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Ravenna - Last Capital of Western Roman Empire

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Ravenna - Last Capital of Western Roman Empire

The capital of the Empire moved to Constantinople, and after the Empire split in two, the Western Empire capital was in Ravenna in Italy. Ravenna was the capital of the Roman Empire in its last years. It was the capital of the Western Roman Empire from 402 to 476 (when it collapsed) - a period of more than 70 years. (Source)

The Battle of Ravenna, capital of the Western Roman Empire, between the Heruli under their King Odoacer and the remnants of the Western Roman army in Roman Italy occurred in early September 476, and represented a culminating event in the ongoing fall of the Western Roman Empire. The Roman Empire had been in relative decline since the beginning of the barbarian invasions and Rome, the symbolical heart and largest city of the Western Empire, was sacked in 410 by the Visigoths and in 455 by the Vandals. By 476 the Roman emperor was little more than a puppet, having very little de facto control of any territory outside of Italy....

The decisive battle was fought on 2 September 476 near Ravenna, the capital of the Western Roman Empire: it saw the foederati defeat the largely depleted Roman garrison. The city, defended by Paulus (the brother of Orestes)2 was captured swiftly and easily. Two days later, the sixteen year old emperor Romulus Augustulus was forced to abdicate by Odoacer, ending twelve-hundred years of Roman rule in Italy beginning with the Roman Kingdom in 753 BC. (Source: Wikipedia)
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