The Fall of Rome was a gradual process that took hundreds of years, as Germanic tribes migrated into the Roman Empire and invaded its territory from the late 300s to early 400s AD. In 476 AD, the German general Odoacer captured Rome, marking the end of the Western Roman Empire after 1000 years. This precipitated an economic, political and social crisis and the beginning of the Medieval period. While the Western Roman Empire fell, the Eastern Byzantine Empire centered around Constantinople remained, maintaining a pocket of Roman civilization.