Reasons for Rome’s Fall In 476, Rome, one of the most powerful empires of its time, suddenly became weak and fell. There are many reasons for Rome’s decline, not just one main one. Out of all the events, conditions, and people the contributed to Rome’s decline, the most significant included economic problems and corruption, military problems, and weak leadership. To start off with, economic problems and corruption are one of the main reasons for Rome’s decline. For example, Document E, written by Priscus, Roman ambassador for the Huns, is a reported conversation he had with a Roman citizen who had been conquered by the Huns. It states, “[He]...considered his new life...better than his old life among the Romans…”. According to this sentence, Romans who are being conquered by the Huns are enjoying their lives more than when they were Roman citizens. Also, in the same document, it states, “...A [wealthy lawbreaker] … is not punished for his injustice, while a poor man… undergoes the legal penalty…” In other words, the poor …show more content…
In Document A, the chart shows that about 15 of 22 rulers in a span of 50 years died of assassination or possible assassination. This shows that Roman rulers weren’t good and widely hated throughout the empire and other places, which caused (most of them) to be assassinated. Also, in Document B, it states, “But when, because of negligence and laziness, parade ground drills were abandoned...they first asked the emperor to set aside the breastplates...then the helmets.” This is showing that the ruler(s) at the time were not requiring the army to do drills or wear their armor during battle, therefore causing the armor to become weaker. Lastly, in Document A on the chart shows that there were 22 rulers of Rome in 50 years! This shows that Rome is not stable enough to keep one ruler for more than 50 years, but instead had one ruler for a couple years, and then another
One internal factor that contributed to the fall of Rome is the their once legendary army started to become lazy. Romans no longer practiced the same methods the ones before them did. They wanted to wear less armor. According to document 6,Vegetius states’’But negligence and sloth having by degrees introduced a total relaxation of discipline,the soldiers began to think their army too heavy, as they seldom put on it.’’ This quote proves that the Roman soldiers became sluggish. They stopped wearing their proper armor, which resulted in their defeat in battles. They were unprotected against arrows and attack. in addition, another internal problem Rome faced was that
One of the variables that led to western Rome falling was cultural decay. Cultural decay. Cultural decay is the event in which a group of people lose the cultural influence they once hd. In this case, western Rome lost their unique culture because of increased German influence. Germans replaced Ruling classes(doc 7) and good amount of the military(Doc 5). Since the empire was so big the military was very spread out, this allowed for German influence to be cast all about Rome. Consequently, many forgot about the traditional Roman ways, and turned to barbarism. As their
After Pax Romana Rome started to turn into a moth eaten sweater, shiny and beautiful when you first get it, but then you whare for a couple years during the winter, then it goes to the back of the closet where it is left to rot and become motheaten. In document A is shows the 50 years worth of emperors no not emperor but emperors 22 to be exact. Now you’re probably thinking to yourself how could there be 22 roman emperors over only a 50 year period?
Rome was one of the most powerful forces in the Mediterranean at their time in power. They had their first major victory in the punic wars against Carthage. This win provided them with more territory and power, and soon enough they used this to conquer the rest of the Mediterranean. But they didn’t stay in power forever, eventually they did fall. The question is why? The most contributing reason to Rome’s fall was its poor leadership. That’s right, it wasn’t just the power of other forces, Rome fell from within.
Although the fall of Rome remains obscure, what many historians fail to realize is that the decline of the Roman Empire was the epitome of cause and effect relationships. Properly analyzing the fall of Rome leads historians to realize that a chain of circumstances, beginning with the political corruption of the Western empire, was a catalyst for superfluous military spending and economic failure, all which contributed to the fall of Rome. Because the Praetorian Guard would select the highest bidder and put him into office, the emperors would not represent the people as a whole and did not instill the beliefs that the people held. In Document 1, Roman Emperors, 235-285, a chart shows the inconsistency of the Roman emperors and the violence
But the three most important causes of Rome’s fall was it’s weak leadership, military weakness, and economic problems. First of all Rome’s main problems started with it’s weak political leadership. According to Document A from 235-285 CE, 22 emperors had tried to stay in control of Rome. Of those emperors none had died from natural causes. The most common cause of death out of these emperors was assassination.
Most historians believe that the downfall of Rome was not caused by one dominant factor, but more several issues that were too pressing to be solved. After looking at documents one through six, however, I feel like the issues are centered around the problems associated with conquering new lands and the expansion of the empire.
