Paul Freedman, professor of history at Yale, opens his Early Middle Ages course by asking why the Western Roman Empire fell while the East survived. He frames the lecture around three questions: whether collapse came from external invasion or internal institutional decay, who the invading peoples actually were, and whether the change was gradual or catastrophic. The lecture moves through the Roman army's confrontation with the Visigoths, the distinct threat posed by the Huns, and the empire's attempts at accommodation with incoming groups before tracing the institutional decline itself. Freedman stakes out a middle position, calling himself a moderate catastrophist who sees the period as the end of a particular Roman civilization rather than civilization as such. Recorded at Yale in fall 2011, the lecture runs through named chapters covering catastrophe, the army, the Huns, accommodation, and decline, giving a structured survey of the fifth century transformation.