All language subtitles for Rome Rise and Fall of an Empire - S01E13 - The Last Emperor_track3_[und]

[music playing]

\h\hNARRATOR: Ethnic tensions
continue to divide the already

\h\h\h\hravaged empire as the
barbarian-born General Ricimer

claws his way to the throne.

Hungry for power,
\hhe kills anyone

\h\h\h\hwho stands in his way,
including his closest friends.

\h\hNow Roman control of
the empire’s once great

\hWestern provinces is swept
away by a storm of barbarian

warlords and kings.

Out of the chaos,
\hone Roman leader

rises up determined to restore
\h\h\hRome to its glory days.

But in his path stands a fierce
barbarian warrior prince.

\hFor the empire, the
clash of their swords

is the beginning of the end.

[men shouting]

By the fifth century
\hAD, after hundreds

of years of constant warfare,
\h\h\hthe Western Roman Empire

\h\his a mere shadow
of its former self.

\hTHOMAS MARTIN: The empire
was into full-blown crisis.

\h\hThere was increasing
pressure from barbarians

outside the empire who wanted
\h\h\hto come into the empire.

\hAnd above all, there was the
tremendous financial pressure.

The empire wasn’t generating
the revenues that allowed it

to keep its military
\h\h\h\hforce strong

and its infrastructure repaired.

NARRATOR: Without a
well-armed military,

\hRome is powerless against one
of the largest barbarian forces

the empire has ever
seen, the Huns, led

by their ferocious
\h\hleader Attila.

[horse neighs]

\h\h\h\h\h5th century
chronicler Callinicus

recounts their savagery.

CALLINICUS (VOICEOVER):
\h\h\h\h\hThe barbarian

Huns became so great that more
than 100 cities were captured.

\h\hAnd there were so many
murders and bloodlettings

that the dead could
\h\hnot be counted.

\h\h\hNARRATOR: The Huns, a
nomadic tribe from the East,

lay waste to what little
\his left of the empire.

KELLY DEVRIES: The fact is that
there is no state in the West.

The West has dissolved.

The West has fallen apart.

\h\hThere are so many
different entities, so

many different armies, so
many different powers that

\hare vying for control,
but there’s no control.

NARRATOR: Though the eastern
\hcapital of Constantinople

\h\his able to survive
the Hunnic invasions,

the weaker Western empire feels
the brunt of their expansion

and is forced to cede the
\hRoman region of Pannonia

to Attila the Hun.

[bell ringing]

\h\hIn the empire’s
former territories,

Romans must now answer to their
barbarian rulers, the Huns.

\h\h\h\hTHOMAS MARTIN:
Romans and barbarians

can identify each other
\hby the way they speak,

\hby the way they dress, by the
way they smell, by the way they

wear their hair.

\h\h\hEven though by this time,
Romans and barbarians are really

used to each other, I
think it’s fair to say

\hthat ethnic tensions
have never gone away.

NARRATOR: But one Roman moves
\hthrough the troubled society

with ease and finds opportunity
in Attila’s new regime.

His name is Flavius Orestes.

\h\h\hOrestes was a Roman who had
grown up in territory dominated

by the Huns, but he
got a high position

at the court of Attila.

\h\hNARRATOR: The empire may
be falling down around him,

\hbut it’s his Roman
heritage that makes

\h\h\h\hOrestes and the other
Pannonians valuable to Attila.

RICHARD BURGESS: They’re Roman
because they talk like Romans.

They walk like Romans.

And there is still the
cultural, the social.

\hEverything that makes up
what a person is and does

is still Roman, and that
\hgoes on for centuries.

NARRATOR: Able to
\hread and write,

the cultured Orestes stands out
among Attila’s many barbarian

allies.

Orestes is soon made secretary
\h\h\h\hin the ruler’s court.

\h\hTHOMAS MARTIN: Orestes
got to see how Attila had

\h\h\ha real political
vision trying to merge

the Huns with the Romans through
marriage and political alliance

\h\hto come up with a new
empire there in the North.

[shouting]

\h\h\hNARRATOR: Having daily
contact with Attila the Hun,

Orestes experiences firsthand
\h\hjust how brutal barbarian

justice can be.

His Roman sensibilities
\h\hare easily offended.

\hTHOMAS MARTIN: I think it is
fair to say that there is what

\hwe would call ethnic tension
between barbarians and Romans.

They faced a problem similar to
the problem that we face today.

These different peoples
from different cultures

need to work together.

In important ways, they want
\hto become like each other.

But there’s tension
\h\h\hbetween them.

[crowd shouting]

NARRATOR: Though Orestes is
repulsed by the barbarians’

\h\hblood sacrifice of their
enemies, in Attila’s power,

Orestes finds the ambition
\h\h\hfor something more.

