TIPS ON NOTE TAKING:

1. Please enter the room quietly and make note of the daily objective, class work and homework in your agendas. Will the person responsible for retrieving 
the journals for your row please do so.

2. TIPS ON NOTE TAKING: GREEN - Don't write it down if you don't want. It is there 
for to read and make a mental note. BLUE - You should write this information down, but put it in 
your own words. Don't worry about coping it exactly. Put 
it in a way that you'll remember. BLACK - You need to write this down. It is important. If 
you can find a way to write it using less words that okay, but 
make sure you are getting this information in your notes. RED - This is very important and needs to be written in your 
notes EXACTLY as it is on the board.

3. The Western Empire Collapses. How did internal weaknesses and external threats lead to the fall of the Western 
Roman Empire? What kind of impression does this picture give about what happened the Western Roman Empire?

4. BIG IDEA: Power takes many forms. Essential Question: How does power evolve? Change Question: How did power evolve or change after the fall of the Western Roman Empire?

5. Vocab Word Search (pages 16 - 20): citizenship - corruption - Attila - autonomous - Clovis - participate - emphasize -

6. Vocab Word Search (pages 16 - 20): citizenship - membership in a political community that brings 
both rights and responsibilities. corruption - Attila - autonomous - Clovis - participate - emphasize -

7. Vocab Word Search (pages 16 - 20): citizenship - membership in a political community that brings 
both rights and responsibilities. corruption - the use of a position of trust for dishonest 
gain. Attila - autonomous - Clovis - participate - emphasize -

8. Vocab Word Search (pages 16 - 20): citizenship - membership in a political community that brings 
both rights and responsibilities. corruption - the use of a position of trust for dishonest 
gain. became the Huns’ chief. Attila - autonomous - Clovis - participate - emphasize -

9. Vocab Word Search (pages 16 - 20): citizenship - membership in a political community that brings 
both rights and responsibilities. corruption - the use of a position of trust for dishonest 
gain. became the Huns’ chief. Attila - self-governing. autonomous - Clovis - participate - emphasize -

10. Vocab Word Search (pages 16 - 20): citizenship - membership in a political community that brings 
both rights and responsibilities. corruption - the use of a position of trust for dishonest 
gain. became the Huns’ chief. Attila - self-governing. autonomous - Clovis - king of the Franks. participate - emphasize -

11. Vocab Word Search (pages 16 - 20): citizenship - membership in a political community that brings 
both rights and responsibilities. corruption - the use of a position of trust for dishonest 
gain. became the Huns’ chief. Attila - self-governing. autonomous - Clovis - king of the Franks. to take part in an activity or event. participate - emphasize -

12. Vocab Word Search (pages 16 - 20): citizenship - membership in a political community that brings 
both rights and responsibilities. corruption - the use of a position of trust for dishonest 
gain. became the Huns’ chief. Attila - self-governing. autonomous - Clovis - king of the Franks. to take part in an activity or event. participate - emphasize - show that something is important.

13. Quick question: Which emperor divided the empire into two 
parts (East and West)?

14. Quick question: Which emperor divided the empire into two 
parts (East and West)? Diocletian

15. Quick question: Which emperor divided the empire into two 
parts (East and West)? Diocletian Why did he do this? Was it successful?

16. DIRECTIONS: There are ten stations. Each one shows either and INTERNAL or EXTERNAL cause for the fall of the Western Roman Empire. 1) You and your group will have three minutes at each station to do the following: a) Read all the information at the station. b) Make note of the title of the station and if it was an INTERNAL or EXTERNAL weakness. c) Make notes on the information written in BLUE (DO NOT try to copy it down exactly - just summarize the info). d) Select a member of your group to write a quick response on the white paper to the GREEN focus question. e) If you like another groups response give it a star (*) d) There are QR Codes at each station, scan them and learn more about each internal or external weakness. When the time has expired you will move on to the next numbered station. When you are done at station nine go to station one.

19. Invasion by the Barbarians (Video): 1) Who were the Huns, where did they come from and what did they do to their neighboring barbarian tribes? 2) Where did Alaric leader of the Goths settle his people and what did he want? 3) Who assisted the Goths in their invasion of the city? 4) What did the barbarians try to do after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire? 5) How did the Eastern Roman Empire respond to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire?

20. Quick write: Which reason out of the ones you see below, do 
you believe is the most responsible for the fall of the 
Western Empire and why? Question: How did power evolve or change after the fall of the Western Roman Empire?

21. Please enter the room quietly and make note of the daily objective, class work and homework in your agendas. Will the person responsible for retrieving 
the journals for your row please do so.

22. TIPS ON NOTE TAKING: GREEN - Don't write it down if you don't want. It is there 
for to read and make a mental note. BLUE - You should write this information down, but put it in 
your own words. Don't worry about coping it exactly. Put 
it in a way that you'll remember. BLACK - You need to write this down. It is important. If 
you can find a way to write it using less words that okay, but 
make sure you are getting this information in your notes. RED - This is very important and needs to be written in your 
notes EXACTLY as it is on the board.

