkins encourages every reader to think again by reclaiming the drama and violence of Rome's fall, and reinstating the very real horrors of barbarian occupation and the disintegration of the Roman world.

He examines how and why successive generations have understood this period differently, and why the story in still so significant today.