Fall Of The Roman Empire
For over five hundred years the Roman Empire was a colossal force, at its largest it contained a quarter of the world’s population. The immensity of the territory of Rome required that power be delegated amongst many bureaucrats and politicians. The requirements of the Roman army to secure such a large territory helped to spread thin the Roman governments resources. Between the internal uprisings and the external attacks from Germanic tribes, the Roman army could barely maintain control. The fall of The Roman Empire was precipitated by a decline in resources, outside attacks by Germanic tribes as well was internal uprisings, and the religious conflict that was expressed between Christians and the Roman government and the internal conflict a Roman citizen would have faced in an attempt to be a good Christian and a good Roman.
From 100 to 500 BCE, the Roman empire was being attacked from all directions, by many different Germanic tribes. With an almost constant bombardment from outside chromatic forces
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This allowed the Roman soldiers the ability to settle in one place and start families. The problem was that this created was that in times of war, when a soldier’s legion was called upon to assemble and leave to fight in some far-flung land, they would be reluctant to leave their land and family and might refuse to do so. The Roman army already had to contend with the issue that the majority of its ranks were made up of non-Roman born men. These men still held allegiances to their homelands. The Romans were almost too successful in their conquests and commerce. By the fifth century, the Roman center had become accustomed to excess in every vice with no true concern of outside attack or a struggle to survive. The population of Rome at its core became bloated and lazy and more concerned with indulging in pleasures than advancing or maintaining their
As the Romans economy faltered, so did their social well being. Without work to pay the citizens, they had to steal what they could not afford. The crime rate increased as citizens stole more and more
The fall of the Roman empire was due to many things. Three of the main reasons were that Rome was so big that the borders couldn’t be protected. Most of the emperor's were assassinated or killed and battle, the currency went downhill which destroyed trade, and many Germanic tribes attacked at around the same time and took over Rome. The end of the Roman Empire is mostly caused by these reasons. Since Rome was so massive the outskirts of the empire was not very well protected which made it easier for attacking cities to just walk on in.
This shows how emperors lost value because they did not provide appropriate examples as rulers of their empire. Another social cause that was impacted was public health and environmental problems. “The continuous interaction of people at the Colosseum, the blood and death probably spread disease.” This shows how the blood from the arena spread disease to citizens who lived on the streets and allowed for an “uninterrupted strain of disease.” The fall of Rome also lead to economic downfall.
These Germanic soldiers were not loyal to Rome and were therefore not as motivated to keep Rome afloat. Because of the undersized, lethargic Roman military and its aggressive opposition, Rome was very much open to foreign invasions.
The Roman Empire was the most powerful Empire during it’s time.It is considered to have “fallen” in 476. Many speculation that have been presented as to why it fell, from flawed economic and social policies. The actual cause of Rome’s fall is the result of many factors, but was mainly caused by Rome’s poor economic strategy. Categorized socio-economic problems and political corruption with the emperors and senate with their selfish,indulgence lifestyles.Constant wars and attacks from enemies. The empire suffered economic decline and political issues within their own government. The decline and eventually the fall the empire led to changes that still affect the modern world in several different sector.
For a long period of time, Rome seemed like an unstoppable empire. It conquered the majority of the land surrounding it, including Greece, Turkey, Iraq, and many of its other neighboring countries. It seemed as though Rome would conquer the entire world, as it was the center of it, until it began to decline in 476 C.E. The very aspects that made it so successful were the ones that caused its collapse. Various political, religious, and economic reasons caused its downfall. The fact that the entire economy of Rome collapsed and money became worthless was a major reason for the empire’s collapse. In addition, the loss of a common religion and lack of efficient ruling in relation to its vast territory affected the empire. The Roman
This took a significant amount of money out of the Roman treasury. Some emperors wanted to save money and made the army too
Chapter 2 entitled “From The Flavians To The Severi” informs the reader of Luttwak’s belief that Rome’s expeditionary units, as was used in the second century, were highly less effective than the legions of the first century because they were not as movable. The author tells us, “… legions were deployed at fixed bases which, in most cases, they were never to leave again; and soldiers soon acquired unofficial families in the settlements that grew spontaneously around the legionary bases. It is sometimes assumed that this domestication diminished the army’s combat capabilities by undermining its fighting spirit”.
