Fall of the Western Roman Empire collapse. Since 1776, when Edward Gibbon published the first volume of his "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire", Decline and Fall has been the theme around which much of the history of the Roman Empire has been structured. "From the eighteenth century onward," historian Glen Bowersock wrote, "we have been obsessed with the fall: it has been valued as an archetype for every perceived decline, and, hence, as a symbol for our own fears." The Fall is not the only unifying concept for these events; the period described as Late Antiquity emphasizes the cultural continuities
Historiography of the British Empire the first British Empire" (2008); Piers Brendon, "The Decline and Fall of the British Empire, 1781–1997" (2008), and Phillip J. Smith, "The Rise And Fall Of The British Empire: Mercantilism, Diplomacy and the Colonies" (2015). There were also large-scale popular histories, such as those by Winston Churchill, "A History of the English-Speaking Peoples" (4 vol. 1956–58) and Arthur Bryant, "The History of Britain and the British Peoples" (3 vols. 1984–90). Obviously from their titles a number of writers have been inspired by the famous "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" (6 vols 1776–1781) by Edward