Historiography of the fall of the Western Roman Empire Historiography of the fall of the Western Roman Empire The causes and mechanisms of the Fall of the Western Roman Empire are a historical theme that was introduced by historian Edward Gibbon in his 1776 book "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire". He started an ongoing historiographical discussion about what caused the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, and the reduced power of the remaining Eastern Empire, in the 4th–5th centuries. Gibbon was not the first to speculate on why the Empire collapsed, but he was the first to give a well-researched and well-referenced account.
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire my intention to expatiate with the same minuteness on the whole series of the Byzantine history." However the Russian historian George Ostrogorsky writes, "Gibbon and Lebeau were genuine historians—and Gibbon a very great one—and their works, in spite of factual inadequacy, rank high for their presentation of their material." Gibbon's initial plan was to write a history ""of the decline and fall of the "city" of Rome"", and only later expanded his scope to the whole Roman Empire: If I prosecute this "History", I shall not be unmindful of the decline and fall of the "city" of Rome; an interesting