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The Fall Of The Western Roman Empire In 476 AD

Decent Essays

Jai Banala
Mrs Welch
Nov 16, 14, 1:03 PM

The Fall of Rome

The Western Roman Empire was once at the pinnacle of civilisation, widely regarded as one of the largest empires in history. Their extreme wealth made them the pioneers in warfare, medicine, architecture, politics, culture and philosophy. At its peak in 117 AD, it spanned over 5,000,000 square kilometres, and had a population of almost 57,000,000 people. In spite of its sheer power and level of innovation, The Western Roman Empire fell in 476 AD. The fall of the Western Roman Empire can be accredited mainly to the major economic, military and political factors which lead to the decline and eventual collapse of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD. The first major factor which led to the downfall of the Western Empire, was the extreme political instability and widespread corruption which plagued the Roman Government.

Firstly the political instability and corruption which was widespread in Rome made it impossible for the Roman Empire to defend territory as well as lead the country effectively. The first major political factor was the ineffectiveness of the government and corruption which stopped Rome from dealing with the larger problems. This was mainly accredited to a succession of ineffective emperors who were corrupt, as well paranoid, unstable and extremely cruel. This was due to a succession system which was never really defined. The most famous example of this was Nero. The historian Suetonius in the primary

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