24. Use pages 16 - 20 in your textbook to complete your worksheet:

25. Destroyed farms, hurt trade and made many poor. expensive Higher taxes. Changed Roman society. Growth of Christianity Romans became to lazy to fight. Foreign troops

26. Huns Germanic Attila autonomous self-governing The Visigoths settles in Spain. The Ostrogoths took over Italy.

28. Quick Write: Answer this question on the top section of your worksheet. 1) What effort did Emperor Caracalla make to strengthen the empire? Why?

29. Quick Write: Answer this question on the top section of your worksheet. 1) What effort did Emperor Caracalla make to strengthen the empire? Why? 2) What are some motivations the Huns might have had to travel all the way from Central Asia to attack western Europeans and the Roman Empire?

30. Quick Write: Answer this question on the top section of your worksheet. 1) What effort did Emperor Caracalla make to strengthen the empire? Why? 2) What are some motivations the Huns might have had to travel all the way from Central Asia to attack western Europeans and the Roman Empire? 3) What was the immediate effect of the Huns’ arrival on the empire’s outskirts?

31. Turn to page 18 in 
your text book and 
match which 
barbarian tribe 
invaded which 
Roman territory.

32. Pull Quotes from a Text Roman citizenship: Read the section Expanding Citizenship on page 16 and answer 
the following questions. 1) Who began to offer Roman citizenship to free men in 
212 A.D. and why? 2) What the two main benefits did Roman citizenship? 3) What problems did citizenship not solve?

33. The Fall of the Western Roman Empire How did internal weaknesses and external threats lead to the fall of the Western Roman Empire? Today we are going to discuss the reasons why the western 
half of the Roman empire collapsed.

34. The Gap between the Rich and Poor grows These are portraits of how rich Roman society lived. What words come to mind when you see these 
pictures? The rich used slave labor instead of hiring average Roman citizens to work for 
them. This caused the rich to get richer and the poor to become poorer. 
Most poorer Romans had to either work for very little money or had to join 
the army as a way to make money. Other Romans turned to crime in order to 
support themselves and their families. With a lack of jobs, money and 
resources riots and general civil unrest became common. Question for discussion in your group: Imagine you are an average Roman 
citizen who is having trouble making a living. How would you feel if you saw the 
rich like they are shown in the picture above? *INTERNAL*

35. A Constant state of Warfare These pictures show the Roman army in combat and the types of weapons and tactics that they used. Since it was created to the moment of its collapse the Roman Empire was in a 
constant state of warfare. It either was expanding outward and conquering 
lands or defending itself from attack. The cost of maintaining an army was 
very expensive. Most of the battles that were being fought to protect 
Roman from invasion were being fought in the countryside where the food to 
feed the empire was grown. The damage that these battles caused often led 
to food shortages. Also the wars constantly disrupted trade. Question for your group to discuss: Aside from the damage to crops and 
trade what other reasons would a constant state of warfare be bad for the 
Roman empire? *INTERNAL*

36. A Weaker Army This picture shows two Roman army units fighting each other. Before you read any further ask 
yourself why you think they would be fighting. The Roman army was one of the most powerful in the world, but as the empire 
began to expand they needed more people to fight in their army, which meant 
they had to recruit soldiers from conquered lands. Most of these soldiers were 
not as loyal to the Roman Empire as those who were born in the Roman empire. 
Other recruits were Romans who came from very poor families, and were only in 
the army because they needed the money, not because they were loyal. Also 
since the empire was divided it wasn't uncommon for armies from the Eastern 
and Western empires to fight each other and also not to come to each others 
aid if they were attacked by a foreign invader. Question for discussion in your group: If you were forced to join the Roman 
army and had to fight in a battle where you might die, would you stand and 
fight or run away? *INTERNAL*

37. Corruption in the Roman Government These pictures are of the Roman senate meeting to discuss issues that effected the Roman people. 
What if they used their power and influence for their own purposes rather than for the benefit of the 
average Roman citizen? Keeping the Roman government and army working was very expensive. The 
way to pay for the government and army was by way of taxes, which were 
paid mostly by the rich. Often times though the rich would give bribes to 
Senators and tax collectors so they wouldn't have to pay their fair share of 
taxes. Also Senators would use their position and influence to obtain more 
power in the Roman government. This ongoing corruption lead to a weaker 
government in the Western Empire. Question for discussion in your group: How do you think the average 
Roman citizen felt when they learned about the massive amount of 
corruption that was occurring in their government? *INTERNAL*

38. A Lack of Education These pictures show some examples of the Roman educational system. What are some 
similarities that you see to current education in these pictures? At the height of the Roman Empire all Romans were provided a basic education, 
but towards the end of the western empire only the rich could afford to pay 
teachers and receive a quality level of education. Most of the poor were only 
provided with a basic level of education that left them without the knowledge 
and basic skills to survive. In time even the rich began to neglect their 
education. They figured that since they already had all the money and 
resources what good would a formal education do for them? This decline in education caused more and more generations being unable to sustain the great Roman structures, like aqueducts, that Romans had become dependant on. Question for your group: How do you think the collapse of the western 
empire might have been prevented if the Romans had provided everyone with 
a good education? *INTERNAL*

