Hello, my name is Ms. Krijnauw, and I am so pleased that you have joined me for today's history lesson about the Romans and what it meant to be Roman.

Together, we are gonna journey back in time to find out more about the fall of the Western Roman Empire.

It is my job to support you with the learning materials and resources so that by the end of the lesson, you can explain the fall of the Western Roman Empire.

Before we start the lesson, there are some key words I would like to introduce you to.

These words will come up in the lesson, so you might want to take a note of them so that you can refer back to your notes when we encounter them in the lesson.

The words are: theory, economy, politics, unstable, and sack.

I'm going to say these words again, but this time, I would like you to say them with me.

Here we go.

Theory.

Economy.

Politics.

Unstable.

Sack.

Well, let's find out what these words mean.

The first word is theory.

A group of ideas to explain something is called a theory.

Economy.

An economy is the way people, businesses and governments make and spend money.

Politics.

Politics refers to the way that a country's government makes decisions and laws.

Unstable.

Something is unstable when there are a lot of unpredictable changes.

And the last word is sack.

To sack a place is to take all the valuable goods after you have conquered it.

Pause the video here so that you can make a note of these words, and when you are ready for the lesson, press play.

This lesson about the fall of the Western Roman Empire has two learning cycles.

The first learning cycle is about theories about the Western Roman Empire's fall.

The Roman Empire was, at its height, one of the largest empires in history, with territories that stretched from Britain in the north to Egypt in the south, and from Spain in the west to the Middle East in the east.

The Empire was huge and powerful and played an important role in shaping Western civilization.

In 395 CE, the Roman Empire was permanently split into East and West, which had long-term consequences for each of the Empires.

The Western Roman Empire fell in 476 CE.

The Eastern Roman Empire, also known as the Byzantine Empire, did much better than the Western Roman Empire, and survived for almost a thousand years after the fall of the Western Empire.

Historians have many different theories which explain the reasons why the Western Roman Empire fell.

Some theories are about problems with the economy.

There are also theories about problems with the military, and some theories are about problems with politics.

Let's check our understanding of what we have just learned.

Match the word to its meaning.

So the words are economy, military, and politics.

The meanings are the armed forces, or the army, the way a country is ruled and how governments make rules and laws, or how people, businesses and governments make and spend money.

Pause the video here, and when you are ready for the answer, press play.

Let's find out what the answers are.

Economy refers to how people, businesses and governments make and spend money, military refers to the armed forces or the army, and politics is the way a country is ruled and how governments make rules and laws.

Well done if you got those right.

Let's explore some of these theories in more detail.

One theory for the Western Roman Empire's fall is that it faced many problems with money.

These problems made the economy unstable.

Because the Empire was so big, it had to pay for many things.

For example, the people who worked for the emperor had to be paid, the people who built and maintained the Roman roads had to be paid, and the large Roman army and its many soldiers also had to be paid.

To make sure that there was enough money to pay for everything, the Roman citizens had to pay a lot of tax, which means that they had to give some of their own money to the emperor so that he could pay for the things that helped to keep the Empire safe and running well.

However, most Romans could not afford to pay the taxes, and many refused to pay, and so the taxes that were paid were not enough to cover the Empire's costs.

This meant that the money being paid into the Empire was less than what was being paid out, and so the Empire ran out of money.

So one of the theories of why the Western Roman Empire fell was because of problems with the economy.

Phew, that was quite a lot of information to take in, so let's pause the lesson for a moment to check our understanding.

Which of the following statements is the best theory to explain the Western Roman Empire's unstable economy? Is it A, the Empire had a lot of money from taxes and they did not know how to spend it? Or is it B, the Empire was paying out more money than it was getting in through taxes? Or C, the Empire had too much money from taxes and there was not enough things to spend it on? Pause the video here.

When you are ready for the answer, press play.

And the answer is B, the Empire was paying out more money than it was getting in through taxes.

Good work.

Another theory for the Western Roman Empire's fall is because of military problems, which made the army unstable.

The Roman military, which was once a powerful and well-organized army, struggled to get enough soldiers to join to keep the army strong.

Being a Roman soldier was tough.

It meant that you'd be away from your family, your farm or your business for long periods of time.

In addition, training large numbers of soldiers in such a big empire was very expensive, and because people were not paying enough taxes, the soldiers' training became careless.

This meant that Roman soldiers were not well prepared for war or for.

(blows raspberry) This meant that Roman soldiers were not well prepared for war or for defending the Empire's borders.

Military problems is another theory for the fall of the Western Roman Empire.

Let's check our understanding of what we have just learned.

Which of the following statements is the best theory to explain the Western Roman Empire's unstable military? Is it A, the Empire could not get enough soldiers to join the army and could not train them well enough? Or is it B, the Empire had too many soldiers joining the army, and so they did not know where to send them to fight? Or C, the Empire was training their soldiers so well that there was no one left for its army to fight? Pause the video here, and when you are ready for the answer, press play.

The answer, of course, is A.

Well done if you said that the Empire could not get enough soldiers to join the army and could not train them well enough.

Another theory for the Western Roman Empire's fall is because of problems with politics, which made the government unstable.

The emperors changed often and did not stay in charge for very long, because they were sometimes overthrown or even murdered.

Since the emperors were not in charge for a long time, it was hard to make plans that would last or that would help Empire in the long term, and that is why problems with politics is another theory for the fall of the Western Roman Empire.

So let's check for understanding.

Which of the following statements is the best theory to explain the Western Roman Empire's unstable politics? A, the emperors were in charge for so long that they did not want to make any changes to help the Empire; B, the emperors were very good at making long-term plans to help the Empire; or C, the emperors were not in charge for very long, so it was hard to make long-term plans to help the Empire? Pause the video here, and when you are ready for the answer, press play.