Rome's economy has failed them dramatically. The population has decreased because there was much less food for you and your family to consume. There was poor harvest instead of rich harvest which means Rome could not banquet. The reason they had poor harvest is that they had a poor trade. The Roman
During this time, barbarians such as the huns, vigasoths, and etc would’ve taken over city by city and eventually taken over the whole empire.This was when barbarians were escaping the huns and were drawn by Rome's wealth.(document F)The roman soldiers were overwhelmed by the flooding of the barbarians. It would take a soldier a couple months to get to one side of the walls leaving them exposed.(document F)
Thus it happens that troops in battle, exposed to wounds because they have no armor, think about running and not about fighting.” (Doc. B) This shows that the Roman soldiers didn’t care about not having the protection to help them win the war. This also shows that the Roman soldiers started to give up and quit before the fight had even started. This is significant because without the armor the Romans got more wounds and were more likely to die.This also significant because it made the soldiers weaker and more likely for Rome to be put to an end, because they didn’t have the weight of the armor to made them stronger and protect them, and the more soldiers that were killed the smaller the military got. With the army smaller it let the enemies start to overcome Rome and make it fall. Furthermore, according to The Fall of the Roman Empire: A Reappraisal, Crown Publishing, 1982, “ There can be little doubt that the weaknesses of the late Roman army were largely due to the eventual failure … to enforce regular conscription [draft of soldiers] … the exempted categories were … numerous.” (Doc. B) This demonstrates how the government made people live once they became lazy. With the government forcing people to be in the army it made people not want to do their jobs, so they
As Rome increased in supremacy around the expanse of the Mediterranean Sea, various enemies were made that caused numerous invasions, increasing Rome’s vulnerability. The archeological record shows that the population on the outskirts of the Roman empire was increasing and this might have led to a scarcity of resources (Goldsworthy 2009). Due to the increased population and decrease in resources the barbarians attacked the empire frequently (Goldsworthy 2009). The first of these more devastating attacks were conducted by the Huns in central and eastern Europe in the years 376 A.D. and 405 A.D. (Heather 2005). Damages from these attacks as well as from other invaders caused massive amounts of revenue lost to
The Roman Empire was a glorious civilization that lasted for a long period of time, and was two million square miles in size. It is mostly known because of how big and strong it was, but the Roman Empire could have held that title for a longer period of time. There were several entities that can be held responsible for the fall of Rome, such as Emperor Diocletian, the government and ethnic groups that were new to the empire. Unfortunately the extremely famous, big and strong empire started to fall gradually between 190 A.D. 410 A.D. due to three causes. The causes for the fall of the Roman Empire were the empire’s sheer size, racial weakening, and splitting of the empire into two.
Though Rome was a great empire that conquered countless territories, it was not immune to the numerous attacks from barbarians such as the Huns, the Visigoths, the Vandals, and others. The barbarians would raid and sack the capital and other cities in ancient Rome, leaving them without money or tradable items. The Vandals did so much damage to the cities that their name is associated with the crime of extensive damage to property. The Huns were another destructive group of barbarians that were led by Attila. They raided Rome in 451 AD, leaving an immense trail of destruction. Other barbarians attacked Rome at different times, each leaving Rome weaker and helpless. Each attack destroyed their economy and left them desperate for a solution. The Ostrogoths finally caused the Western Empire to fall when Odoacer chased Romulus Augustus, the last of the Roman emperors, off the
The Roman’s Empire great wealth had attracted the diverse population. The whole division of the Roman Empire weakened its force to face any vulnerable attacks from the enemies. This led to some of the Emperors inviting the barbarians to settle on their land and to join the army forces to which they were known to be unintelligible in both their language and their unique customs, and they didn’t posses an organized military