The Fall Of The Roman Empire: East And West

Fall of the Western Roman Empire The fall of the Rome is a great event in history that is not lacking contributors. However, it is clear that Rome was not overthrown by outside enemies but crushed by internal decay(Doc 5), not Barbarian invasions as suggested in Doc 6. The Roman Empire was plagued with so many problems that is no wonder that it fell.

The fall of the Roman empire was due to many things. Three of the main reasons were that Rome was so big that the borders couldn’t be protected. Most of the emperor's were assassinated or killed and battle, the currency went downhill which destroyed trade, and many Germanic tribes attacked at around the same time and took over Rome. The end of the Roman Empire is mostly caused by these reasons. Since Rome was so massive the outskirts of the empire was not very well protected which made it easier for attacking cities to just walk on in.

There were multiple things that contributed to the fall of the Roman empire. Rome was once a vast and thriving empire in Europe, Africa, and Asia. In 177 CE, Rome was at the apex of its rise and was the most powerful Empire in the world. Centuries later, The empire no longer remained. Some examples of the things that contributed to the fall of the Roman Empire are as follow. Rome was overly sized, the emperors were constantly changing, and Christianity.

Like waves, Rome once was tall and strong, but eventually, every wave comes crashing down. Starting around 750 BCE was a strong and powerful empire- Rome. After fighting to get territory and succeeding, Rome took over places such as the Mediterranean sea and colonies in North Africa, the middle east, Egypt, and the asia minor. Caesar became a powerful emperor and led Rome to a time of peace (Pax Romana). Rome rose, but like most, eventually fell due to laziness, then causing invasion.

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?

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

In the book The Fall of the Roman Empire the author Peter Heather talks about the ways the Roman empire conquered the many territories surrounding them and how strong of an empire the Roman empire was. He also talks about the build up all the events that causes the empire to fall. Peter also talks about the people that helped or was involved with the build up or the collapse of the Roman empire. Peter Heather mainly wrote this book to speak of how the European barbarians that got turned into enemies through imperialism and that these Barbarians were capable of tearing apart an empire that ruled over them for many of years.Peter also, mentions all the battles and build ups that occurred throughout the Barbarians “reign” of power and speaks mainly of the battles that they went through. Peters argument is that the empire did not collapse because of social or moral collapse but he believes that the empire fell because of the Barbarians.

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.

The fall of the Western Roman Empire in the late fifth century plunged Europe into a long period of darkness and barbarism. This era until the dawn of the ‘age of discovery’ in the sixteenth century was later termed to be the ‘Middle Ages’. While this epoch of European history is labeled as ‘middle’ or even ‘dark’, it was during this time that many social, political and cultural developments took place. The obliteration of the great Roman Empire left Europe prey for disunity and continuous foreign invasion and migration. From Scotland to the alps of Sicily a prayer emerged in the ninth century, “Save us, O God, from the violence of the Northmen”. Now known as Vikings, these northmen were pagan Germanic people from Norway, Sweden and Denmark that often went on raids and harassed isolated monasteries and villages throughout the continent. Similarly peoples known as Magyars from central Europe looted settlements took captives and forced leaders to pay tribute to prevent further attacks. Muslims from North Africa already ruled most of Spain and continued northward towards central Italy and southern France. The expansion of Islam continued on into the tenth and eleven centuries during the times of the Fatimid Caliphate and the Seljuk Turks. The centuries before the first crusade were one of terror and chaos from a European or Christian perspective. People were frightened that their world was slowly coming to an end, overrun by pagans and Muslims. This fear combined with

Rome, from its inception as a monarchy to its transition to a republic and then an empire, has set patterns in government, religion, and technology for later civilizations. In its prime, Rome dominated the Western world, controlling trade, taxes, and agriculture throughout the Mediterranean. Eventually, due to many internal and external issues, the Roman empire transitioned from a time of prosperity during the Pax Romana and the early days of the empire to an age of chaos, war, and fear. Like any empire, Rome fell, leaving starving and vulnerable people in its wake. With little resources, destroyed cities, and lack of government and law enforcement, the people were left to fend for themselves, creating a system that shaped Western Europe and

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,

The once glorious Roman Empire slowly faded from riches to destitution. There were countless reasons for the tragic demise of the empire, but the most prevalent reason was the decline in political stability. In the absence of a stable government, there is chaos and stark division. We can see this in many societies in the past. Without a leader or group of officials to control and maintain order, the society ends up confused, and fighting occurs. They also would try to do things their own way, or they would all do nothing until their downfall. This was very evident in the Roman Empire due to the bad emperors who took charge and caused the political system to fail.

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).

It is incredible how once the most dominating Empire in the ancient world declined and fell apart so suddenly. The Roman Empire lasted from 31 BCE to 476 CE and controlled most of the Mediterranean world. It was founded when Augustus Caesar converted the conflicted and split Rome into an Empire. At one point, it was the greatest Empire with extraordinary power… But then everything changed. This is due to multiple issues within Rome itself and outside of it as well. First of all, there was an instability and weakness in Roman’s government along with a step down in security, specifically with the Roman Emperors. Also, negligence and laziness within the Roman Army led to the Roman army’s soldiers being poor fighters with no headgear or breastplates. Problems with conscription led to a small amount of enlists to join the Roman Empire’s defense. With many foreign invaders constantly leading attacks on the Roman Empire, the poor and small army may be intimidated and eventually defeated by these invaders. The ones that probably caused the most trouble for Rome were the Huns, a vicious Asian tribe that were skilled in combat, focused on seizing other peoples’ properties. A corrupt legal system full with bribes, severe taxes for Rome’s people, and horrible treatment of Roman subjects led many Roman citizens to desert the Empire, as well. As a last reason that contributed to the fall of the Roman Empire, earthquakes and plagues took their toll on the already failing

The Roman Empire was a very large and powerful empire- until, as all empires do eventually, they fell. Several causes are credited for doing this. The Senate and Emperor were not on friendly terms, the emperor was always doing what he wanted and this ticked off the Senate, who ticked off the Emperor. Three related causes were the fast expansion of the Empire, constant wars, and excessive spending. Excessive spending meant taxes had to be raised, this is always an unpopular move with the masses. Constant wars meant that more soldiers were killed. The Romans allowed conquered barbarians and other foreign people to join their army. No doubt they spread more than a few rumors and rebellions. Another surprising cause was constantly expanding territory.