THOMAS MARTIN: Orestes, when he
served in the court of Attila,

was able to see how this leader
was organizing a nation out

of nothing.

And I think Orestes above all
would have learned that there

was a real possibility of seeing
a new kind of Roman world,

one led by a king that melded
barbarian and Roman strengths

to restore the glory
\h\hof Rome the way

it had been at the time of
\hthe founders, the kings.

[shouts]

\hNARRATOR: Orestes may
be ruled by barbarians,

but he will always be Roman
and always think of himself

and his people as superior.

He longs to return the once
\hgreat empire to its Roman

roots.

In 453 AD, Attila’s reign
comes to an unexpected end

\hon his wedding night, soon
bringing about the collapse

\hof the mighty Huns and
their barbarian allies.

His bride finds him dead
of a broken blood vessel

and, terrified of being
accused of killing him,

spends the entire night
\h\hnext to the corpse.

\h\h\hSixth century
historian Jordanes.

\h\h\hJORDANES (VOICEOVER): He
fell, not by wound or by foe,

nor by treachery, but happy
in his joy and without pain.

NARRATOR: But the Hun’s
demise cannot save Rome.

The power vacuum that results
\honly allows more barbarians

\hto descend upon the
fading Western empire.

In the following years, Rome’s
\hcities fall into disrepair.

\h\h\hHunger prevails, and
beggars fill the streets.

\h\h\hOrestes wanders, no
longer a man of influence.

\hHe seeks his fortune in a
land struggling to survive.

GEOFFREY GREATREX:
The infrastructure

seems to have crumbled in
some cases fairly quickly.

It varied from one
region to another.

Aqueducts, it’s true, sort of
\hperhaps fall into disrepair.

And the quality of pottery
\h\hperhaps in some places

diminishes.

\hIt’s all getting
a bit more hectic.

The street plans
begin to change.

The regular features break down.

\hNARRATOR: It is a time of
diminished hope and starving

children.

The details of Orestes’s
travels are lost to us,

but as a true Roman, he refuses
to believe that the empire is

beyond saving, that the humanity
and civilization at its core

cannot be brought back.

He sets his sights on
one day making his way

to the city of Rome.

\h\hKELLY DEVRIES: The fact is
that Rome fell physically far

earlier than it fell
\h\hpsychologically.

\h\hThe idea that Rome could
fall was difficult for many

to accept.

And many didn’t accept it.

They believed as long as there
was an emperor on the throne,

there was a Rome.

As long as there were
walls around the city,

there was a Rome.

As long as there was somebody
\hwho believed a Rome existed,

the empire in fact existed.

\h\h\hNARRATOR: In the mid
fifth century, after years

\h\hof constant pressure
from barbarian attacks,

Rome is forced into a treaty
with a powerful tribe called

\hthe Burgundians, granting them
valuable Roman land in exchange

for military service.

\hOriginally from Scandinavia,
like many Germanic barbarians,

the Burgundians are allowed
to settle in southern Gaul.

\hThese territories on
the periphery of Italy

are the first to go.

RICHARD BURGESS: It’s just very
slowly little bits and pieces

are given away.

\hIn a way, it’s kind of like
if you think about your body.

\h\hIf you’re out in
the cold, your body

\h\his programmed to make sure
that your brain and your sort

\hof heart and whatever
survive no matter what.

So your fingers go first, your
\htoes, your feet, your hands.

\h\hAnd it’s very much
like the Roman Empire.

\hNARRATOR: In return
for these land grants,

the Burgundians must supply the
empire with mercenary soldiers.

\h\hBut this treaty only
furthers Rome’s plight.

\h\hTHOMAS MARTIN: When they
give land to the barbarians,

since land is a great source,
\hperhaps the principal source

of revenue, the more
land they give away,

the less money they
\h\hhave coming in.

The less money they
\h\hhave coming in,

the more land they have to give
away in order to keep barbarian

support to keep the army strong.

\h\h\hSo it really is a vicious
spiral that leads more and more

to a financial crisis.

NARRATOR: The Burgundians’
\h\h\hleader, Gundobad, is

the son of a mighty chieftain.

\h\hBut as the empire
grows weaker and more

\h\h\h\hdesperate for his
tribe’s many mercenaries,

\h\h\hhe is a powerful
force in Rome as well.

\hIn the empire’s
capital, Gundobad

\h\h\h\his made the master of
soldiers, but he controls more

than the army.

He also chooses Rome’s
\hemperor, Glycerius.

EDWARD WATTS: It’s a choice made
by Gundobad, because Gundobad

\h\hthought that he
was a loyal figure.

But it’s clear that Glycerius
\h\hmust rule at the pleasure

of Gundobad, and he must rely
\hupon the support of Gundobad

to do this effectively.

