For more than two thousand years, Rome was a large, powerful, and dominating empire. The ancient kingdom seemed unstoppable, but in just few centuries later, Roman power fell and was obliterated. No one knows exactly how the empire's demise came to be and is still debated today but there are some major factors recognized that caused Rome to fall. The land of barbarians were located beyond the western border of Rome along Rhine and Danube rivers and would slowly become a serious threat to Rome and eventually led to the fall of the empire. At first, they posed no danger as they were only German farmers that were nomadic because of their poor agricultural skills. The barbarians could not develop a political structure either so they were …show more content…
In the end, the emperors and rebels died at the hands of their own associates. To gain more security, large provinces were split into smaller regions to minimize military power to any one official so one administrator doesn't have significantly more power than another. As provinces continue to be broken up, the army for each area became so small they could not even protect the locals from raids and criminals. A successful usurper named Constantine changed the composition of the Roman army and crippled the empire's central government by abandoning Rome as a capital, along with other emperors, with slow, ineffective communication between the officials and uncertainty at the court which made it hard to operate the government. He tried to avoid conflict and did nothing to solve the difficult situations. The army was also affected as they relied on the state politicians to provide materials, men, and finances for war but the officials could not with the ongoing problems at the government. Wherever the emperors traveled, the army moved along with them and only protected where the rulers were which left other areas defenseless. The once 5,000 soldiers per legion decreased to prevent the rebels gaining a large army which continued to force Rome's armed force to hire and rely on barbarians to protect the Rhine and Danube frontiers. By the middle of the fourth
The Roman Empire was extremely large and difficult to maintain, which made it very weak. According to Doc: 2, “Borders became difficult to secure and the amount of gold needed to maintain roads and perform routine maintenance was never enough.” According to TCI chapter 13, section 1, “The huge size of the empire made it difficult to defend.” The empire’s size caused it to weaken, leaving it open to attack by the many enemies surrounding it.
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 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.
The Roman Army was the most important factor that led to the Romans maintaining such a large empire. The army was very well organised into many groups, and the whips kept by the group leader ensured that the army would be obedient and
The Roman Empire is known as one of the strongest empires in history, due to their advanced technology, strong military leaders, and republican government. As the empire started to expand, so did their power. However, after years have gone by, the Roman Empire started to fall. Their fall may have been caused by political reason, such as the empire being just too much to handle, Diocletian splitting the territory in half, and their government corruption.
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
Some ask for the bad news first as do I. So I will start this essay telling you how the Roman Empire fell. There are plenty reasons argued as to why the greatest empire fell. I’ve seen plenty of reason but with my research I believe I found the best reason why Rome fell. The western part of the empire had trouble with invasions by barbarian tribes. Rome lost many military forces by these invasions. Germanic tribes were the main struggle for centuries. The Romans uncovered a Germanic uprising in the late fourth century. In 410 the Visigoth King Alaric successfully invaded the city of Rome. The Empire spent the next several decades under constant threat before the Eternal City was raided again in 455 by the Vandals. Finally, in 476, the Germanic leader Odoacer staged a revolt and defeated the
The Roman empire suffered many problems throughout its rise and several centuries of subsequent power. To begin with, they dealt with many outside invasions, including the Burgundians, Franks, Alemanni, Ostrogoths, Vandals, Visigoths, and Anglo-Saxon peoples. The invaders considered most barbaric were the Huns, which the Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus describes as people who “surpass all other barbarians in the wilderness of life.” He further describes “they are so little advanced
Rome was split into the west in Rome and East in Constantinople. Majority of the Roman army was stationed in the East fighting the Persians, who were also a growing world superpower. Leaving Western Rome vulnerable as they had to deal with invasions from the Franks, Visigoth, Saxons, Vandals and Huns. These Barbarians were a difficult task for the Romans due to their vicious fighting styles and with their army split in half it was impossible to protect their borders. Each tribe took parts of western Rome. New tribes within the walls of Rome settled to benefit from the Mediterranean transport system, which created a cultural divide with a clash of Roman and Germanic customs and overpopulation
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
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
The division of the East and Western Empire at the time was easier to govern the citizens, but overtime many problems started to occur more frequently. The two empires often fought over resources, military aid, and territories. Politically, this argument between the empires limited the resources needed for citizens, and lacked the purpose of the division. Citizens became less trustworthy and loyal to their government because they are not receiving the supplies needed to survive. In addition, Rome was attacked by the Barbaric Germanic tribes resulting in one of the main reasons the empire came to a end.
As Rome was facing attacks from the outside there was an even deeper problem happening from within and it was their economy. Rome’s constant war and overspending in building its empire was becoming costly. As their treasury depleted they decided to impose hard taxation to account for the new expense they were generating. Which actually caused many people who were apart of the upper class to move to the countryside to avoid the oppressive taxes(Andrews) . Another economic problem is that inflation began to occur. Marcus Aurelius increased the copper content of the silver coins and then after that there was even more severe inflation on it way(Starr 144-145). A third problem with the economy, also politically, was that there was an ever growing expansion of bureaucracy. The expansion of their government caused more and more officials to have to be paid. Not to mentions cities already were having a hard
After 50 thousand deaths, it was clear, Rome was seen, as a declining empire and a sinking world. I think the fall of the Roman Empire was due to Military weakness, weak leadership, and disasters and diseases.
When Diocletian came to power in 284 his aim was to return the empire back to stability and prosperity after the crisis that had plagued the third century. External pressures, such as the threat of barbarian invasion, worsened internal tensions such as economic depressions, civil war and an unstable administrative structure due to the growing influence and power of the army. Diocletian evidently saw the external threats of invasion and civil wars as the biggest threat to the stability of the empire and therefore militarized the state through a series of reforms. Constantine, recognized as sole emperor in 324, can be seen to continue Diocletian’s emphasis on militarized reform however there are certainly some differences in their approaches. When considering the extent to which Diocletian and Constantine solved the problems that had faced the third-century empire, one could look to the eventual collapse of Rome in the late fifth century as an indicator of their failure to successfully implement reform. However, it is evident that the reforms were effective in some way and laid the foundation for future reforms. However, by placing emphasis on defense of the empire, both Diocletian and Constantine largely failed to solve the economic crisis of the third century. It can therefore be argued that although reforms were successfully implemented in terms of defending the empire, they increased the burden on the economy, thus suggesting Diocletian and Constantine failed to solve the