Barbarians at the gates: How die empires?

At our next Western Civilization meeting, we'll discuss the fall of the Western Roman Empire, one of the great turning points in Western history. Over the century from 376 to 476, Rome's western provinces passed into the hands of Goths, Vandals, Franks, and others. Meanwhile, the empire faced the terrifying Huns under Attila, who ravaged the Balkans, invaded France and Italy, and extracted huge payments of gold from Roman emperors. We'll consider how these "barbarian" peoples were portrayed by Roman writers and how they actually lived and governed. We'll also ask why the eastern half of the empire, centered on Constantinople, survived while the West did not. Finally, we'll consider the long-running debate over whether Rome truly "fell" to invaders, collapsed from within, or slowly transformed into the kingdoms of medieval Europe, and why the question still resonates today. No advance reading is required for this meeting, but if there are particular readings or videos on this topic you would like to recommend, please post those in the comments section below. Please join us if you can.