In AD 450, a Roman princess called Honoria contacted Attila the Hun. She asked him to stop an arranged marriage with a man she disliked. Attila replied: why not marry me instead?

In 447, Attila struck the Eastern Roman Empire. It was the largest military engagement for half a century. After peace was agreed, the Romans sent an embassy to have dinner with Attila...and assassinate him!

In the 430s, a new Hunnic leader rose to power. Soon his name would strike fear into the hearts of the Romans. It was Attila.

In AD 433, Aetius secured his position as the effective ruler of the Western Roman Empire. With the help of the Huns, he defeated the Burgundians and Visigoths. But a disaster was about to strike the Western Empire.

In AD 425, the six-year-old Valentinian III became emperor of the west. Another child emperor created another power vacuum. His mother, Galla Placidia, would try to hold onto power but could she thwart the ambitions of a Roman general called Aetius?

In this episode, we find out what was happening in the eastern half of the Roman Empire after the sack of Rome in AD 410. And it won't be long before an eastern army arrives in Ravenna.

The year is AD 410. Rome has been sacked. Is this the end of the western empire? Not yet. And the next few years will be full of surprises.

In this episode, we reflect on the reasons for the sack of Rome in AD 410, and ask whether climate change on the steppe-lands of Asia was the ultimate cause?

Why didn't the Roman army defend the city of Rome better when it was sacked in AD 410? Many historians blame the internal conflict within the empire. But the Roman army was also in terminal decline. Find out why in this episode.

In AD 410, Alaric the Visigoth sacked Rome. It was the first time in 800 years that the city had fallen. Find out in this episode why and how it happened.

In AD 408, Stilicho's fall from power was as spectacular as his rise had been. Alaric took advantage of this to invade Italy and lay siege to Rome. The western Roman Empire was rapidly imploding.

In December AD406, catastrophe struck the Roman Empire as a huge force of Germanic barbarians crossed the Rhine. Could Stilicho, the Roman general and hero of two wars with the Goths, save the empire?

In the early fifth century, Stilicho led the Roman armies in the west to victory after victory over the Goths, giving new hope to the empire.

At the end of the fourth century, the Roman Empire lacked strong emperors and was ruled by Stilicho in the west and Eutropius in the east. As it drifted into the fifth century it was drifting towards disaster.

When the emperor Theodosius died in 395, he left the empire to his two young sons, Arcadius in the east, and Honorius in the west. It proved to be an unhappy legacy.

The emperor Theodosius I is sometimes called 'The Great'. But if he was so great why was the city of Rome sacked by the Goths only fifteen years after his death? Find out in this episode.

After its disastrous defeat at the Battle of Adrianople, you might think the late Roman Empire had enough problems already. But in Theodosius' reign, the Romans decided to add a few more in the form of civil wars and a bitter theological dispute.

On the 9th August, AD 378, the eastern emperor Valens rode north from Adrianople to give battle to the Goths. The outcome of this conflict would prove decisive in the history of the fall of the Roman Empire.

In the summer of AD 376, a vast mass of Goths, maybe 200,000 men, women and children, appeared on the river Danube, begging for asylum. They were fleeing from the Huns. The eastern emperor, Valens, was at that moment preparing for war against the Persians. What should he do? The next few years would prove decisive for the future of the Roman Empire.

In AD 376, a huge host of Goths, maybe 200,000 strong, appeared on the banks of the river Danube. But this was not the usual raid for plunder. Instead, the Goths appealed for asylum on Roman territory from a terrifying new enemy - the Huns.