NARRATOR: The emperor’s
\h\h\hgreat throne room

\h\his filled with more
barbarians than Romans.

EDWARD WATTS: The Western
\hRoman army at this point

\h\h\h\h\his overwhelmingly
barbarian, if not entirely.

It seems likely that
\h\hthere were still

native Roman forces in there.

\h\hBut when we do
hear of this army,

\h\hit’s an army that contains
Turks and Germans and a range

of other non-Romans.

NARRATOR: In charge of
Glycerius’s barbarian

mercenaries is a barbarian
\hwarrior named Odovacer.

’

Odovacer found a position
\hin the imperial guard,

\hclose to the center of
power, surely because he

\hhad a demonstrated military
competence and real leadership

ability.

NARRATOR: This is the Rome
\hthat Orestes encounters

when he finally arrives
after decades of travel.

Upon first meeting Odovacer,
\hhe cannot know how deeply

the empire has changed
since its glory days.

EDWARD WATTS: The power
\hof the Western Empire

is certainly gone in the 470s,
but I think it’s probably not

\h\hclear to everybody that
this is a doomed enterprise.

\hIt does seem potentially to
be just a momentary weakness.

\hAnd had the course of
things gone differently,

perhaps it could have recovered.

NARRATOR: Orestes’ diplomatic
\h\h\h\h\hexperience earns him

a high position in
the Imperial Army.

But he is surprised to find
Odovacer, a lowly barbarian,

holding equal standing.

THOMAS MARTIN: They obviously
\hwere both highly ambitious.

They’d survived really
\htough circumstances.

Orestes has succeeded at the
\hcourt of the bloodthirsty

Attila the Hun.

Odovacer had been a
\hmilitary commander

\hand had brought himself
literally later from rags

to riches at Rome.

I think their ambitions as well
as their special competencies

would have put them on the track
to compete with each other.

NARRATOR: Both have their own
\hvisions of empire, one Roman

and one barbarian.

After spending years in the
\h\hcourt of Attila the Hun,

the Roman Orestes is made a
\hgeneral in the Roman army.

But in Italy, he encounters an
\hempire that’s disintegrating

and hardly Roman.

Its power resides not in
\hits emperor Glycerius,

but in the barbarian generals
\hOdovacer and the Burgundian

chieftain Gundobad.

In the past, Rome had integrated
its barbarian mercenaries

in the army to ensure that they
never gained too much power.

\h\h\h\h\hBut what happens in the
fifth century is that they stay

as Germanic groups.

They get to keep their own
clothing, their own food,

their own culture, their own
\hadministrative structure,

their political structure,
their military structure.

And it’s bizarre.

But they aren’t Romanized.

\hNARRATOR: And now
Gundobad’s warriors

\hhold the same rank
as their Roman peers

\h\h\h\h\h\hand Emperor
Glycerius’s Roman army.

GEOFFREY GREATREX: The army
\h\hat Glycerius’s disposal

\h\hor rather basically that
Gundobad has at his disposal

\hwould be a mixed
formation no doubt

comprising Burgundians, but
\hmany other various groups

\h\has well that together form
as it were the army in Italy.

In the case of the
Roman army, there

seems to have definitely
\hbeen tensions at times

between barbarians
\hwho are serving

\hand Romans who are serving and
Romans who felt that because it

was the Roman army that their
leadership capabilities should

\h\hbe recognized,
whereas barbarians

\h\h\h\hshould be disqualified
because they were barbarians.

\hNARRATOR: The once unified
power of the Roman military

\h\h\his lost as violence
explodes within its ranks,

dividing the army
\hagainst itself.

\hGeneral Orestes, once
so skilled at diplomacy,

soon finds that even he
is powerless against it.

As Rome suffers greater
\hlosses against tribes

like the Visigoths and
\hGaul, Roman soldiers

must question the allegiance
\hof their barbarian allies.

GEOFFREY GREATREX:
I think everybody

had their own interest
\h\h\h\hat this point.

\h\h\h\h\hThings become somewhat
fragmented and diffused so that

\h\hwhat we’re dealing with is a
group of people whose interests

\hare no longer united even
among the Romans themselves.

NARRATOR: Chaos reigns on the
\hbattlefield when the army no

longer fights for the empire,
\h\hbut every man for himself.

When the enfeebled Western
\h\h\hempire can no longer

keep its enemies from sacking
\hthe Mediterranean coastline,

the stronger Eastern empire
\h\hbased in Constantinople

finally steps in.

In the imperial palace, the
\haging Eastern emperor Leo

enjoys the security of his
heavily fortified capital.

KELLY DEVRIES: The reality
\h\h\hof the Roman Empire

\hin the mid fifth century was
that there was a distinct East

and West.

The reality was also that
\hthe East was prosperous,

and the West was not.

