The Empire split into smaller Eastern and Western empires in AD 286. The Western Roman Empire was conquered by the Vandals after having been subjected to several previous Gothic invasions. It then entered into a period of irreversible decline that finally ended with its official fall in AD 476. The Eastern Roman Empire, also known as the Byzantine Empire, on the other hand, survived in some form until AD 1453, when it finally fell after the Ottoman Turks captured its capital Constantinople (Istanbul).