Reasons For The Fall Of The Roman Empire

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.

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

But when because of negligence and laziness, parade ground drills were abandoned,...” This led the military to come to the idea that breastplates and helmets were turning too heavy for them and therefore, it was not needed. Also, Michael Grant, the author of The Fall of the Roman Empire: A Reappraisal, states in Document B, “There can be little that the weaknesses of the late Roman army were largely due to the eventual failure … to enforce regular conscription.” Even though there weren’t enough men to serve in the military, the government officials excluded men from tremendously different categories. Such as, senators, bureaucrats and clergymen escaped the draft. Alongside, cooks, bakers and slaves were prohibited since the leaders needed them for their own convenience. However when invaders, such as the Goths, poured into the empire around 410 CE, the troops were in battle without any protection and were exposed to wounds. This brought the soldiers to the idea that it was better off for them to run away instead of fighting unsheltered. They didn’t have any defense nor could fight back to the aggressors. The vulnerable army was the key for Rome to turn into ruins. Just like that, The Roman empire’s lusty army was turning into a clutter of frail

Rome needs money to strive and without it, it was more likely to collapse as the economy went down the drain. Due to deadly illnesses being transmitted to the Roman Empire, it allowed the economy to suffer severely. The illness, measles that had arrived from southern Asia, had decimated the population leaving 250,000 people left from a million in the Roman Empire (Doc. #8). Due to the military having to hire Germanic soldiers to guard their frontiers, they needed money to pay the troops. The demand for money to pay for these troops then added to the demands on the state’s budget, just as declining production cut into tax revenues. Taxes became severe on the citizens of the empire, wealthy men were treated more valuable than the poor and unprincipled men inflicted injuries on others (Doc. #6). The Roman Empire treating the wealthy with more respect could be due to their need for money in the state’s budget and hoping some of them would have the heart to donate money, preventing the fall of Rome. Taxes were raised for obvious reasons. The empire knew they were having money problems and needed to get more out of the citizens spending habits, also to prevent the fall of Rome. The natural disaster that struck the Roman Empire in 366 CE could also contribute economically to the fall of Rome since the there was a devastation left and all recoveries to the city cost money (Doc. #7). The

As well as another reason to Rome's downfall was because most of the Roman military were foreign soldiers and not really Romans themselves. In “Doc 5” it explains how most of Rome’s military were in fact foreign soldiers. Most of the foreign soldiers were German. Most of the time the foreign soldiers would would betray Rome and switch sides during battle. This was a case of disloyalty. From these soldiers switching sides during battle many of the soldiers that were Romans died and eventually the military grew weak and couldn’t defend Rome’s

There were many different reasons why Rome fell. For example, when the military weakens and havoc breaks loose. Foreign invaders enter Rome. As Rome’s people start to fight. But what mostly affected Rome’s fall?

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.

The Decline That Leads Into the Fall of Rome The Roman Empire was a beautiful, magnificent, and powerful empire. That is, until the 5th century when things went downhill. Around 700 B.C.E., Rome was founded on the banks of the Tiber River. Initially, Rome was led by a king but the government soon shifted to a republic where citizens elected officials and had a right to vote.

An additional cause for the fall of the Roman Empire was the constant change in emperors. The document says, “For the next forty-nine years , the Roman imperials throne was occupied by anyone military strength to seize it -- a total of twenty-two emperors.”(Doc 1, 3-5). In short this means that they would let anyone with military experience came to power. The effect of the decision is that the majority of the emperors either died in battle or was assassinated . The Empire didn’t have a stable leader which is why the Empire fell. They needed a leader that would stay in power for a long time to keep the Empire from breaking into chaos. This compares to the Han Dynasty because they also didn’t have stable emperors which caused the society

The soldiers that were hired were not loyal to the Romans, and would often switch sides in battle. The Mercenaries were more loyal to their commander than the government, leading to several civil wars and military coups. That could have weakened Rome for other attacks. Doc 5 said, “Rome became reliant on hired foreign soldiers to bolster their military, especially Germanics.” For even considering to hire soldiers to fight, Rome must have been troubled and desperate for reinforcements to help them.

Rome was such a large powerful empire, so how did it fall? There were different things leading up to the fall of the Roman Empire, not just a singular cause. The main causes of the fall of the Roman Empire were being reliant foreign soldiers, constant change in emperors (unstable/unorganized government), and economic issues.

In the Document Foreign invasions, it shows how easy it was to attack Rome. Around 750 B.C. Rome became more and more powerful, over the years they gained more and more power. Around the 5th Century when Rome was on the top they got lazy. What are the main reasons for the fall of Rome?

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.

The biggest reason for the demise of the Roman Empire was due to the military. First, challenges arose from neighboring nations such as the Persians or other Germanic Tribes and it was difficult to constantly fight and defend themselves. The constant fighting, forced the Romans to hire mercenaries for a cheaper cost than the standard soldiers.

Fundamentally, the Roman Republic’s collapse lay in its dearth of major wars or other crises, which led to an ineffective honor and leadership. War unified all of Rome’s people, and presented the test to its leaders to expand honor and leadership by their causes and actions. The wars permitted the Roman Republic to die and become self-indulgent Without a common gist uniting its society, the Roman Republic failed because it had nothing left holding it together. The Romans were one of the greatest peoples with power and wealth. They built one of the strongest and extensive empire that world has ever seen. It started off as a city, ended up being one of the greatest empires and soon crumbled. In conclusion, the Empire declined based upon the same