NARRATOR: Blaming Glycerius
\h\h\h\hfor Rome’s failures,

Leo hopes to extend
\h\h\hhis own reach

by appointing a new Western
\h\h\hemperor, Julius Nepos.

EDWARD WATTS: The thinking
about why Nepos was chosen

to go to the West revolves
\h\h\haround the position

that Nepos had at court.

\hHe was a very well-placed
person, related by marriage

to the emperor Leo.

\h\h\h\hHe was a figure who was
suitable for leading an invasion

to Italy.

\h\hNARRATOR: In 474 AD,
Nepos assembles an army

\h\h\hand leads his troops
away from Constantinople,

bound for Italy.

\hThe East is going to look
to reassert its influence

in the West and find a candidate
who could depose Glycerius.

Its reaction is not
\ha surprising one.

NARRATOR: As a newly
\happointed emperor,

\hNepos has a great deal to
prove and even more to lose

if he fails in bringing
the Western empire back

from the barbarians.

As Nepos’s army sailed
\hfrom Constantinople,

the Western emperor Glycerius
\h\hmust prepare his own army

to counter the attack in Rome.

\h\hBut when Glycerius orders
Orestes and Odovacer to ready

their troops for battle,
he encounters firsthand

\h\hthe problem of
barbarian loyalty.

\hGundobad and his
Burgundian troops

desert him in his hour of need.

RICHARD BURGESS: What happens
\h\his that Gundobad abandons

\h\hhis position to go back and
become king of the Burgundians,

which is clearly a lot
\hmore fun than being

the generalissimo of Glycerius.

EDWARD WATTS: The army, because
it’s not a Roman army in terms

of its native background,
\h\hhas a different agenda

and a different set of desires
than perhaps a citizen militia

would.

NARRATOR: Without his
\hBurgundian support,

even the armies of Odovacer and
Orestes cannot save Glycerius

from the invading
\hforces of Nepos.

\hAs Nepos draws near Rome,
Glycerius and his commanders

ride out, not for battle,
\hbut to plead for mercy.

THOMAS MARTIN: And so Glycerius
found himself in a situation

where he really couldn’t
expect military support

either from hired barbarians
\hor from his local troops.

So when the Eastern empire
\hsent Nepos to take over,

\h\h\hGlycerius made the
only rational decision.

He surrendered without a fight.

NARRATOR: Nepos, having come
to Italy to violently unseat

Glycerius, now spares
\hthe emperor’s life.

\hTHOMAS MARTIN: Nepos wanted
the appearance of legitimacy,

\h\hthat he would become emperor
with the backing of the Eastern

\h\h\hemperor and the
approval and agreement

of the Western emperor, who
\hwould step down because he

\hrecognized that Nepos was
the better man for the job.

\h\h\hNARRATOR: He orders
Glycerius be made a bishop

\hand sends him into
exile far from Rome.

In June, 474 AD, when Nepos
is crowned Western emperor,

\h\h\hhe is lauded by
Orestes and Odovacer.

\h\h\hBeing equally
ambitious, both men

\h\htransfer their loyalty to
their new leader immediately.

KELLY DEVRIES: Orestes
\h\h\hbeing Roman also

\h\h\hhas an idea that
there is still a Rome.

And he can still protect Rome.

In the case of Odovacer, there
\h\hseems to be a recognition

that there is no more Rome.

\h\h\hAnd so how it plays out is
you’ve got two very capable man

at the very moment in time when
a decision is made whether Rome

will cease to exist.

NARRATOR: Nepos promotes
\h\h\hthe Roman Orestes

\hand the barbarian Odovacer to
the highest posts in his court,

giving them unmatched
\h\h\h\hpower in Rome.

KELLY DEVRIES: Elevating Orestes
and Odovacer at the same time,

giving them kind of equal power
or at least equal recognition,

he’s kind of prepared
\h\h\hhis own demise.

In both of these
characters, he’s

\helevated individuals
who are of strong will

and of great capabilities.

\h\hNARRATOR: But the
court politics in Rome

\hare quickly overshadowed by
relentless Visigoth invasions

\h\h\h\hagainst the last
remaining Western Roman

territory of Gaul.

\hAt the height of
the Roman Empire,

this region now known
\has Provence, France,

was a prosperous community.

But throughout the
\h470s, its people

are subject to constant raids
\hfrom the Visigoth barbarians

and their king, Euric.

\hTHOMAS MARTIN: The very
ambitious Visigothic king,

\h\h\h\hwho was a real
expansionist, decided

that he was going to attack this
area there in southern France

that wasn’t under his control.

By this time, the
\hVisigoths really

did have an overwhelming force.

And so it was simply part
\hof the process by which

\hRoman territory in Gaul was
constantly shrinking until it

\h\hwas reduced to just a tiny
slice along the coast of what

is today southern France.

