Fall Of Rome Dbq Essay

While the fall of the Roman Empire is well known, the exact causes of why it fell can be difficult to pinpoint. Many historians believe that Rome 's downfall was due to poor leadership, weakened economics, or perhaps a combination of the two along with other seemingly unrelated factors. However, there is a string of evidence suggesting that there were three main components that took place to bring about the fall of the Roman Empire. These determinant attributes did not happen all at once, and there was a domino effect with each one directly influencing the others. The fall of Rome occurred after a series of preventable events, including unacceptable emperors, the heavy reliance on slaves, and the increasingly uncontrollable borders of Rome.

The seemingly unstoppable Roman empire was certain to fall in a matter of time. Even though Rome was majorly affected by external attacks, I feel like the fall was because of the internal decline. The economy and social issues were the key factors that led to the descent of the large empire. A vast amount of their problems came from within the city. Every decision that Rome made had an extensive effect on the city itself and the rest of the world. Many foolish decisions made by terrible emperors weakened the city and eventually cause the many aspects of Roman life to crumble.

The Roman Empire fell because of military problems, natural Disasters, and most importantly legal injustice. One major reason for the fall of the Roman Empire was military problems. In document B, it says that *Roman soldiers had problems with armor. Their breastplates and helmets were to heavy so they decided not to wear them.

As the “abundance of slaves led to the growth of latifudia” (Document 3) the great estates took over the agricultural industry. As latifundia took over, more farmers became out of work and in the persuit of finding work they moved into the cities and “added to the unemployment there” (Document 3). But the expansion didn’t stop there. As “the overwhelming majority of the population had been systematically excluded from political responsibilities, they could not… protect themselves… serve in the army… Their economic plight was hopeless” (Document 1). As missionaries fled into the Roman Armies, the citizens were being forced to pay a huge amount of taxes. But with no farmers to grow the food for the soldiers, who would? Expansion brought wealth into the empire, but “when the empire ceased to expand; however economic progress soon ceased” (Document 3). The inflation rate spiked, the rise in prices on everyday necessities decreased the value of money. The Romans were having to trade with exterior partners for items that could not be produced. The flow of money coming in could not match the amount of money going out. The values of the Romans depleted as their economy crumbled.

The Roman Empire took over after the Greeks fell and it thrived over the years. But when the Pax Romana came along, the empire was developing a “soft belly” which was becuase of the upper class becoming lazy and losing their edge. At this point is where they fall. The reasons for the great empire fell because of their government, military, and the natural disaster problems.

Some external factors that lead to the fall of Rome are plagues and decline in trade. Evidence of these two factors can be found in document 1. Evidence in document 1 can be found when it says, “There was a noticeable decline in trade and small industry and the labor shortage caused by the plague affected both the military recruiting and the economy. Armies were needed more than ever but financial struggles made it difficult to pay and enlist more soldiers.”.And this evidence shows that the plague and lack of trade, gave less money to Rome, which made them pay their soldier less, and gave less of a reason to join the military. Which then gave their armies less power, and made it easier to let attackers take land, kill Roman armies, and make Rome have less power, leading to the fall of Rome. Although the other external factor that lead to the fall of Rome was attackers, (raiders, Huns, etc). Evidence of this is in document 5. In document 5 it shows that “The visigoths raided Greece, killed Emperor Valens and took over south of Danube.” Also there were vandals who invaded Italy, conquered North Africa, and destroyed other parts of Rome. Which lead to the fall of Rome because there was chaos that allowed leaders to make bad decisions (such as exempting upper class from laws and diverting the army to churches). And allowed the leaders to be assassinated in midst of the chaos. And that made Rome’s land shrink and lose power without ; Emperor Valens and other Emperors being assassinated, raids in Balkan and Greece, the Visigoths taking and invading Italy, and raiding/ransacking Rome. And they [Visigoths] were able to take over and conquered North Africa and Carthage. And without those pieces of land and having to battle with the attackers attackers Rome lost power and

Rome fell because of laziness and negligence of the military. Inside document B, this happened because the military fought without armor and helmets so they got wounded easily by the Goths archers. The soldiers ran from fights rather than actually fighting. The army abandoned their own parade drills. Doc B). People were avoiding the drafts so the military became weak. No one tried to restore the armor so people would keep getting wounded. Eventually the weak military led to the fall of Rome.

One important reason that caused the Roman empire's downfall, was it's massive size. According to document 2, Rome was too vast to take care of itself properly. Most of the problems were with money and the borders were hard to keep safe. These problems were hard to keep under control, so rome

Although many historians and professors attribute the fall of the Roman Empire to excess and corruption, the role of shifting spheres of power, trade created a situation that made the fall of such a large cumbersome empire inevitable, the military played a role for not obeying protocol as well and an excess of things were happening in the government that also led to the fall of the Roman Empire. Each mistake made by the Romans contributed to their fall of their empire since after time of accumulation of their mistakes, it becomes a tremendous problem. Though the Roman Empire still did have their climax in history before everything came crashing down.

One of the many noteworthy reasons Rome came to its demise was the unstable nature of their military. The Romans were rarely using their armor to shield themselves and it was getting tiresome to wear the armor. The emperor then did not require the use of body armor anymore, “Therefore, they first asked the emperor to set aside the breastplates… and then the helmets.” (page 15). Because of the decision to cast away the breastplates and helmets, it made it effortless to wound and kill the Romans with skilled archers, such as the Huns (Doc D). Another pivotal fault was the draft, “The exempted categories were...numerous” (Doc B). Draft exemptions meant that not enough men were fighting and too many were lazing around. Even bakers and cooks were not required to serve under martial law(Doc B). Because of these mistakes, the Roman military became weak. Not having enough members on their command,

The Roman Empire was without a doubt the most powerful governing body in its day, but it had fallen! There was not any single cause for the fall of Rome. Many things occurred in a short period of time, which lead to the fall of such a powerful empire. Why did Rome fall? Some of the reasons that caused the fall of Rome was Natural disasters, a weak military, and the collapse of their economy.

Rome was a very powerful empire when it started they had conquered many empires at the time this is one of the reasons why we still study them to day. They had made many enemies and were at the top. Until one day they had became weak and lazy this will soon lead to what we call today the “fall”of Rome. First of one of the main problems were the case of foreign invasions.

Although some people think that there were many other reasons causing this major crash like moral decline, military mistakes and political instability were the primary reasons for the “fall” of Rome. The military became lazy, which led to the falling point of Rome’s Empire. Political Instability led to miserable Roman citizens and messed up laws.

One reason Rome fell was the economic problems and corruption. First of all, since the military was so weak, the leaders kept dying. Mostly of assassination. For example, in the chart in document A, 13 emperors were assassinated. Also a lot of the time the leaders would have bribed the military to stay loyal. The leaders, the people chose, had enemies. The enemies would assassinate them, and take their place. The leaders also made horrible decisions. The empire got weaker and weaker every leader. Everything kept changing. Since most of the leaders didn’t agree with what the other leader previously made legal. The laws were all over the place.

The Roman Empire was a vast territory that expanded to three different continents.They were a place of honor, tradition, and respect. Rome has had several different periods, some of peace, and some of violence or unrest, but those were solved quickly and effectively. However, such a magnificent empire could not hold up under the strains that were slowly causing it to collapse. Rome began to face many problems that together allowed the fall of the Roman Empire. The three main problems that caused Rome to fall were invasions by barbarians, an unstable government, and pure laziness and negligence.