The Dispoman Empire : The Fall Of The Roman Empire

Three major civilization composed the classical empire. Classical Rome, Han China, and Gupta India all thrived at one point during this era, but with success also eventually came the fall of these three empires. Taking place at different times and due to different reasons, all three started to decline and eventually were too weak to defend themselves. The fall of the Roman Empire seemed to be more complex and due the many more little problems, by they all three fell apart due to unrest and problems created that could not be solved before it was ultimately too late.

Rome was the greatest empire in western Europe of its time.They succeeded in government, economics, and military. This changed when plague, natural disasters, and invasion caused the fall of Rome. Such as barbarians overwhelmed and took over cities, plague killed farmers, workers, and governors.

The defeats were majorly successful because of the lack of experience in Rome’s soldiers. Soldiers began working for pay to help protect the borders of Rome. The people who were working in the military were mainly free citizens. The people hired were called mercenaries who were mainly Germanic. Germany meanwhile, had resented Rome and could have turned on them. It was hard to afford such a costly military. In order to afford to be able to pay the mercenaries, taxes were raised to afford this military filled with paid mercenary soldiers. Rome had been invaded by the Visigoths, while their borders were not protected. The capital had been destroyed by these invaders, burning their way through the city. Before the Visigoths had invaded, Rome’s military already had a hard time communicating lack to their efficient road systems. There were not enough troops to defend the wide territory they had to cover. The military overall lacked the basic necessities of a strong army, which contributed to the fall of Rome. Since Rome was now weaker because they had split their empire, their military had gotten weaker as well. To help try to make their military just as powerful separate than they were united, they made mistakes including overspending and inviting enemies into the military. This had happened only to the western half of the army while the eastern half

The Roman Empire thrived for many generations until the influence of both people of Rome and those outside Rome. Rome had been an advanced society with stable government, large cities, beautiful architecture, and advanced technology. Unfortunately it did not last forever and the fall affected Western Europe who was greatly influenced by Rome. Western Europe went from a high functioning society to a land of may manors. The causes of Rome's fall varied from invasions, overgrowth, and poor leaders.

Although many historians and professors attribute the fall of the Roman Empire to excess and corruption, the role of shifting spheres of power, trade created a situation that made the fall of such a large cumbersome empire inevitable, the military played a role for not obeying protocol as well and an excess of things were happening in the government that also led to the fall of the Roman Empire. Each mistake made by the Romans contributed to their fall of their empire since after time of accumulation of their mistakes, it becomes a tremendous problem. Though the Roman Empire still did have their climax in history before everything came crashing down.

The Barbaric invasions began in 400 AD and affected Rome for the next 400 years. To summarize, the barbaric invasions was when many groups attacked Rome in a short amount of time and took over the land(document 6). Furthermore, “The Roman army was composed entirely of Germans”(document 5), which was another reason why their military was weak. Their military had a shortage of soldiers and was very lazy, which made the invasions harder to control. Also, the Barbaric invasions slowed down trade.

The map called Foreign Invasions of the Roman Empire from Document C shows 3 invaders, the Huns, the Vandals, and Ostrogoths. This shows that the military was being lazy and not doing what is best for them because they were not prepared to fight or defeat anyone. They did not try their hardest and were not prepared with a plan, a strong military or smart and happy

With the limited Roman population having no support for Rome and an army made up of unloyal mercenaries, Rome’s defensive system was nonexistent. This was an invitation for barbarian tribes to take advantage of Rome’s weak point and invade which caused major destruction of Rome in various sacks by the Visigoths, Vandals, and Ostrogoths. A strong military with a fresh drive on offense is able to overcome a shriveling and idle military on defense. This was exactly the case when the Romans mistreated and belittled the Visigoths, a Germanic tribe, which ultimately gave the Visigoths a strong motive to overthrow the empire that had wronged them. With this passion, they defeated the “mighty” Roman military at the Battle of Adrianople in 378 and became the first barbarian tribe to overcome the Roman army in more than a century.

The Romans lost all control and leadership in their army. “They could not organize to protect themselves; they could not serve in the army.” (Doc1) Also, they could not support and keep up with the maintenance of the army, so they had to rely on the citizens more. “The military crisis was the result of proud, old aristocracy’s shortage of children...army composed entirely of Germans.” To simplify: there were less and less children born and raised to go into the Roman army. This led to recruiting foreigners into their army- mostly Germans. According to the map in Document 6, the Western Roman Empire was struck by many, scattered invasions. The military could not unite to protect the empire, leading to the

The Roman Empire was one of the greatest empires to ever exist. It possessed a strong army, vast territory, and lasted for a very long period of time. Like many other empires, the Roman Empire fell in 467 CE because of many factors. This had a remarkable impact on the future of Europe. Major reasons for the fall of the empire modified political, social, and economic aspects.

“Borders became difficult to secure and the amount of gold needed to maintain the roads and perform routine maintenance was never enough. It had grown so large it could not take care or protect itself to the level that it was needed.”(Doc 2). The Roman empire was huge and the military couldn’t patrol every corner so that made it easier for attacking cities to get to the larger cities.

The Western Roman Empire fell due to many flaws. However, it fell mainly due to invasions from external enemies, economics, and a discouraged society. Therefore, the empire began to slowly decline. This expansive empire fell not due to one, but many faults made over a time period. To this day the empire is remembered as one of the most advanced of its time.

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.

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

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).