Historiography of the fall of the Western Roman Empire Roman civilisation which under-girded the Empire. According to this school, drawing its basic premise from the Pirenne thesis, the Roman world underwent a gradual (though often violent) series of transformations, morphing into the medieval world. The historians belonging to this school often prefer to speak of Late Antiquity instead of the Fall of the Roman Empire. In "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" (1776–88), Edward Gibbon famously placed the blame on a loss of civic virtue among the Roman citizens. They gradually entrusted the role of defending the Empire to barbarian mercenaries who eventually turned
Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) accompanying LP. Agreements were finalised on 8 January, but the project was not revealed until a press release on 10 March. Separately, the Kinks began work on the programme's companion record, entitled "Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire)". Development of "Arthur" occurred during a rough period for the band, due to the commercial failure of their previous album "The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society" and the subsequent single, "Plastic Man", as well as the departure of founding member and bassist Pete Quaife. In early 1969, Quaife had told the band he was quitting, though