The answer, of course, is C, the emperors were not in charge for very long, so it was hard to make long-term plans to help the Empire.

Well done.

We are now ready for task A of this lesson.

It says, "The Western Roman Empire faced many problems. Give an example of a theory that historians have put forward for each of the problems." The problems are economy, military, and politics.

Pause the video here, and when you are ready to reflect on the answer, press play.

So let's investigate answers that you may have given.

The problem is the economy.

The theory is the Empire was paying out more money than it was getting in from taxes, and so it ran out of money.

The problem is the military, so what is the theory? Roman soldiers did not have enough training, and so were not prepared for war or for defending the Empire's border.

The problem is politics, and the theory is, emperors changed often and did not stay in charge for very long, so long-term plans were not made to help the Empire.

Well done if your answers are similar to this.

We can now move on to the second learning cycle of this lesson, which is entitled Rome under attack.

All these problems of the Western Roman Empire almost led to Rome being destroyed in 410 CE, when Alaric and the Visigoths attacked the Empire's capital.

The Visigoths were a Germanic tribe who originally came from north west Europe.

They were referred to as barbarians by the Romans, because they did not speak Greek or Latin and they had a different culture.

Over time, the Visigoths moved south and created their own kingdoms in Spain and Gaul.

In the 300s CE, the Visigoths moved into territories that belonged to the Roman Empire, because they wanted a safer and better place to live.

They were trying to escape the Huns, who were nomadic warriors from the east, and they terrorised Europe and the Roman Empire, but later, the Visigoths began to fight against the Roman in the places where they themselves lived, as they wanted the territories for themselves.

Let's check our understanding of what we have just learned.

Explain to your learning partner who the Visigoths were.

Use the words and phrases below to help you.

Germanic, north west Europe, barbarians, kingdoms in and Gaul and Spain, 300s CE.

Pause the video here, and when you are ready for the answer, press play.

Well, your answer could include the following: The Visigoths were a Germanic tribe who originally came from north west Europe.

They were referred to as barbarians by the Romans because they did not speak Greek or Latin and had a different culture.

Over time, the Visigoths moved south and created their own kingdoms in Gaul and Spain.

In the 300s CE, the Visigoths moved into territories that belonged to the Roman Empire.

Well done if your sentences were similar to these, and particularly if you managed to use the words highlighted in green.

In 410 CE, under the leadership of Alaric, the Visigoths invaded and captured the city of Rome.

They plundered Rome for several days, but did not destroy the city completely.

It was the first time in nearly 800 years that the city had been captured by a foreign enemy.

This event became known as the sack of Rome, as all the city's valuable goods were taken by the Visigoths.

Some historians think that the sack of Rome shattered the idea that Rome was strong and powerful.

The invasion of the capital suggested that the Western Roman Empire was weakening and that it may not survive much longer.

Let's pause the lesson a moment to consolidate our learning.

Is this statement true or false? Some historians think that the sack of Rome in 410 CE contributed to the fall of the Western Roman Empire.

Pause the video here, and when you are ready for the answer, press play.

That statement, of course, is true, but let's give a reason why we say that is true.

Let's justify our answer.

Is it A, the sack of Rome shattered the idea that Rome and the Empire was strong and powerful? Or is it B, Rome had been invaded and sacked so many times before that it did not make a difference? Pause the video here, and when you are ready for the answer, press play.

The answer is A, the sack of Rome shattered the idea that Rome and the Empire were strong and powerful.

Well done.

The Western Roman Empire finally fell in 476 CE, when Germanic tribes led by Odoacer defeated the Roman army.

They removed the last Western Roman Emperor, Romulus Augustulus, from power, and the Western Empire was no more.

Although the Western Roman Empire had fallen, the Eastern Empire, known as the Byzantine Empire, continued to exist for nearly 1,000 years until the fall of Constantinople in 1453.

So let's see what we can remember.

Match the following dates to the correct historical event.

There is 300s CE, 410 CE, or 476 CE.

The events are the sack of Rome, the Western Roman Empire finally falls, and the Visigoths move into territories that belong to the Roman Empire.

Pause the video here, and when you are ready for the answer, press play.

Let's investigate the answers.

The sack of Rome happened in the year 410 CE, the Western Roman Empire finally fell in 476 CE, and the Visigoths moved into territories that belonged to the Roman Empire in the 300s CE.

Well done if you got that correct.

We are now ready to complete the second learning task of this lesson.

Read Jun and Sofia's statements below.

Who do you think is correct? Explain your answer.

Jun says, "The fall of the Western Roman Empire happened at the same time as the sack of Rome." Sofia, on the other hand, says, "The fall of the Western Roman Empire happened slowly over time." Pause the video here, and when you are ready to reflect on your answer, press play.

Your answer could have included the following: "I agree with Sofia.

The sack of Rome did show that the Western Roman Empire was not going to last much longer, but the Empire had been facing problems with its economy, military and politics for a long time before this.

The Empire did not fall until 476 CE, when the last Western Roman Emperor was defeated, which was after the sack of Rome." Well done if your answer is similar to this.

We have now come to the end of this lesson about the fall of the Western Roman Empire, but before we go, let's summarise what we have learned.

Historians have different theories about why the Western Roman Empire fell.

The Western Roman Empire faced many problems with its economy, military and politics after its split from the Eastern Empire in 395 CE.

The Western Empire was almost destroyed in the sack of Rome in 410 CE when Alaric and the Visigoths invaded Rome.

The Western Roman Empire finally fell in 476 CE when Germanic tribes defeated the last Western Roman Emperor.

Well done on all your hard work today.

I have really enjoyed going with you on this learning journey about the fall of the Western Roman Empire, and I really look forward to seeing you again very soon.