The Roman Empire: an Economic Failure

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.

As the “abundance of slaves led to the growth of latifudia” (Document 3) the great estates took over the agricultural industry. As latifundia took over, more farmers became out of work and in the persuit of finding work they moved into the cities and “added to the unemployment there” (Document 3). But the expansion didn’t stop there. As “the overwhelming majority of the population had been systematically excluded from political responsibilities, they could not… protect themselves… serve in the army… Their economic plight was hopeless” (Document 1). As missionaries fled into the Roman Armies, the citizens were being forced to pay a huge amount of taxes. But with no farmers to grow the food for the soldiers, who would? Expansion brought wealth into the empire, but “when the empire ceased to expand; however economic progress soon ceased” (Document 3). The inflation rate spiked, the rise in prices on everyday necessities decreased the value of money. The Romans were having to trade with exterior partners for items that could not be produced. The flow of money coming in could not match the amount of money going out. The values of the Romans depleted as their economy crumbled.

An Emperor that greatly impacted the Roman economy was Nero, who ruled from 54 A.D. to 68 A.D. When complaints arose that the poor were overly taxed, Nero attempted to repeal all indirect taxes. The Senate convinced him that this action would bankrupt the public treasury. In result, Nero cut taxes from 4.5% to 2.5% (Bluejayblog) Government taxes were also ordered to become public. In order to lower the cost of food imports, Nero declared that merchant ships were tax-exempt. After Rome burned in 64, Nero enacted a public relief effort to restore Rome. For a few construction projects, he created the large Domus Aurea and attempted to have a canal dug at the Isthmus of Corinth. However, these projects had cost vast amounts of money which quickly drained the economy. Eventually during Nero’s reign, he had devalued Roman Currency for the first time in Roman History. Weight reduced of the denarius from 1/84 per Roman pound to 1/96 per Roman pound (3.90 grams to 3.4 grams) (Comparette). Weight of the aureus dropped from

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.

Adam Smith explains that wealth was with the landlords and capitalists. This led to a lot of trade between major cities. Once the working class was given power, the fall of these wealthy cities began to occur, thus starting the “fall of the Roman Empire.” The working class, or the slaves, were the majority, and most men according to Smith will never see the benefits of improvements to cultivation or increased productivity. Smith said:

The Roman Empire was or could be one of the greatest empires to have ever existed to this day. Just like many empires the Roman Empire fell to betrayal, religion, and war. Lasting from 27BC to 1453 the Roman Empire to me is the most interesting empire to talk about. When you take any history class that explores times outside the US, you hear about the Roman Empire being involved some way or somehow. The Roman Empire history can go on for days. I will pack most of the history into a small 5 page essay and if you don’t know anything about the Roman Empire, You will have a better understanding and will more than likely see why I believe the Roman Empire was one of the greatest of all time.

The Roman empire owed its existence to Julius Caesar’s military genius and leadership. At the time of his birth, the Roman republic was rife with corruption, losing touch with the people as Rome rapidly expanded. In addition, the republic suffered much unrest due to an excess of slave labor, leaving many unemployed for the government to sustain with basic food and entertainment, or “bread and circuses.” Caesar changed this, joining partnership with two other prominent men, the wealthy Crassus and the general Pompey, to form the First Triumvirate. However, he quickly took the reins of the new government, securing his position as dictator with many populist actions, such as distributing land to poor farmers. They, in turn, showed loyalty toward their leader, providing unity and patriotism. The Roman empire was born into the perfect geographical and cultural circumstances to rise to greatness.

To begin with, one of the main problems of the Roman Empire was their economic problems and corruption. For example, in an excerpt of a historical text written by Priscus, which was a Roman ambassador to the Huns in 449 C.E, he reported a conversation he had with a former citizen whose land had been conquered by the Huns. In their conversation the former Roman citizen stated, “ The conditions of [Roman] subjects in time of peace [is worse than war]...taxes are very severe, and unprincipled men inflict injuries on others… A [wealthy lawbreaker] … is not punished for his injustice, while a poor man … undergoes the legal penalty… The climax of misery is to have to pay in order to obtain justice…” This supports that one main problem that ended the Roman empire was economic problems and corruption because it shows that if rich people in Rome committed a crime they would only have to bribe their way out of trouble while on the other hand poor people will have to face their consequences which is unfair so when they got invaded by the Huns they decided that it was best if they conquered than to join the military to help their empire. In addition another economic problem is that the the Roman Emperors had to pay their own soldiers to stay loyal which lead to emperors having to mint more coins which is further supported by BrainPop which states, “Roman emperors often bribed their soldiers with money to make sure they remained loyal. And when emperors didn’t have enough to pay their troops, they would mint cheaper coins. This caused the value of Roman money to plummet.” This also supports that one important cause that caused the Roman Empire to decline was the corruption and economic problems because in order for a empire or a civilization to function efficiently, they need to respect all people

The reason that economic crisis contributed to the fall of the Roman empire was because the Roman empire didn’t have much gold to trade which means less money for the Roman empire to use to make improvements in their empire. The next reason is because according to document number 2 “People produced their own goods rather than trading them” because the Roman Empire was not safe to trade with. The 3rd reason is because tons of merchants that used to have trade routes for the Roman empire wasn’t safe for them because merchants were afraid that people were going to attack

The fall of the Roman Empire is one of the most important and world-shaping events in history, but it provides more than just an interesting study of the past, it also holds many important lessons for Americans and the western world today.

Economics contributed to the fall of the Roman Empire. According to Document 4, “Part of the money went into… the maintenance of the army and of the vest bureaucracy required by a centralized government.. The expense led to strangling taxation..” the Roman government had large expenses because it needed money for the army, the bureaucracy, and welfare. This lead to the increase of taxes. However, high taxation affected the people

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,

Many anthropologists and historians have speculated about the different causes and effects of the fall of the Roman Empire. Some have even stated that Rome did not fall but instead, was merely transformed. However, there were many causes that did end this prodigious empire. Many seemingly small decisions made by powerful emperors over the course of just over a century lead to its destruction. In this paper it will be established that the Roman emperors, in an effort to save their political power, made adjustments to warfare/treaty practices and made political changes which over time lead to the inevitable collapse of the realm, this caused a drastic regression in the living standards of the Roman citizens, implying that the Empire did indeed collapse and not transform.

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