39. Social Problems These pictures are of a latifundia and the slaves that were used to work these country estates for 
the rich people who lived there. The rich who feared the growing civil unrest in the cities and constant 
infighting among Roman armies moved to country estates known as 
latifundia that could be independent from the rest of the Roman Empire, 
which meant that they had their food supplies and a small military force 
that could protect it. They would mostly use slave labor to help them 
maintain their estates. The rich people were moving away from the 
cities and took their slaves with them the number of people that were 
living in the cities declined. Also since less rich people living in the city 
it meant less jobs and less money that was spent in the cities. The poor 
either had to work for very little on the farms in the latifundia or join 
the army. Question for your group: If you had the choice between joining the army or 
working as almost a slave at a latifundia which would you choose? *INTERNAL*

40. The Rise of Christianity The pictures above are symbols used by Christians during the time of the Roman Empire. Do you 
see any similarities to between these symbols and symbols used by the modern Christian church? Toward the final days of the Roman Empire a new religion was born. 
Christianity, which was started by Jesus Christ and his followers, began to 
appeal to the lower classes of Roman citizens. They began to believe that God 
and Jesus were the true authorities of humanity and began to ignore and 
challenge Roman authority. Roman emperors at the time were seen as the ultimate authority and the people higher up in the social standing were supposed to hyave more authority than the common citizen. In Christianity, the ultimate authority is God and Jesus. Christians felt only the law of their God was the one that they had hold themselves accountable to. This obviously caused conflict between the Roman authority and the Christians. Question for your group: Are you religious? If so how does your faith 
influence who choose to lead you? If you are not religious who influences you 
and who do you choose to lead you? *INTERNAL*

41. Invasion by the Barbarians Attila the Hun This map can be found on page 18 of your text book. If the empire wasn't divided do you 
think that it could have stopped these invasions by the barbarians? Barbarians lived on the other side of the Rhine and Danube rivers. These 
rivers marked the eastern boarders of the Roman Empire. The Romans 
looked at the barbarians as uncivilized and kept them out using military force. 
For a while the Roman army was able to keep these barbarians from crossing 
the borders into Roman territory until a hostile and fierce tribe known as the 
Huns began attacking these tribes and forcing them into Roman territory. A 
weakened Roman army who spent time fighting itself as well as invaders 
eventually failed to stop barbarian tribes from crossing the borders of the 
Roman Empire.A great Hun leader known as Attila took control of the Hun 
army in 430 AD and began attacking the Roman Empire directly in areas like 
Gaul and Italy. Question for your group: What internal weakness helped to cause the invasions by 
the barbarians? *EXTERNAL*

42. Autonomous Kingdoms in Roman Territory The first picture is of Alaric and his Visigoth army taking over the capital city of Rome. The 
other is of the Frankish King Clovis. These two tribes set up self-governing kingdoms in 
Roman lands. Barbarian tribes from the east began to cross the Roman Empire’s border and 
set up their own kingdoms which were autonomous and independent from the 
Roman Empire. These kingdoms grew so powerful that the weakened Roman 
army could no longer stop them from growing and seizing Roman territory. In 
476 a tribe known as the Visigoths, who invaded Roman territory from the 
North, forced the emperor of the Western Roman Empire to leave the capital 
city of Rome. Ten years later the King Clovis who was the king of the tribe 
known as the Franks who invaded Roman territory from the east defeated the 
last of the major Roman armies in the western empire. By 500 AD the 
Western Roman Empire no longer existed. Question for your group: Do you think it is possible for a group set up an 
autonomous kingdom in the United States? Are there autonomous groups already 
here? (hint: there are). *EXTERNAL*

43. A Lack of Leadership This is a picture of Romulus Augustulu, who is the last official emperor of the Western Roman Empire. His rule was one of the Rome's shortest because shortly after he assumed power the city of Rome fell. During the later years of the Western Roman Empire the emperors who assumed power become more corrupt and also less powerful and capable to rule the empire. When Diocletian first split the empire he was hoping that each ruler selected to govern over their portion of the empire would have the qualifications and capabilities to do so successfully. Unfortunately with each new ruler there were more problems. Since obtaining power, over being qualified to hold power, became a constant theme among the new rulers the Western Roman Empires leadership became weaker and more disorganized. In the end it was a lack of leadership that was a primary reason why the empire collapsed. Question for your group: Leadership in our country is very important. The leaders in our government are responsible for many things that affect us daily. Do you believe our leaders are doing a good job? Why or why not? *INTERNAL*

44. Important Things to Remember: * List of the causes for the collapse of the Roman 
 Empire:  1) Autonomous Kingdoms  2) Invasion by Barbarians  3) Rise of Slavery  4) Lack of Education  5) Corruption in Government  6) Political Struggles  7) Increase cost of goods.

45. Quick Write: Exit Ticket: Use the note card you received to answer the following question. Of all of the weaknesses and threats that you learned about today which one do you believe was the most responsible for the fall of the Western Roman Empire, why?