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Fall Of The Roman Empire Essay

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Fall of the Roman Empire

The Roman empire was one of the most powerful and greater empires of its time during the late antiquity period. The Roman empire was divided into an east and west. The Western Empire would last until 467 C.E., while the Eastern Empire would stand through the next century. Although the Western Empire outlasted the Eastern Empire it still faced its own challenges and would collapse in 1453. Many historians have considered the fall of the Roman Empire and the reasoning behind it. Edward Gibbon would be the first to propose his theories about the topic. Other historians such as Peter Heather, Peter Brown, and Henri Pierenne have studied many sources and have come up with their own theories. Considering all historians points of view, I think that Peters Heather’s ideologies make the most plausible case. Heather’s used a wide spread of sources when he looked at the fall of the Western Roman Empire. He took into consideration government and cultural stand points. He also considers outsiders influence to be one of the main reasons the Western Empire fell. I will …show more content…

Local Romanness refers to the culture, while central Romanness referred to government. Heather’s says “In many places, then, local Romanness survived pretty well. Catholic Christianity, a Latin-literate laity, villas, towns and more complex forms of economic prodicduction and exchangeall endured to come extent… on the back of the landowning class.” Although the empire had fallen many landowning families continued the Roman culture. I think it seems logical that the Roman culture would survive but the government would not. Culture is something that they live in their everyday lives. It would be difficult for the Romans to just stop what they do every day. However, with the precence of outside influences you can see the depletion of local Romanness, but it is not as severe as the loss of central

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