“When the goal appears to have been reached, it is easy to get lazy,” explains What Were the Primary Reasons for the “Fall” of Rome. The wealthy developed a “soft belly” and longing for opulence. Much luxury was being imported to Rome with little export. Buying more than selling, eventually, Rome ran out of money and economy was destroyed. Due to the sluggish upper class, there was an abandonment of quality literature (Primary Reasons for “Fall” of Rome). Without proper literature, youth could never be as highly educated. Even more extreme was the path of laziness many of the rich chose. Being a vast burden, children were not a priority for the wealthy and therefore well-to-do Romans generally did not have children (Primary Reasons for “Fall” of Rome). The already suffering population was diminishing more, with youth only being raised in poor families. The nobles of Rome were also given much leeway with the law (Document E: Pricus). Pricus, a Roman ambassador writes, “A [wealthy law breaker] . . . is not punished for his injustice, while a poor man . . . undergoes the legal penalty.” The dominance wealthy Romans were given resulted in an indifferent mindset. All the work and sacrifices made when Rome was climbing to the peak was long forgotten as Rome’s people became
There are several different factors that led to the Fall of Rome in a 476 C.E. Four notable reasons are the attacking outside forces, the division of the Roman empire, inflation, and the change in the loyalty of the Roman army
First of all, one reason for the fall of the Roman is economic and civic decay. This is when you buy your way out of punishments. In document E it illustrates that if a rich person gets punished they are more likely to buy there way out of punishment, while the poor must suffer the punishment. All in all with so much injustice, the city of Rome was falling apart like wet bread.
Between the years 235 CE to 285 CE there were many assassinations and attempted assassinations (Document A).Between the years 235 CE to 285 CE, there were many assassinations and attempted assassinations (Document A). Out of the 22 rulers during the 50-year time period, 12 were assassinated. Due to the many assassinations and turn over of rules, one can assume that these leaders made poor decisions and were not good rulers because many of them did not last long before being assassinated (Document A). These constant leadership changes alerted the germanic tribes outside the borders that Rome was vulnerable(Document A). Around 400 CE, a lot of the emperors made the poor decision to allow. Prior to the year 4 00 CE the Roman Empire military wore armor such as, helmets, breastplates, etc. They became lazy and the Emperor said that they don’t have require parade drills nor wear armor (Document B). This caused the military to be defeated when they fought in battles. This was all the fault of the political leadership. If the emperor said to do parade drills and wear armor, the military would have chance of protecting the Empire, but since the emperor dismissed it they were not able to survive and fight. This led to many losses of the city (Document B). Even after this they did not reconsider to wear armor and do parade drills after the losses of many battles. When they fought battles they ran instead of fighting (Document B). This proves that the Roman Empire had poor political leadership because of the dumb decisions they
One of the greatest empires began to fall to its knees after hundreds of years, but the question is, how? Rome was one of the greatest empires for a long time, but then they started to decline. The Roman Military started to become lazy, which lead to failure. Then between 220-476 CE the Roman Empire started to be sacked by foreign invaders. Although, some researchers may say that natural disasters led to the fall of Rome, nevertheless the primary reasons for the decline of Rome are foreign invasions, and military mistakes.
Rome why did it fall? In year 50 BCE until 200 CE Rome was great it was growing and conquering new lands. But then it took a complete turn and slowly started to fall apart. The Romans army conquered many places, wore armor to protect them, and practiced every day against each other to see who was good. But then there was a downfall Rome’s soldiers got lazy did not want to wear armor at all and they stopped practicing. On document B it says that when the soldiers went to battles and instead of fighting they would try to find a way to hide because the soldiers weren’t used to practicing or had armor on.
This shows that the Roman military were not very strong or motivated when it came to protecting their people They just gave up and put their life on the line while doing it. Strength and motivation are very important when it comes to having a good army and since Rome’s army did not have any of these qualities, towards the end of the Roman Empire’s life, their army was not any help at all. This is relevant because if the army is lazy and very easy to beat then Rome would be vulnerable and invaders could attack and conquer them at any time. If invaders attacked them then Rome would immediately have to surrender, throwing away all their hard work. Even though the military’s problems were a massive part in Rome’s decline, Rome still had many more difficult situations to deal
There were several factors contributing to the economic collapse of Rome. The first was lavish spending. Emperors and other nobility became known for spending extravagant amounts of money on “lavish parties where guests drank and ate until they became sick.” Many also spent money on prostitutes – of which there were many – and entertainment at the Colosseum. Another economic issue was the rise of unemployment. Slavery made it easy to grow a lot of food very cheaply – for some. For those who didn’t have slaves, it was nearly impossible to compete, meaning that only the richest farmers could afford to farm. Over time, the rest all became unemployed. The third economic reason for the fall of Rome was inflation that began after Marcus Aurelius. Rome was no longer conquering new lands, reducing the amount of money entering the empire. The price of goods began rising higher and higher, until gold became meaningless and Romans returned to a system of bartering to pay for goods and services.