Western Roman Empire

The Western, Latin-speaking provinces of the Roman empire, first split from the East in 286 by Diocletian, the long-term split occurred after 395, when the emperor Theodosius split the empire between his two sons Arcadius (the East) and Honorius (the West). It is the Western empire that people typically refer to when discussing the “Fall of the Roman Empire” as it ceased to exist as a political entity in 476 CE. Parts of it were later conquered by the Eastern empire, only to be lost to Germanic tribes and Arab armies a century later. The capital was in Milan before being moved to Ravenna.