Roman Timeline of the 5th Century AD

Year	Event
400 AD	Alaric and the Visigoths invade Italy, capturing much of the peninsula in the south
401 AD	Vandals led by King Radagaisus invade Noricum and Raetia. Birth of emperor Theodosius II.
402 AD	Vandal auxiliary general Flavius Stilicho defeats Alaric at Pollentia.
403 AD	Stilicho defeats the army of Alaric in the battle of Verona, forcing Alaric to retire. Honorius moves the capital of the Western Empire to Ravenna.
405 AD	Stilicho repels a barbarian invasion of Italy under Radagaisus. Martyrdom of the monk Telemachus, who is stoned to death trying to break up an arenar event, closes the colosseum and officially ends gladiatorial combat in Rome.
406 AD	Vandals invades Gaul.
407 AD	The last legion in Britain, Legio II Augusta, is withdrawn, and the province abandoned.
408 AD	Murder of Stilicho by Honorius. Death of the eastern emperor Arcadius. Replaced by Theodosius II at age 7.
409 AD	Vandals, Suevi and Alans invade Spain, forever removing it from Roman control. Alaric, after besieging Rome, decalres Attalus as emperor.
410 AD	Alaric sacks Rome, the first external capture of Rome in 800 years, and deposes Attalus. Alaric dies shortly after. He is succeeded by Athaulf as the new king of the Visigoths.
412 - 413 AD	Constantius III drives Alaric and the Visigoths from Italy into Gaul.
413 AD	Revolt of Heraclius in Africa put down.
417 AD	Visigoths settle in Aquitania, Gaul.
419 AD	Birth of the Emperor Valentinian III.
420 AD	Ostrogoths settle in Pannonia. Death of the Christian writer St. Jerome.
421 AD	Death of Constantius III.
423 AD	Death of Honorius, replaced by the biy Valentinian with Placidia as regent.
427 AD	Boniface revolts in Africa.
429 AD	Invited by Boniface, the Vandals in Spain, under Geiseric invade and conquer Mauretania, then Africa.
430 AD	Death of the writer and Christian St. Augustine of Hippo.
430's AD	Roman General Flavius Aetius campaigns against Visigoths, Burgundians and Franks in Gaul, re-establishing some Roman control.
434 AD	Attila made King of the Huns.
435 AD	King Theodoric I of the Visigoths besieges the Romans at Narbonne but is eventually defeated by Aetius.
436 AD	Aetius defeats the Burgundians.
438 AD	Theodosius publishes a code clarifying Roman law.
439 AD	Geiseric of the Vandals takes Carthage.
440 AD	Geiseric invades Sicily, but is bribed to leave.
441 AD	Attila the Hun invades Thracia.
442 AD	Britain falls to Saxon invaders, despite continuing pleas for help to Aetius.
443 AD	Attila comes to terms with Theodosius and the eastern empire, focusing instead on the west.
447 AD	Attila invades Moesia.
450 AD	Justin I, future Byzantine emperor, is born in Illyria. Marcian succeeds Theodosius II and stops paying tribute to the Huns.
451 AD	Attila invades Gaul devastating as he goes. The huns are eventually defeated by Aetius and Theodoric I the Visigoth, though Theodoric is killed and replaced by Theodoric II.
452 AD	Undeterred by defeat, Attila invades Italy but decides to spare Rome and retires.
453 AD	Death of Attila the Hun.
454 AD	Revolts, internal power struggles and enemy attacks collapse the Hunnic empire. With the threat of the Huns gone, Valentinian has Aetius murdered for fear of his power. The Alemmani invade across the Danube.
455 AD	Valentinian III murdered by supporters of Aetius. Maximus proclaimed emperor. At the request of Valentinian's widow Eudoxia, Geiseric of the Vandals invades and sacks Rome from Africa. He carries off Eudoxia and her daughters, leaving a power vacuum in the west. The Visigoths proclaim the former general of Aetius, Avitus as new emperor in the west.
456 AD	'Master of Soldiers' Ricimer launches a fleet against widescale naval attacks of the Vandals.
457 AD	Majorian is proclaimed as emperor in the West and is recognized by the Eastern Emperor Leo, who had previously replaced Marcian.
460 AD	Destruction of Majorian's fleet by the Vandals off Cartagena.
461 AD	Death of Majorian. Libius Severus emperor.
463 AD	The Goths are prevented from crossing the Loire River by the Roman general Aegidius.
465 AD	Libius Severus dies. Ricimer rules as patrician under Leo in Constantinople.
466 AD	Euric, King of the Visigoths, begins conquest of Spain.
467 AD	Eastern Emperor Leo appoints the Roman general to emperor of the Western Empire.
468 AD	Leo sends Basiliscus to crush Geiseric in Africa, but his army is destroyed.
472 AD	Ricimer deposes Anthemius and installs Olybrius as western emperor, however both die shortly after of illnesses.
473 AD	Glycerius set up as western Emperor.
474 AD	Death of Leo, replaced by his infant grandson Leo II who also dies shortly thereafter. Zeno ascends as emperor in the east. Julius Nepos ascends as the latest puppet in the west with the support of the eastern empire.
475 AD	Romulus Augustulus, son of Hunnic general Orestes installed as the 'last Roman Emperor'. Julius Nepos flees to Dalmatia.
476 AD	Germanic general Odoacer, in command of the troops in Italy is proclaimed King. He desposes Romulus and offers to rule as King in the name of Zeno, the eastern emperor. Zeno prefers to keep Julius Nepos as Emperor, and Odoacer agrees, but Nepos never returns to Rome.
476 AD	End of the Western Roman Empire. With Odoacer's appointment as King, the system of Roman government, first Republic than Imperial ceases to exist. After over a century of near constant invasions and usurpations, the Roman system finally collapses, permanently.
480 AD	Death of Julius Nepos, who lived essentially in exile in Dalmatia. Though technically the last Roman emperor (Odoacer issued coinage and conducted other administration affairs in his name, even after 476 AD) he held no power since Odoacer's ascension as King.

Roman Timeline of Events - Table of Contents

Did you know...
Odoacer was chieftain of the Heruli, the Sciri, and the Rugii. He and his troops were mercenaries in the service of Rome, but in 476 AD the Heruli revolted and proclaimed Odoacer their king.