\hNARRATOR: The bloodthirsty
Visigoth warriors lay waste

\h\h\h\hto the villages of
Provence, showing no mercy

to the helpless Roman citizens.

\hThe Eastern emperor Leo
sends Julius Nepos to Rome

as the new Western emperor.

Nepos is counting on his two
\hcommanders, the barbarian

Odovacer and the Roman Orestes.

\h\h\hBut even with their
support, the Roman empire

is in terrible jeopardy.

\hBarbarian Visigoths
invade southern Gaul,

\h\h\hforcing the meager Roman
legion stationed on the border

into battle.

\h\h\hThe imperial soldiers,
under-armed and unprepared,

are no match for the Visigoths.

EDWARD WATTS: The Goths
\hseem better organized.

Their kingship seems
\h\hto be stronger.

They seem to be able to
\hmobilize more forces.

And the forces seem to be better
able to deal with whatever

eventualities occur in warfare.

NARRATOR: The fighting
is brutal, the carnage

overwhelming.

Something must be done.

\hThough the Roman
commander Orestes

\his inexperienced in
battle, Emperor Nepos

sends him from Rome
to Gaul with orders

to drive the barbarians out.

\hGEOFFREY GREATREX: He is to
be the new commander-in-chief

in Gaul.

\h\hNow, the thing is,
you can ask yourself,

is this such a great honor
\hor such a great position

\h\h\h\hto be given, given that
there’s very little that’s left

to be controlled in Gaul?

It seems like an honor.

But perhaps it was actually
\h\ha way of sidelining him.

We don’t know.

NARRATOR: But in his camp
\h\hon the Italian border,

\hthe former diplomat
Orestes tries his hand

\h\h\hat military strategy,
hoping to sideline Odovacer

and the new emperor
\h\h\hNepos instead.

\hHe offers a deal to his
mostly barbarian soldiers.

If they march with him
against Emperor Nepos,

\h\h\hhe will grant them
valuable land in Italy.

\hTHOMAS MARTIN: We know that
Orestes turned against Nepos,

\hthat instead of following
the emperor’s instructions,

\h\hhe decided to try to
seize power for himself.

\h\hWhy did Orestes
turn against Nepos?

\h\hI think Orestes had a
vision of restoring Rome.

[men shouting]

\hNARRATOR: Abandoning
Gaul to the Visigoths,

Orestes leads his army from
their camp in northern Italy

back towards Rome.

\hBut when Emperor Nepos
learns of the invasion,

he flees to Ravenna.

\h\hIn August of 475 AD, Orestes
marches into Ravenna and orders

his troops to scour the city
\hin search of the emperor.

The barbarian soldiers
\h\h\hgo on a rampage,

terrorizing the citizens
and destroying property.

\hTHOMAS MARTIN: I can only
imagine that Orestes either

thought that Nepos was
selling out the Roman

Empire to the barbarians
\hor that Orestes simply

had this overwhelming ambition
to capture the Roman Empire’s

leadership for himself.

NARRATOR: But even under
\h\hthe threat of death,

\h\h\hno one reveals the
emperor’s hiding place.

Emperor Nepos is forced to
\hsecretly escape the city

according to 6th century
\h\hhistorian Jordanes.

\hJORDANES (VOICEOVER):
Nepos fled to Dalmatia,

\h\h\hand, deprived of his
power, he languished there

as a private citizen
\h\hin the same city

where the exiled emperor
\h\h\hGlycerius recently

became bishop.

Soon Nepos is on his way out.

\hHe’s exiled and will
continue to be exiled,

\hcalling himself
emperor until 480.

In fact, some historians give
him sympathy as the last Roman

emperor.

But he’s long since ceased
\hto exist as an emperor.

NARRATOR: With Nepos gone
and the barbarian soldiers

\h\h\hunder his thumb, Orestes
believes he can restore order

\h\h\h\hto an empire
engulfed in anarchy.

In a surprising turn, Orestes
\h\h\hdoes not take the throne

himself, but instead
names his young son,

Romulus Augustulus, emperor.

THOMAS MARTIN: Orestes decided
\hthat he, with his childhood

\h\hhaving grown up among
barbarians and his service

at the Hunnic court, that maybe
the Italian elite wouldn’t want

him, Orestes as the emperor,
\h\h\hbut they would accept

\h\h\hthis pure Italian
Romulus as their leader

because it would appeal to
their sense of tradition,

\hno matter how empty in terms
of power that feeling was now.

NARRATOR: The boy will remain
\h\hin the well-protected city

of Ravenna.

EDWARD WATTS: He was protected
\h\h\h\hby Paulus, his uncle.

