What caused the start of the Middle Ages?

Answer 1

The usual explanation is that the Middle Ages started with the fall of the West Roman Empire in 476 AD, and lasted until the fall of Constantinople, which was the capital of the East Roman Empire, in 1453.

The events that caused the fall of the West Roman Empire were the migrations of Germanic tribes into the Roman Empire, where they settled and formed kingdoms. The kingdoms were nominal in the Roman Empire, with the exception of the Vandal Kingdom in North Africa and the various kingdoms in Britain, but the kings never gave much support to the empire, and so its power declined to nothing in the West.

To read more, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decline_of_the_Roman_Empire

Answer 2

The Middle Ages began in Britain with the withdrawal of the Roman legions.

There is some evidence that the Saxons may have started to settle in Britain before the Roman withdrawal, so the invasions of Germanic tribes may have been simultaneous with the Roman withdrawal, though it is often reckoned to have come slightly later.

England came into being with the union of a number of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. These were formed by the various tribes that invaded as or after the Romans withdrew. So the Middle Ages were well under way when England originated.

Answer 3

The Roman Empire went into a long decline in the third century. There was a time when government was so confused that many people claimed simulataneously to be emperor. It got to the point that anyone who commanded an army might be declared emperor. The men who were elevated to the purple during this time nearly never lived long, and the life expectancy of a new "emperor" was less than a year. In some cases, the only record we have of an "emperor" is a few coins minted with his name, and there are almost certainly men who claimed to be emperor of whom there is no remaining historic record at all.

This chaos was stopped for a while by Diocletian and Constantine, but the work they did was only temporary in Western Europe, and the empire remained in a weakened state. Within a few decades, things returned to the chaos. This time it was brought on by invasions of Germanic tribes in groups the size of large armies. The West Roman Empire could not survive this, and when it finally fell apart, the Middle Ages began.

We do not have a good specific date for the beginning of the Middle Ages. The year 476 is often used, but as you look into the reason it is used, it gets more and more dissatisfying as a date. The Roman government continued to operate in one way or another for at least another 125 years after that. And in the East, the Roman government continued for nearly another thousand years. You might say things just slowly fell apart in the West, and that was what started the Middle Ages.

Answer 4

Collapse of the western Roman Empire with the inflow of a succession of nomadic peoples from the east.

Answer 5

The end of the Roman Empire.