The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Table of Contents with links in the HTML file to the two Project Gutenberg editions (12 volumes)

"The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" by Edward Gibbon is a historical book that tells the story of how the Roman Empire weakened and eventually collapsed over a thousand years. The book looks at the political problems, social changes, and military defeats that led to the empire's fall. Starting with the Roman Empire at its strongest point, the story identifies three main time periods that explain the decline after the death of Trajan. Gibbon's story promises to carefully show the internal and external challenges that eventually caused the empire to fall, paying close attention to the good and bad qualities of the Roman emperors and the attacks by foreign invaders that changed the shape of Europe.