Rome's Legacies And Theories For The Fall

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.

Disasters and diseases are one reason of Rome’s fall. According to Document F, it states that “the Roman world was shaken by a violent and destructive earthquake … but the tide soon returned with the weight of an immense [flood] which was severely felt on the coasts of Sicily, … Greece, and of Egypt.” This shows that the earthquake had destroyed the Valens’ empire, which would be very costly to repair all the damage the disaster had done. The flood had also caused a tremendous amount of damage which would contribute to the cost of the earthquake. “Fifty thousand persons had lost their lives in the flood [in the city of Alexandria alone],” which meant that their population would decrease. Diseases also proved the decline of Rome. Different types of plagues “swept over the empire … which brought diseases [from] southern Asia to new areas like the Mediterranean.” (pg 35, Doc. F) These diseases were very

The fall of the Roman Empire is one of the most important and world-shaping events in history, but it provides more than just an interesting study of the past, it also holds many important lessons for Americans and the western world today.

Rome was devastated by the floods and earthquakes that hit them.”The Roman world was shaken by a violent and destructive earthquake … But the tide soon returned with the weight of an immense flood”(Doc F). Due to the flood and earthquake many people had lost their live due to the disaster. For example” Fifty thousand persons lost their lives in the flood”(Doc F). This shows that the roman population decreased dramatically cause them to lose man power in there army. Lastly, great plagues swept through Rome, causing them to go from a population of one million to 250,000(Doc F). This shows that Rome was not prepared nor ready to handle the immense casualties the took. Due to the decrease in population cause many problems. For example, “Recruitment of troops became more difficult … They need to pay troops added to the demands on the state's budget, just as declining production cut into tax revenues”(Doc F) This proves Rome had to make split second decisions therefore leaving them with their guard down and making them a target to enemies.

In 476, Rome, one of the most powerful empires of its time, suddenly became weak and fell. There are many reasons for Rome’s decline, not just one main one. Out of all the events, conditions, and people the contributed to Rome’s decline, the most significant included economic problems and corruption, military problems, and weak leadership.

The reason for the fall of the Roman Empire is a controversial topic under much historical debate. How did such a great empire, known for being one of the largest that lasted over a millennium, fall?

How could the once miniscule Roman Empire (once one of the largest empires to exist) be simply reduced back to comparable dust to that of its former rank? Since Rome’s humble beginnings, its reign has lasted nearly 650 years. These years were filled with vast culture, advances in law, medicine, and breakthroughs that would set the tone for Western Civilization. But this would all collapse into the enemy’s grasp, as all things must have an end. Primarily government corruption, military issues, and foreign invasion caused the defeat of Rome.

The end of the Roman republic was and very interesting point in time. This shows a period where there was neither any political or government stability throughout the civilization. From reading The book “ The Fall of The Roman Empire”, three reasons jumped out at me or the collapsing of this civilization. They were abuse of power , political corruption, and heavy military spending. The heavily military spending came from the Roman Empire capturing and invading other civilizations. In order for the Roman Empire to invade and conquer civilizations they would have to spend money to make sure that their soldiers are taken care of and that they are able to complete the task at hand. Most likely all of the soldiers in the roman army was not roman which means they had to recruit and deploy from rome of other lands of defenders and invaders. The romans expected the militia to protect their land and the land they have overpowered or captured. This requires a multitude of supplies and manufacturing of weaponry. The soldiers also had to have a place to sleep , they had to eat , and be supplied materials that can aid them when they were wounded or hurt. All of this spending on the military will lead to inflation of a civilization as it did the roman empire. Now the government will try to find a solution to this problem by raising taxes and making all types of laws that enables the citizens of rome to help sponsor the military. This will lead to riots and

Although it was believed that the Roman Empire would never come to an end, inevitably it fell. The Roman Empire is an extremely historic empire that left a massive legacy behind. It collapsed during the fifth century. The empire was having serious military struggles. They received threats from other European tribes along with diminished military funding. A military who does not have proper funding will slowly fall apart. Other than the military, the Roman Empire had a few key social and cultural problems that helped with the fall of the empire in the west. The fall of the Roman Empire in the west occurred due to a rise in Christianity, contrast between rich and poor, and a decline in population.