\h\h\hRomulus is still an
adolescent and had not yet

\hcome to full maturity, hence
his name Augustulus, or Little

Augustus.

\h\h\hNARRATOR: Young Romulus is
merely a puppet for his father.

\hIt is Orestes who will rule
the empire, finally edging out

\hhis rival Odovacer to become
the most powerful man in Rome.

\h\hSwollen with pride,
Orestes ignores his debt

to the barbarian soldiers.

But after holding up their end
\hof the deal helping Orestes

unseat Nepos, they demand
\h\htheir payment of land.

\hRICHARD BURGESS: These guys
want to get settled on Italy,

on Italian territory, on the
\hland of Italian senators.

And Orestes is enough of a Roman
to know that this isn’t going

to fly.

And so he says no.

\h\hTHOMAS MARTIN: Orestes
couldn’t pay the soldiers.

\h\h\h\hFor the soldiers, the
purpose of having an employer

was to pay them.

And so when Orestes, the power
behind the throne with his son

on it, can’t come
up with the money

that they want or can’t
\hcome up with the land

\h\h\hthey demand, then
there’s only one answer.

Get rid of that emperor and get
somebody else who can get us

what we want.

\hNARRATOR: With the
help of his guards,

\hOrestes is able
to flee the chaos,

\hbut he underestimates the
power of the barbarian army

now bent on revenge.

\h\h\hAfter years of
competing for power

\h\hwith his barbarian
co-commander Odovacer,

\hthe Roman Orestes
gains the advantage,

crowning his own 12-year-old
\h\h\hson as puppet emperor.

\h\hBut tensions rise as the
barbarian army goes unpaid.

When the barbarian soldiers
are denied what Orestes has

\h\h\h\h\h\hpromised them,
settlement land in Italy,

they turn to his greatest
rival for help, Odovacer.

THOMAS MARTIN: So the soldiers
\h\hmade a perfectly rational

\h\hdecision to go to somebody
else, in this case, Odovacer,

\h\h\hwho they thought had a
better chance of satisfying

their demand.

\h\h\hOdovacer was a
barbarian, and they

could expect that he wouldn’t
\h\hhave nearly as many qualms

\h\habout giving them land or
money or whatever they needed

regardless of where it came from
in order to make them happy.

\h\h\h\hNARRATOR: The
soldiers make Odovacer

an offer he can’t refuse.

RICHARD BURGESS: So
\hthey turn to him,

\h\hand they say, well, if
you can get us this land,

we’ll make you king.

How does that sound?

Whoo!

That sounds all right.

So off they go.

And he seems to be a leader
\h\h\hof this sort of ragtag

\hbag of Germanic peoples in
this supposedly Roman army.

NARRATOR: Together they
\hset out to bring down

all Roman power in the empire.

Odovacer will now
taste the revenge

\hhe seeks against
Orestes who dared

to usurp his power in Rome.

They immediately begin to
raid the cities of Italy.

\h\hThe narration that
we have of this talks

\h\h\h\habout days and days of
plundering, the wealthy being

stripped of all of their money.

\hNARRATOR: After risking their
lives for the sake of an empire

they can’t even call their own,
the barbarian soldiers feel

the time has come for Rome to
pay in blood what they cannot

pay in money and land.

\h\hKELLY DEVRIES: Pretend
you’re a soldier for them.

Pretend that you have to
live on the meager wages

that you’ve got.

And now you’d miss a payday.

One payday, you may
be able to make it.

\hTwo, three, four paydays
in a row, you’re starving.

\hAre you going to have much
allegiance to the army that

has let you starve?

\h\h\hNARRATOR: Now
answering to no one,

Odovacer relishes
\hthe opportunity

to finally assert his dominance
over Italy and Orestes.

KELLY DEVRIES: What we’re
\h\h\htalking about in 476

is not a war per se.

There’s no great battles.

There’s no sieges.

\h\h\h\hYou’ve got starving
soldiers seeking to survive.

\hAnd in order to
survive, they will

do whatever it takes to do so.

\hBecause they are
trained to fight,

they will put down anyone
\h\h\hwho encounters them.

Riots and rampages and sackings
and rapings take place.

\h\h\hNARRATOR: With
Odovacer closing in,

\hOrestes leaves his son,
the young emperor Romulus,

in Ravenna under the care
of the boy’s uncle Paulus

\h\hwhile Orestes escapes to
Ticinium in northern Italy.

EDWARD WATTS: Orestes is forced
to seek refuge from Odovacer

and his troops in Ticinium,
\h\h\hwhich is modern Pavia.

\h\hWe’re told by a text
that the bishop of Pavia

\h\h\h\hgives Orestes
sanctuary in the city.

\hNARRATOR: But even the House
of God cannot protect him from

the barbarian forces.

\hOrestes is forced
to flee as Odovacer

and his men ravage the church,
\h\hdesperate to root him out.

