Rome Sacked/falls to Barbarians

So I met a pretty interesting guy today... the name of this guy was Alaric. He was a, barbarian, to put it simply. Here's how it went:


Me: Hello, Alaric, is it? Mind if I ask a few questions?
Alaric: Nope.
Me: First, can you tell me a little bit about yourself?
Alaric: Yup. I was born, eh, around 370. I'm not too sure. But when I came to lead my fellow Visigoths, we started to dislike the whole Roman Empire thing. My motivations were profit, career, power, and food. So myself as well as my fellow Barbarians overran Italy, and rolled into Rome.

Visigoths Sack Rome

Me: Oh, wow! You were setting your sights pretty high! How did you do it?
Alaric: In 410, we surrounded Rome. We were going for the siege, so we starved them. They still seemed to be having a decent time with their chariot races and all, but they finally couldn't take it. They even reverted to cannibalism. Even I think that's gross. Anyway, soon, they opened the city gates and we rolled in. There wasn't any food though. How annoying. But I just moved on elsewhere. No big deal.
Me: What was the impact of your siege?
Alaric: Well, from what I hear, Rome, "The Mother of the World", was absolutely destroyed. The emperors weren't faring so well; there was absolute chaos. It became diseased, and they actually started calling fellow barbarians in to serve as defenders as they fell farther and farther. Now, rebellion ensued because of the Roman cruelty and disdain for us. After this, Rome lost its magic. Completely. More barbaric groups stormed into Rome, and their culture declined drastically.
Me: What do you mean by that?
Alaric: They fell into the Dark Ages.
Me: Ouch. You really accomplished some... great things. Thank you for your time!


The general Alaric died in 410. However, the Visigoths are what started Rome's fall. After these events occurred, Rome was never quite the same. They set back Rome's wonderful culture; art, architecture, science, math, and more were all halted.