The Roman Empire was one of the most powerful empires in the history of mankind. In 476 CE Odoacer defeated Romulus Augustus to capture Rome; most historians agree that this was the official end of the Western Roman Empire. There is much debate on how exactly Rome declined and eventually fell. The fall of Rome was a long process that took place over many centuries. There are five main schools of thought on why Rome fell. First, Christianity, offered by Edward Gibbons; He suggests that Christianity caused Rome 's citizens to lose loyalty to the state and focus on their own afterlife weakening the internal strength of the empire. The Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus suggests that the barbarians, mainly the Huns, eventually caused the empire to break down. Modern historian, James Burke suggests another explanation, military spending and overexpansion. Another historian, William McNeill, hypothesized that the main reason for Rome’s decline was a series of fatal epidemics. The last school of thought, which I will be defending, theorizes that massive corruption within the participate led to Rome’s decline. The constant civil wars and assassination attempts lead to the emperors focusing on their own safety; this made the empire unable to neither function nor cope with the constant pounding of the barbarians. The Pretorian Guards would assassinate the Emperor whenever they felt he was not doing what they wanted. Christianity affected the empire in a positive way, uniting the

Ancient Rome was an empire so dominant, wealthy and economically- stable which came to a dramatic fall in the period of 250AD- 500AD. Ancient Rome faced unexplained unfortunate events which crumbled the Great Empire from the affluent empire to a impoverished society. For centuries historians have timelessly theorised and analysed many debates and research in relation to the Fall of the Roman Empire. What really caused the predominate Roman Empire to fall? Did Rome fall naturally? Was disease, such as malaria a major contributor to the Fall of the Empire, Was man -made infrastructure a problem during Ancient Roman times? Was the fall a natural event? Was the climate changing causing natural disasters? Maybe, perhaps, all the theories interweaved with each other at the same time causing a catastrophic downfall, defeating the Ancient Roman Empire. Edward Gibbon (Gibbon, 1909, pp 173-174.) quoted,

Roman Empire was considered as one of the most influential and dominant Empire in the history that has ever existed. “The Roman Empire at its zenith in the period of the Principate (roughly, 27 BC to AD 235) covered vast tracts of three continents, Europe, Africa, and Asia” (Garnsey). It was an ancient, modern Empire, and it supported anyone who made discoveries and technological improvements. The Empire was the strongest governing body in the Mediterranean.

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).

had many economic factors that led to the fall of Rome. The main economic factors are the working ethics and the workforce had started to collapse. Thus, it made Rome profoundly subject to foreign produce. The agriculture had severe problems as the harvest had become inadequate because the soil had become infertile. Also, when war had broken out, it had ruined all the farm lands around. Food shortages and diseases loomed about and soon the death of many people had appeared, this had declined the population. A drop of value in money had led to the increase of prices in goods and many people could not afford the prices to sustain, poverty had started to strike. This had led to the economical reason of the fall of Rome because no one was buying products and there was no good fertile land to harvest from.As a result no one could trade buy or

According to Roman legend over a span of 243 years there was a total of 7 kings. Romulus, the first and founding king, set up laws for the group of farmers that formed rome. They could not have a successful society, however, without women and children. When they tried to go to neighboring countries to try and set up arranged marriages they came back empty handed and ridiculed. So one day he lured the Sabines to his new city with a festival honoring Neptune, the roman men then stole the unmarried sabine woman away and kept them their by promising them true love and wealth. They Sabines wanted to fight to get their daughters back and they did. But, the Sabine woman interfered saying that they didn't want to become both widows and orphans in the same day. So the Sabine and the Romans joined together with Rome as its capital.