a
Two empires
Open the map in 395 AD. The empire is split in two. Which half looks stronger to you, and why?
Open this view on the mapLate Antiquity · 376-476 AD
The fall of Rome
In one century the western empire crumbles. Using the time slider, students watch a superpower disappear and debate the reasons why.
- Length
- 50 minutes
- Ages
- 12–15
- On the map
- 3 steps, AD 395 to AD 500
- Live lesson
- 7 rounds, 3 on the map
- Homework
- The same rounds, a week long
- Worksheet
- Two A4 pages, with Classroom
- Slides
- 22 slides, with Classroom
- You need
- A projector; phones for live
A call from history · new
Galla Placidia is on the line. The class decides.
Late autumn, 425 AD
Ravenna, Italy
“You must decide how to keep the Western Roman Empire safe. Should you try to make peace with the powerful barbarian leaders, like the Visigoths and Vandals, offering them land and positions in the empire? Or should you raise more taxes and troops to fight them and defend your borders?”
Should I try to make peace with our enemies and bring them into the empire, or focus on fighting to protect Roman lands? The caller speaks English, in their own voice, from a short brief of textbook facts, knows nothing of what came later and never tells the outcome; the screen does, after the call. On the live board the telephone rings the whole class: the teacher answers on the room's microphone, and students write to the caller from their phones.
Sign in to take the call
Calls come with Pro (5 a month) and Classroom (20 a month, ringing the whole class). How calls work
Live lesson · new in Classroom
Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.
Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.
€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.
- 7 rounds
- 3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
- About 15 minutes
- Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
- A report
- Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
Or as homework · new
No lesson hour to spare? Set it as homework.
The same 7 rounds, without the board: each student walks through them alone on their phone, sees every answer at once with the explanation, and the report fills in as they go. Open for a week, with a code and a link you can paste anywhere.
Homework comes with Classroom, like the live lesson. The free lesson can be set as homework by everyone.
Late AntiquityThe fall of Rome
Slides · new
The whole lesson as a deck.
22 slides: the plate, the 3 map steps with their pictures and a link to the live map, the discussion questions, the quiz with the answer on the next slide, and the worksheet. Speaker notes carry what to say. It is a .pptx, so it opens in PowerPoint, Keynote and Google Slides, and you can change anything.
Preview: the first 4 slides
€19 per month: the deck of every lesson, every worksheet, every live lesson. Rome at its height comes whole for free.
The Senate · AD 394
Debate it in the Senate: “Keep paying for the old rites”
That the Senate refuse the emperor Theodosius' demand to abandon the ancestral rites, and that the treasury keep paying for the sacrifices and festivals of Rome.
The class speaks as Quintus Aurelius Symmachus against Flavius Theodosius and Pammachius, who answer aloud in their own voices and vote at the end. Two speeches are free; with Pro or Classroom the floor is yours. The Senate speaks English.
Open the motion
Real motion from AD 394. Put the Senate on the projector and let the class argue it out, then compare with what happened.
Introduction
5 minRead aloud
In one century the western empire crumbles. Using the time slider, students watch a superpower disappear and debate the reasons why.
By the end of the lesson, students can
- Order the key events of the fall of the western empire (376, 410, 455, 476).
- Show on the map which new kingdoms replaced Roman provinces.
- Weigh at least two different explanations historians give for the fall.
Explore the map
15 minProject the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.
a
b
Watch it fall
Drag the time slider slowly from 400 to 480. Write down two peoples that carve kingdoms out of the west.
Open this view on the map
c
What survived
Jump to 500 AD and look east. The eastern empire is still there. Find its capital.
Open this view on the mapClass discussion
15 minPick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.
- Rome was sacked in 410 - but the empire officially ended in 476. Why is picking one "end date" so hard?
- Was the western empire pushed (invasions) or did it collapse from within (taxes, civil wars)? Argue one side.
- The eastern empire survived for another thousand years. What advantages did it have?
- Peoples like the Goths often wanted to join the empire, not destroy it. Does that change the story of "barbarian invasions"?
- Can you think of a modern example where a big power slowly lost control of its regions?
Game round
10 minRule History assignment: each student becomes a Roman emperor in the year 400 and writes down the one decision they would take to save the west. Compare answers - then check on the map what actually happened.
Open Rule HistoryWorksheet
5 minThis worksheet comes with Classroom
€19 per month unlocks every worksheet, the slides of every lesson, every live lesson and the class workspace. The free lesson prints without a subscription.