Introduction
The Roman empire was one of the greatest empires the World had ever seen, it lasted for almost 600 years. For a long time, it seemed to be unshakable. However, it collapsed at an astonishing speed and it just took around 100 years for the imperial edifice of Rome to vanish like smoke swept away by the Barbarian invaders. For this reason, this paper will discuss about the most influential factors behind the fall of the Roman realm.
The Roman army
The Roman army was the bedrock of the it’s vast empire, it was known for it’s ruthlessness and discipline. Much of Rome’s glory was the result of it’s army and their battle strategies, but later on when the Roman empire kept on expanding the harder it got for the military to control its territory. This crisis opened up Rome which was attacked several times by the barbarians. Later on the Barbarians and the outsiders completely overwhelmed the Roman army in the region.
Attack on borders
Despite many others reasons for the sack of the Roman empire, one such was the multiple invasions and attacks on the borders by the barbaric tribes. The term ‘Barbarian’ was coined by the Romans who described them to be the outsiders from the Roman empire. The Barbarians consisted of several tribes called the Goths, Vandals, Huns, Franks, Saxons and some other tribes. The most powerful of these were the Goths who very very powerful and organized group of people, these were further divided into the Visigoths and the ostrogoths.
The great Roman Empire expanded across all of Europe and into the Middle East. Its military was one of the finest. With major trading in Africa and Britain, the economy flourished with brining many citizens a healthy income. With amazing advancements in culture and technology, Roman society was at its finest. During the Pax Romana, the Romans had 200 years of peace and good ruling by level headed dictators and emperors. Despite Rome’s greatness in all of these areas, Rome would eventually fall. Surprisingly all of these qualities that led up to a flourishing empire were the same ones that led to its demise. As Germanic tribes invaded, the military weakened and the government became unstable.
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
What were the primary reasons for the fall of the Roman Empire? Mini-Q The most powerful empire of all time fell due to foolish reasons. What were the primary reasons for the fall of Rome? Rome fell because the military got lazy, people were starting to get made at Rome, and all the emperors were being assassinated after a few years into their reign.
The Barbarians people like the Goths, Vandals, Huns, Franks, and Saxons were groups that invaded the Roman Empire. Barbarians' are people outside of the Roman Empire, "they did not have the same level of government, education, or engineering as the Romans" (Ducksters, n.d.). The Goths were a powerful and organized group, the Goths divide into two branches known as Visigoths and the Ostrogoths (Ducksters, n.d.). The Visigoths took over the Western Europe and would constantly battle the Roman, the Visigoths sacked Rome in 410. The Vandals were from Northern Europe, they established a powerful kingdom in North Africa.
Deniz Nemli Roman Empire DBQ The Roman Empire was one of the strongest and most significant empires in history. All good things, however, eventually come to an end. After prospering for over 200 years, the Roman Empire fell due to rise and expansion.
By the fifth century, the “powerhouse of the Mediterranean” was struggling to protect itself with its decreased population, apathetic military, and leaders with debauched morals. Outside of the Roman Empire, Germanic tribes took notice of the internal chaos and began invading the empire’s borders. Many of the tribes were cruel and combative, such as the Huns. The Huns “exceed any definition of savagery” and were “fired with an overwhelming desire for seizing the property of others, these swift-moving and ungovernable people make their destructive way amid the pillage and slaughter of those who live around them.” (Document D, excerpts about an Asian tribe called the Huns from Roman History by Ammianus Marcellinus). Roman soldiers would have had a challenge ahead of them if they had to deal with the Huns at the height of the Roman military, let alone having to fight them when their numbers were depleted and motivation running low. The Huns played a large part in minimizing what little hope Rome had of reviving itself into the Mediterranean-dominating empire it once was. Many other tribes followed the Huns example and invaded Rome at its borders. Document C, a map created from various sources,
One of the invaders were the Huns. According to a document written by a Roman historian, the Huns were defined as savagery. The Huns were like wild animals. They barely got off their horses, which made a battle between an army fighting on foot easier to win. The Huns weren’t the only invaders who invaded the Roman Empire. There were the Vandals, Visigoths, Saxons and the Angles. All of these invaders had the advantage to conquer the Empire, since the Roman army were quite easy to destroy. It was said that without these invaders, there was a chance that the Roman Empire would be able to last a bit longer than when it
Invaders mostly got into Rome because the soldiers left their posts. The invaders took over many cities such as Carthage, which was taken over by the Vandals, or Athens, which was taken over by the Visigoths, then the Vandals. Another group of foreign invaders were the Huns. In document D, it describes them as savages, glued to their horses, and nomadic. For example, it states,” Huns are not well adapted to battle on foot, but are almost glued to their horses, which are certainly hardy, but also ugly… Like refugees - all without permanent settlements, homes, law, or a fixed way of life -” Also it stated,” The Huns exceed any definition of
Have you ever thought of your city suddenly coming to an end, or all people dying in a very short time. Well, this happened to Rome. Around 200 BC, Rome started becoming one of the greatest cities at the time. They conquered many different places and basically didn't have many others they could defeat. Rome was the ultimate ruler. How could such a great Empire suddenly come to an end? Being big made some pretty big problems for them. Because of what great things had already happened to Rome, the rulers began to become lazy. People were leaving Rome and by the 5th century, Rome was invaded by outside attackers. Only parts of the empire would survive. In this essay, we will find out what exactly happened in Rome. Foreign invasions,
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
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 theories surrounding the decline of the Roman Empire is a widely- known historical debate. Endless questions have been proposed and
Many anthropologists and historians have speculated about the different causes and effects of the fall of the Roman Empire. Some have even stated that Rome did not fall but instead, was merely transformed. However, there were many causes that did end this prodigious empire. Many seemingly small decisions made by powerful emperors over the course of just over a century lead to its destruction. In this paper it will be established that the Roman emperors, in an effort to save their political power, made adjustments to warfare/treaty practices and made political changes which over time lead to the inevitable collapse of the realm, this caused a drastic regression in the living standards of the Roman citizens, implying that the Empire did indeed collapse and not transform.
In the later half of the fourth century the Western Roman Empire fell after nearly a five hundred years of dominance and is still widely considered the world’s greatest superpower (Andrews). Many people attribute the crumbling of the empire to multiple different reasons, like corrupt and insane leaders to overspending and inflation. As J.B Bury said once “the fall of the roman empire was a series of contingent events. In this paper we are going to cover the three main reasons. Political and Economical problems plus problems with the military(Wood).
The Roman Empire had become the most powerful throughout history of the world. Series of theories are stated if the Roman Empire actually fell or metaphorically. The fall of the roman empire started to take a decline when the soldiers got lazy and numerous ruling emperors didn’t last; The Roman Empire was faulty and unfairly treating the Roman people with unlawful equal rights between the rich and poor. The fall of Rome has multiple reasons of being destroyed and going under. The disastrous fall is summed up from Invading Barbarians, military problems and most importantly Economic and political problems.