\hEDWARD WATTS: The bishop had
his collection of alms stolen.

\h\h\hAll of the money he
collected to help the poor

was stolen by Odovacer’s forces.

They also burned buildings
\h\hincluding the church.

NARRATOR: As the church
\h\h\hgoes up in flames,

\hso do Orestes’ visions
of the empire’s rebirth.

Odovacer does not care about
\hthe perpetuation of Rome.

\hIn fact, it’s a
realization to him

\h\hvery early on that
Rome no longer exists.

But what role does he play?

What power can he hold?

NARRATOR: Orestes and his
\hguards escape Ticinium,

hoping to buy enough
\h\htime to prepare

\h\h\h\hfor the certain
face-off with Odovacer.

\h\hOnce they were peers
in the emperor’s court.

Now they are locked
\h\h\hin a struggle

for their very survival.

[horse neighs]

KELLY DEVRIES: Both are very
\hproud of the position they

hold, and neither are
\hwilling to recognize

the other has any power at all.

\h\h\hNow, in that case, of
course, a clash is imminent.

NARRATOR: Orestes and
\hhis army get as far

as Placentia, modern-day
\h\h\h\hPiacenza, Italy,

before they are finally
\hconfronted by Odovacer

on the battlefield.

[shouting]

\h\h\h\hNARRATOR: The
inexperienced Orestes

has little chance against the
savagery of Odovacer barbarian

troops.

\h\hTHOMAS MARTIN: It
would have been loud,

chaotic, bloody, violent, dusty,
which is why morale even more

than training, when
push came to shove,

was at the heart of
who was going to win

and who was going to lose.

\h\h\h\hThere are dead
bodies to climb over.

There are injured men yelling.

There are people loosing
their bowels from fear.

[men shouting]

[music playing]

\hThere was something still
symbolic about the empire

\h\h\has if the last few
gasps of imperial power

could be hung onto by someone
who felt that the empire could

be restored by them.

They thought the empire
\h\h\hwas still existent

or that they could
\hsave the empire.

We know as historians
now that they cannot.

NARRATOR: No matter
how foolish, Orestes

refuses to admit defeat.

When the Roman general Orestes
\h\hbreaks his promise of land

to his barbarian troops, they
\h\hlaunch a full-scale revolt

\hled by Orestes’ rival the
barbarian general Odovacer.

Now fighting on a battlefield
\h\h\h\hnear Placentia, Italy,

the two adversaries
\hvie for supremacy

\hjust as they once did in the
emperor’s throne room in Rome.

\h\h\hKELLY DEVRIES:
Odovacer and Orestes

are the two most important
\hindividuals in the West.

On their shoulders lie
\hthe future of Rome.

And one has to agree
\h\hwith the other.

There has to be some
\h\hcompromise made.

If not, there will be violence.

And that’s in fact what happens.

NARRATOR: It’s a brutal
\h\hfight to the death.

And in the battle’s end, just
as in the empire’s, the Roman

\h\hfinally succumbs to
the mightier barbarian.

\h\hWe don’t know exactly what
happened when Odovacer caught

up with Orestes,
but my suspicion

\h\h\his that it was a
quick and brutal end.

There was not going to be
\hany elaborate ceremony.

\h\hThere was not going to
be any elaborate funeral.

Orestes was to disappear.

I’m sure his execution was
swift, silent, and total.

\hNARRATOR: Victorious,
Odovacer and his troops

march to Ravenna to address
the only unfinished business

left, the young son of Orestes,
the last Western Roman emperor.

The 12-year-old emperor Romulus
Augustulus and his uncle Paulus

\h\hare unaware of
Orestes’ death and

unprepared for the murderous
\h\hassault of Odovacer men.

\h\h\h\hEDWARD WATTS: When
Odovacer comes to Ravenna,

\hRomulus is not able to
put up much of a fight.

But Paulus, who was charged
\h\hwith protecting Romulus,

\h\h\hmanages to do this and
tries to protect his nephew.

\h\hOdovacer’s forces then kill
Paulus and move against the boy

emperor Romulus Augustulus.

\h\hNARRATOR: Terrified, the boy
flees the sounds of his uncle’s

murder.

The last Roman emperor, trapped
like a bewildered animal,

cannot hide from the
\hbarbarian’s blade.

There is no escape.

EDWARD WATTS: Romulus
is a mere figurehead,

and so there’s no reason
in essence for Odovacer

to do anything to him.

NARRATOR: But the
\hruthless warrior

makes a surprising choice.

He spares the boy’s life,
\hsending him into exile.

\h\h\h\h\h\hBy saving his life,
Odovacer can show his clemency

\h\hand can show to the Romans
that he can behave in the way

that a just sovereign
\h\h\hought to behave.

