The Rise And Fall Of The Western 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.

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 Western Roman Empire was the greatest empire of its time. However, all good things must come to an end, so slowly, but surely, it did. It was unable to withstand many of the consequences that came with major responsibilities and power. As a result, slavery, economic dilemmas, government downfalls, weak leaders, a change of religion, and an unsteady military led to the fall of the Western Roman Empire.

Excessive Military Spending to defend the Empire The Roman empire had great armies, but many problems occurred so the Roman Army was weak. The Roman Army As the Empire weakened soldiers became less loyal to Rome. Then they fought each other not the invaders. Military Complications As the legions

Rome needs money to strive and without it, it was more likely to collapse as the economy went down the drain. Due to deadly illnesses being transmitted to the Roman Empire, it allowed the economy to suffer severely. The illness, measles that had arrived from southern Asia, had decimated the population leaving 250,000 people left from a million in the Roman Empire (Doc. #8). Due to the military having to hire Germanic soldiers to guard their frontiers, they needed money to pay the troops. The demand for money to pay for these troops then added to the demands on the state’s budget, just as declining production cut into tax revenues. Taxes became severe on the citizens of the empire, wealthy men were treated more valuable than the poor and unprincipled men inflicted injuries on others (Doc. #6). The Roman Empire treating the wealthy with more respect could be due to their need for money in the state’s budget and hoping some of them would have the heart to donate money, preventing the fall of Rome. Taxes were raised for obvious reasons. The empire knew they were having money problems and needed to get more out of the citizens spending habits, also to prevent the fall of Rome. The natural disaster that struck the Roman Empire in 366 CE could also contribute economically to the fall of Rome since the there was a devastation left and all recoveries to the city cost money (Doc. #7). The

The Western Roman Empire fell due to the loss of ambition, economic issues, and a despairing military. The Western Roman Empire was powerful empire with astounding achievements. Their overpower and greatness brought complication as time went on. The change of government leaders and religion had a big impact on the fall of the Western Roman Empire. As the issues began to rise the powerful empire began to fall.

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.

The Roman Government had to have large expenses to fix their army and fill in their vast bureaucracy. There was a major downfall though caused by the high taxation on the people, and it was the lost of jobs. There was high unemployment due to the high taxation, and the less jobs there were, the harder it was on their economy. Companies and businesses were taken away, and more jobs were lost due to the establishment of a government welfare system. With all the failing businesses, and lost of jobs, there was no hope of fixing the system and getting everyone their jobs back(Doc.4). These Government Issues were one of many reasons why the Roman Empire

4 were killed in battle, 2 died of disease, 1 commited suicide, and 12 were assassinated (Met Museum). This contributed to the fall because the first ruler would establish rules but once that emperor died those rules would sometimes be removed or added to causing drastic changes. In effect the Empire couldn’t keep up causing collapse. Though it was unfortunate it set a good example for other empires, as in they could learn from Rome by having a stable government, create long lasting laws, have a better succession line and give the rulers more importance.An additional integral factor that lead to the fall of Rome is its gand size. The Decline and Fall of Rome, states, “Borders became difficult to secure and the amount of gold needed to maintain roads and perform routine maintenance was never enough” (The Decline and Fall of Rome). Rome's grand size led to its fall because it became hard to protect its borders, which led to multiple attacks, so much that Rome couldn’t keep up. Not only that but the amount of gold needed to do routine maintenance was never enough, meaning it would be damaged and

Because of the outburst of sickness, “The population of Rome decreased from a million people to 250,000”. (Document F). That means that Rome lost three-fourths of their empire: a devastating amount. This consecutively led to economic consequences. It was harder for the Romans to recruit troops which made the empire turn to hiring Germanic soldiers. “The need to pay troops added to the demands on the state’s budget, just as declining production cut into tax revenues.” (Document F). The Roman empire was already experiencing a decline and the government having less money to run their empire because of the plague is another thing that can be attributed to the

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

There were many reasons for the decline of Rome and fall of the Roman Empire. Some of the reasons for the fall of Rome were military mistakes, economic and civic decay, and political instability.

The cause of the higher taxes was the legions demanded higher salaries or else they would stop defending Rome. The people of Rome then wanted more goods, like fruit, silk, and blown glass from other empires instead of they’re own. The merchants then all go out of business and there is not much economical growth in the city. When the goods are imported on ships there is so much boat traffic it’s easy for pirates to raid ships.

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

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