The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

Part 01-01: The most civilised portion of mankind.

Part 01-02: The terror of the Roman arms - the preservation of peace by a constant preparation for war

Part 01-03: Every useful instrument of war

Part 01-04: An empire united by laws and adorned by arts

Part 01-05: The Roman language - an influence over national manners

Part 01-06: The most numerous society under the same system of government

Part 01-07: The fate of the Roman world depended on the will of Augustus

Part 01-08: A succession of monsters with unparalleled vices

Part 01-09: The rule of the two Antonines - the only period of history in which the happiness of a great people was the sole object of government

Part 01-10: Commodus - revelling in the licence of sovereign power

Part 01-11: Pertinax accedes to power

Part 02-01: The Praetorian Guards and the bribe of Didius Julianus

Part 02-02: Septimus Severus - a pernicious indulgence

Part 02-03: The two sons of Severus - Caracella and Geta

Part 02-04: Caracella becomes sole emperor

Part 02-05: Antonius becomes Elagabalus, supreme emperor and pontiff - and licentious despot

Part 02-06: The reign of Alexander - an auspicious calm of thirteen years

Part 02-07: The rise of Maximin, dark and sanguinary

Part 02-08: Confusion of power between Maximus, Balbinus and Gordianus

Part 02-09: Philip - a period of games

Part 02-10: Decius and the appearance of the Goths

Part 02-11: Hostilianus and Gallus

Part 02-12: Aemilianus, Valerian and Gallieneus - an empire oppressed

Part 02-13: Claudius - the first of the Restorers of the Roman world

Part 03-01: Aurelian - four years of memorable achievement

Part 03-02: Zenobia fights back - the fate of the East is decided

Part 03-03: The death of Aurelian and the accession of Tacitus

Part 03-04: Probus and the deliverance of Gaul and 70 German cities

Part 03-05: Carus, Numerian and Carinus - soft, cruel, devotet to pleasure yet destitute of taste

Part 03-06: The illustrous reign of Diocletian and Maximian

Part 03-07: The end of Rome as the capital of the empire

Part 03-08: The abdication of Diocletian

Part 03-09: Two new Augusti - Constantius and Galerius

Part 03-10: The elevation of Constantine and a time of confusion

Part 03-11: The final battle between Constantine and Maxentius

Part 04-01: Constantine overwhelms Licinius, a victory which leads to the foundation of Constantinople

Part 04-02: A candid but rational inquiry into the progress and establishment of Christianity under the Roman Empire

Part 04-03: A dark and unjust record righted

Part 04-04: Nero - mistakenly judged one of history's most vilified figures

Part 04-05: Protection for the Christians

Part 04-06: Diocletian introduces systematic repression

Part 04-07: Gibbon's conclusions on the Roman persecution

Part 04-08: Constantine - a new capital but a fatal flaw in defence

Part 05-01: The petty abuse of power and local tyrannies

Part 05-02: Asiatic pomp and a gradual decline

Part 05-03: Constantius, Gallus and the eunuchs

Part 05-04: Julian, a Caesar of very different ilk

Part 05-05: The establishment of Christianity

Part 05-06: The rise in popularity of Julian

Part 05-07: The road to civil war

Part 05-08: Julian assumes supreme power

Part 05-09: The apostasy of Julian

Part 05-10: The death of Julian

Part 06-01: Jovian - a brief reign

Part 06-02: Valentinian, emperor of the West and Valens, emperor of the East

Part 06-03: Gratian, emperor of the West

Part 06-04: The humbling of the empire

Part 06-05: The incursion of the Visigoth Fritigern and the death of Valens at Hadrianople

Part 06-06: Theodosius, emperor of the East, aims for a modus vivendi with the Visigoths

Part 06-07: Maximus takes rule of the Western empire but unadvisedly marches against Theodosius

Part 06-08: Arcadius and Honorius and their commander Stilicho

Part 06-09: The power of the Visigoths under Alaric

Part 06-10: The execution of Stilicho opens the Goths' road to Rome

Part 06-11: The decadence of the empire in the reign of Honorius and the siege of Rome

Part 06-12: The sound of the Gothic trumpet

Part 06-13: The end of the Roman Empire in the West

Part 06-14: The reign of Odoacer, the first barbarian king of Italy

Part 06-15: General observations on the fall of the Roman Empire in the West