What Caused The Fall Of The Western Roman Empire?

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.

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

By 200 BC, Rome was quickly becoming one of the world’s greatest empires with their excellent military conquering territory from modern day Scotland to Spain. After the Punic Wars and the defeat of Carthage, Rome had full control of the Mediterranean region, establishing colonies in North Africa, Egypt, the Middle East, and Asia Minor. Julius Caesar became Rome’s first emperor using his military influence. Under his reign, Rome shifted from a republic to an empire under the rule of an emperor and the military. Rome steadily increased in stability, power, and wealth, reaching Pax Romana (the time of Roman peace) under Emperor Augustus Caesar. Rome was forced to discover, as many other

He reunited the east and west under his own rule. He also built a new capital at Byzantium, on the Bosporus. He named this city Constantinople. Constantine wanted a new capital that would be a Christian city, not a pagan one. He continued the policies of Diocletian. People saw no need to work hard with no chance of getting ahead. These reforms only slowed down the process of collapse. After Constantine 's death in 337 A.D., the empire was again divided.

An additional cause for the fall of the Roman Empire was the constant change in emperors. The document says, “For the next forty-nine years , the Roman imperials throne was occupied by anyone military strength to seize it -- a total of twenty-two emperors.”(Doc 1, 3-5). In short this means that they would let anyone with military experience came to power. The effect of the decision is that the majority of the emperors either died in battle or was assassinated . The Empire didn’t have a stable leader which is why the Empire fell. They needed a leader that would stay in power for a long time to keep the Empire from breaking into chaos. This compares to the Han Dynasty because they also didn’t have stable emperors which caused the society

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?

Although it was believed that the Roman Empire would never come to an end, inevitably it fell. The Roman Empire is an extremely historic empire that left a massive legacy behind. It collapsed during the fifth century. The empire was having serious military struggles. They received threats from other European tribes along with diminished military funding. A military who does not have proper funding will slowly fall apart. Other than the military, the Roman Empire had a few key social and cultural problems that helped with the fall of the empire in the west. The fall of the Roman Empire in the west occurred due to a rise in Christianity, contrast between rich and poor, and a decline in population.

Political, economic and social aspects were all involved in the fall of the Roman Empire. In 395 A.D., Rome was divided into two empires, with one capital in Rome and the other in Constantinople. During that time, the western Roman Empire was being invaded by barbarian tribes from the North. In 410, the Visigoth tribe succeeded in conquering the western capital in Rome. In 476, the western Emperor Romulus Augustulus was finally overthrown at the substitute capital set up in Ravenna, and in 529 the eastern Emperor Justinian declared that the pagan religions of ancient Rome were illegal. All of these events caused the end of the western Roman

Rome was a great nation of conquerors, vast wealth and riches which stretched most of Europe, parts of North Africa, and areas of Asia. Its army is arguably the longest surviving and most effective fighting force in military history. Every empire has to terminate and Rome disassembled rather swiftly. The fall of the empire is mentioned in virtually every type of informative media including books and television networks. The fall of the Western Roman Empire was caused by the lack of monetary funds, the formation and following of a new religion, and an increasingly forlorn and debilitated army.

One can argue that the Roman Empire was one of the most influential societies in history. It dramatically influenced the legal systems of western civilizations for centuries after its collapse. But if the civilization was so substantial, why did it crumble by 476 AD? Why did the empire not continue to gain power? Many factors contributed to the empire’s demise, but the most commonly theories mentioned by historians are slavery and the spread of Christianity. Some historians argue that the empire’s overreliance on slave labor collapsed the civilizations; while others argue that the spread of Christianity changed the face of the civilization so that it was almost unrecognizable. After examining the evidence, I believe that the fall of the Roman Empire can be directly attributed to its overreliance on slave labor, even though the spread of Christianity did expedite its collapse.

The Roman Empire was one of the most powerful empires in the history of mankind. In 476 CE Odoacer defeated Romulus Augustus to capture Rome; most historians agree that this was the official end of the Western Roman Empire. There is much debate on how exactly Rome declined and eventually fell. The fall of Rome was a long process that took place over many centuries. There are five main schools of thought on why Rome fell. First, Christianity, offered by Edward Gibbons; He suggests that Christianity caused Rome 's citizens to lose loyalty to the state and focus on their own afterlife weakening the internal strength of the empire. The Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus suggests that the barbarians, mainly the Huns, eventually caused the empire to break down. Modern historian, James Burke suggests another explanation, military spending and overexpansion. Another historian, William McNeill, hypothesized that the main reason for Rome’s decline was a series of fatal epidemics. The last school of thought, which I will be defending, theorizes that massive corruption within the participate led to Rome’s decline. The constant civil wars and assassination attempts lead to the emperors focusing on their own safety; this made the empire unable to neither function nor cope with the constant pounding of the barbarians. The Pretorian Guards would assassinate the Emperor whenever they felt he was not doing what they wanted. Christianity affected the empire in a positive way, uniting the

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,

Al Stewart once said look to the past and remember no empire rises that sooner or later won't fall. He was basically saying that everything that rises up will inevitably fall sooner or later. All throughout history empires have fallen many different reasons. To start off, one of the main reasons an empire usually falls is due to a weak and corrupt government. An example of this would be the many Roman emperors that were assassinated during their reign due to power hungry fools among the senate and council.

There have been many circumstances that historians have blamed for the collapse of the Roman Empire. Still, others claim that the Roman Empire didn’t really fall; since the eastern half continued on for some thousands of years in the form of the Byzantine Empire. Just how and when the fall actually occurred remains an ongoing dispute, certain popular theories have surfaced to explain the western Rome’s decline and disintegration.