\hNARRATOR: In the
summer of 476 AD,

Odovacer becomes Italy’s
\hfirst barbarian ruler.

Odovacer is now king.

Now, he’s not king of Italy.

\hHe’s not king of
the Roman Empire.

He’s just king of these guys,
\h\h\hthis little motley band,

\h\hwhatever it was, making up
the Roman army at this point.

\hNARRATOR: Odovacer is king,
not emperor, because the Roman

Empire is officially dead just
over 500 years after its birth

in 27 BC.

THOMAS MARTIN: It
really is the end

of a Roman emperor in the West.

\hNow there’s going to
be a king in the West.

There’s still a Roman
\hemperor in the East.

But the East has no effective
\h\h\h\hcontrol over the West.

In a real political
\h\h\hsense, things

have changed fundamentally.

NARRATOR: News of Rome’s
\h\hfall travels quickly

to the new Eastern emperor
\hZeno in Constantinople.

\hThe messengers arrive bearing
the news the Eastern empire has

dreaded for years.

They carry the last vestige
\h\h\h\hof the boy emperor’s

imperial office.

EDWARD WATTS: The last thing
\hthat Odovacer has Romulus

Augustulus do before he formally
steps down from the Roman

throne is send an envoy
on behalf of the Senate

\hand the emperor conveying the
ornaments of imperial authority

\h\hto Constantinople with the
word that no emperor is needed

in the West.

NARRATOR: With a barbarian
\hking lording over Italy,

the remaining symbols of Roman
\hpower are no longer needed.

\h\h\hTHOMAS MARTIN: We know
that Odovacer very publicly

proclaimed he was not going
\h\hto wear the purple robes

\hand the golden crown
that signified a Roman

emperor at the time.

\hHe was going to
leave those aside.

Odovacer was something new.

\hHe was a king in the
West, not an emperor.

The robes and the crowns and
\hthe jewels of emperorship

now belonged to the
\h\hEastern emperor.

\hNARRATOR: But in his
hands, they no longer

signify power and prestige,
\h\h\honly failure and loss.

Back in Italy, the families
\hof the barbarian soldiers

\hare now finally granted
the land they fought for.

\h\h\h\hThe West now lies
completely in their hands.

It’s clear Odovacer
\hdid uphold what

he had agreed to his soldiers.

He kept his promise.

\hHe gave them what was due to
them and was a man of his word

to those supporting him.

\h\hNARRATOR: For the empire,
invasions of women, children,

\h\h\hand homesteads proved more
powerful than those of warriors

and siege machines.

THOMAS MARTIN: Rome became
\hstrong in the beginning

because it took in outsiders.

\h\h\hThat is to say it
encouraged immigration.

\hBut in the end, when the
barbarians came in numbers

and wanted to be part
\hof the Roman Empire,

\h\hfor complicated
reasons, the Romans

were unable to take
\hthem in in the way

that they had done before.

This failure to make immigration
a positive source of strength

really was one of the principal
reasons for the undoing

of the Roman Empire.

\hNARRATOR: But despite
the fall of the empire,

\h\hin remote places like
monasteries and libraries,

the great knowledge
\h\h\hand ingenuity

born of Roman civilization
\h\h\h\h\his miraculously

salvaged and saved.

\h\hTHOMAS MARTIN: The
idea of Rome endured,

because in those pockets
\hwhere there was still

an emphasis on learning
and education and books,

\h\hit was Romanness and the
classics of Roman literature

and culture that were
seen as the foundation

of a civilized life.

GEOFFREY GREATREX:
\hThe Roman Empire

\hhas bequeathed a huge amount
to us certainly in the West--

so many institutions,
\hso much terminology,

the very languages that we speak
that are so marked by Roman

influence.

It’s all around us.

We simply cannot escape the
Roman legacy however hard we

may try.

And that’s why it matters.

NARRATOR: From democracy
\hto empire to its fall,

\h\h\hRome has inspired the
Western world as we know it.

\h\hIts civilization survived
centuries of war, persecution,

corruption, and plague,
\h\honly to die quietly,

slowly at the hands of
one barbarian soldier.

KELLY DEVRIES: There
\h\his a romanticism

\hto caring about
the fall of Rome,

caring about the Roman
\h\hEmpire as a whole.

\h\h\h\hIt certainly was a very
important part of the formation

of the modern world.

Let’s face it.

It hasn’t been around
\h\h\hfor 1,500 years.

Why should we care any longer?

I think the answer
\his very simple.

\h\h\hWe should care
because in Rome lay

all of the wonderful
aspects of humanity

and all of the terrible
\h\haspects of humanity.

And if we study those,
if we understand them,

perhaps we can repeat the good
\hones and not repeat the bad.

[men shouting]

[music playing]