Essay about The Vast Roman Empire

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 War with Veii played a significant role in the expansion of the Roman Empire. The war, which ended in 410 B.C., set in motion an entirely different Roman army. No longer was the army a volunteer militia, instead it became a paying and contractual organization. The “Roman victory brought an end to Rome’s most threatening neighbor and began its rise to prominence in the central Italian peninsula” (www.warandgameinfo.com).

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

Government, city life, and infrastructure were all affected in Western Europe by Rome's fall. The Roman Empire’s fall was caused by a series of both external and internal actions. The size of the Roman Empire had become a major issue with due to Rome’s ignorance of the problems that could come with their immense size. The growth in Rome made it much more difficult to control, as well as a great deal harder to protect from invasions.

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

A big contribution to the fall of Rome was the fact that they changed from a republic to an empire. Rome started out as a republic and that lasted with peace for about two decades. After this there were power issues so Rome started to elect one sole person to run the government, or Emperors. In about 235 CE the first Emperor, Maximus took his place at the head of the government (Document A).

In the beginning of the Roman Empire, the economy was booming and Pax Romana came and went. Rome began in 750 BC, and soon bringing power with it. The leaders in Rome changed from being a republic to being more military control. Their attitude on how to improve Rome was very military based and with great rulers to lead them. However, when Rome was coming to its end it was hard to control the Roman people and they were invaded by the Germanic tribes, but this rooted from a series of problems. Leaving the Roman empire to fall because of their military problems, political assassinations, and foreign invasions.

Whether you prefer to say Rome fell due to the invasions or simply morphed into the oppressive and the corrupt government, economic policies of the emperors had a heavy impact on the lives of the citizens of Rome. The Roman Empire acquired money by taxation or by finding new sources of wealth, like land. However, it had reached its furthest limits, so land acquisition was no longer an option. As Rome lost territory, it also lost its revenue base.In doc# 4: we can see how the economy and citizens were taken advantage of and how the economy was not stable enough, led to the fall of Rome. The empire's main focus was on expanding and funding towards the military and politics. They did not think of the flaws that came with expanding and soon realized that to expand they had to gain military strength, and that costs a lot of money. Immediately the government created high taxes taking advantage of the citizens that leaned on the government welfare system, forcing them to basically pay for advances in the military. This affected small business and companies to crash because they could not afford these taxes, leaving the economy weakened. Therefore the economy could no longer help provide for the military expansion and lead to military weakening. And when the military and the economy was down due to this “internal decay” Rome was easy to conquer and lost all power and eventually fell. Doc# 3 also shows that due to the expansion and Rome wanting to be a world power, it caused a distraction and the economy was used to fund the military success and power, with high taxes. The more it expanded the more the taxes cost and the weaker the economy was. Due to the money that was taken from the economy, Wages being low, slaves disappearing, great estates growing, agriculture was being dominated, it

After the rule of many prosperous emperors, Rome experienced a period of crisis from 235-285 CE. Almost all of the 19 emperors that ruled during this time were assassinated or died in battle (doc A). From the chart one can conclude that the people were not satisfied with their leaders, therefore they killed them. Rome was built on the idea of pleasing its people as seen by the various forms of entertainment during the Republic.

The Roman Empire was considered the biggest empire. The empire conquered 3 million square miles of land and it managed to do this because of it’s stable government and its military. Rome maintained much of its peace from 27 bc to 180 ad and this era is called Pax Romana which essentially, was the golden age of Rome. However, after Pax Romana, Rome declined from 180 ad to 476 ad. During the declination of Rome empire, the Roman empire was divided into an eastern and a western empire and was controlled by 2 emperors; one in the east and one in the west. Rome did this in order for the emperors to share power and to manage between situations such as war effectively. Since Rome was divided into 2 sections, barbaric groups such as goths, started

Rome was one of the biggest and strongest empire of medieval times, but fell due to weak leaders and invasions. The Roman Empire was a strong and powerful empire that conquered many lands. The empire started in 753 BCE and later grew into a huge civilization by gaining more and more territory. It later fell from invasions and bad leadership.

The Roman empire is considered one of the most powerful and longest lasting empire of all time by most historians. At its peak the Roman empire managed to take control and rule nearly the whole inhabited world at the time. Though their military achievements were outstanding the Romans also excelled at legislature. The Romans ran a governmental system which was most like a republic which the power was in the hand of the senators and patricians. The senators and patricians were mostly extremely rich elders of the community who linked themselves to gods. Though the people were the ones who voted for the senators the rich always voted who they wanted because they were the first to vote which made the senate corrupt since the lower classes barely got a say. Although the Roman empire was extremely successful historians are always doing research to figure out what elements led to its collapse. However, the Roman legislature, use of propaganda to sway public opinion, military power to conquer lands, and philosophy were essential reasons for the extended survival of the Roman empire.

The leadership of Rome, especially Julius Caesar is one of the most important components that has made the Roman Empire successful. Julius Caesar has various leadership qualities, which has helped expand Rome. Julius Caesar was an intelligent military general and politician and he rose through the ranks throughout time. Caesar was very ambitious, he decided to run for consul, he developed an alliance with two powerful Roman men, Crassus and Pompey. This alliance worked out really well for Caesar, after a year in the consul Caesar was put as the governor of Gaul and soon he took over many countries, such as Britain. Julius Caesar is very brave, when Pompey and the senate decided to call Caesar back without his army, Caesar came back with his army because he believed that it was the right thing to do for Rome. Julius Caesar went back to Rome crossing the Rubicon River, which represents a very risky act and waged civil war in Rome. Julius Caesar has eventually won through his determined spirit he has achieved his goal, he has been named the dictator of Rome for life. Julius Caesar is a fair and equal man, therefore he won over many Roman citizens trust and loyalty. Julius Caesar provided land for his troops in return for their hard work and helping him win battles, Julius Caesar also restructured debts of many Roman debtors. Julius

Ancient Rome, the period between the 8th and 1st centuries B.C. in which Rome grew from a little colony to an emerging empire. "Roman imperialism introduced extremes of wealth and poverty that honed social and economic conflict within the Roman state ." The enormous army and their countless loots, as well as their captured slaves, produced many changes along the countryside such as small farms becoming large plantations, and peasants left without lands decided to journey to Rome and other cities. "Immense wealth inflamed the ambitions of Roman nobles who struggled for personal domination rather than collective rule ." This dominant emergence of power and rule thus led to the conquering and control of other societies. The