What were the Primary Reasons for the Fall of Rome?

As Rome expanded throughout Europe and acquired a growing number of citizens, the army was able to greatly increase its numbers. This ensured Rome a nearly unlimited supply of new soldiers.

The Roman Empire was a vast territory that expanded to three different continents.They were a place of honor, tradition, and respect. Rome has had several different periods, some of peace, and some of violence or unrest, but those were solved quickly and effectively. However, such a magnificent empire could not hold up under the strains that were slowly causing it to collapse. Rome began to face many problems that together allowed the fall of the Roman Empire. The three main problems that caused Rome to fall were invasions by barbarians, an unstable government, and pure laziness and negligence.

In Rome, the The defeats were majorly successful because of the lack of experience in Rome’s soldiers. Soldiers began working for pay to help protect the borders of Rome. The people who were working in the military were mainly free citizens. The people hired were called mercenaries who were mainly Germanic. Germany meanwhile, had resented Rome and could have turned on them. It was hard to afford such a costly military. In order to afford to be able to pay the mercenaries, taxes were raised to afford this military filled with paid mercenary soldiers. Rome had been invaded by the Visigoths, while their borders were not protected. The capital had been destroyed by these invaders, burning their way through the city. Before the Visigoths had invaded, Rome’s military already had a hard time communicating lack to their efficient road systems. There were not enough troops to defend the wide territory they had to cover. The military overall lacked the basic necessities of a strong army, which contributed to the fall of Rome. Since Rome was now weaker because they had split their empire, their military had gotten weaker as well. To help try to make their military just as powerful separate than they were united, they made mistakes including overspending and inviting enemies into the military. This had happened only to the western half of the army while the eastern half

It is commonly believed that the Roman Empire fell in 476 C.E. when barbarians invaded Rome, sent the last emperor of Western Rome into exile, political instability, too much land, and many other faults in their system, but did it fully fall? Anyone who visits this topic can argue that Ancient Rome never actually fell. In Crash Course: Fall of the Roman Empire, John Green said, "In some ways, [the Roman Empire] still survives today." This quote means that the Roman Empire didn’t actually fall fully, but still survives in present days. This essay will show how the Roman Empire still lives today in engineering and architecture, and in language and writing.

One internal factor that contributed to the fall of Rome is the their once legendary army started to become lazy. Romans no longer practiced the same methods the ones before them did. They wanted to wear less armor. According to document 6,Vegetius states’’But negligence and sloth having by degrees introduced a total relaxation of discipline,the soldiers began to think their army too heavy, as they seldom put on it.’’ This quote proves that the Roman soldiers became sluggish. They stopped wearing their proper armor, which resulted in their defeat in battles. They were unprotected against arrows and attack. in addition, another internal problem Rome faced was that

One trait every army must have to be successful is the willingness and drive to dominate. The Roman army took these traits to a whole different level. The Romans were very extreme in battle as well. They often enjoyed humiliating other city-states by burning them to the ground. In 264 B.C.E. a battle between other Greek city-states forced Rome and Carthage, who dominated the western part of the Mediterranean, into conflict. The First Punic War was for the control of Sicily.4 This battle lasted twenty-three years.4 The Romans were losing a lot of men, but they continued to battle on.4 Finally, the persistence paid off.4 The Romans learned how to fight by sea and cut off the Carthaginian supply line into

The Huns were more hostile than most tribes from this time period. From early childhood they learn to adapt to freezing temperatures, hunger, and thirst. The Roman Empire became so large that there were not enough soldiers to protect every single area of it. The weak spots were easily attacked by tribes like the Huns. Since the empire’s land was so easy to invade, barbarians began to take over some parts. Some Roman citizens liked or didn’t mind being under the barbarians’ ruling. The Roman Empire needed a military that was able to keep their land away from people who wanted to conquer it, so that they could continue to expand their empire and conquer other

The map in Document C states that invaders such as the Vandals, Huns, and Goths all attacked Rome at different times, and from different places. Each barbarian wanted different belongings and had different reasons for migrating to or invading Rome. The barbarians ravaged entire countrysides and looted anything they could from cities and provinces. This issue explains why Rome fell because the invaders looted everything from cities, and left absolutely nothing for the Roman citizens to use, leading to massive food shortages, crippling the entire empire’s

Military weakness might have been a reason because when the soldiers fought they wore breastplates and helmets to protect them as much as possible.  They also did drills to keep them in fit and in check.  However when the soldiers stopped doing drills, because of laziness, the soldiers complained stating that the armor was too heavy(Doc B,Vegetius) and so they asked the emperor to set the amor aside therefore they went into battles without any protection(doc B,historian vegetius).  There was also Military weakness around the borders.  As stated above, invaders were able to sneak in when the soldiers left their positions to go fight each other instead of guarding their places and not allowing the invaders to enter through the gaps left.  Another military weakness could have been that when the soldiers left for battle archers could have easily taken them down and while the rest of the roman empire fled instead of fighting(Doc B, Michael Grant). Also since the military became weak it made it easier for the emperor to be assassinated and therefore it would become a battle for the

The Fall of Rome Rome began to fall in 64 AD. The fall of the roman empire was the fault of the immense size, new religious views, and the decline in economy. Rome was prospering before these matters took a toll on many aspects of Rome. The Roman

The Romans had huge lands that were very difficult for one person to control which made it extremely easy for invaders to take advantage and invade their lands. The three invaders that came from Asia were the Huns, Vandals, and Ostrogoths (Doc C). The invasions were mostly unexpected by the Roman people and thought they could easily take them off, not until suddenly three groups arrived at different locations that slowly weakened down the locals and armies at Rome. This attack was what really made Rome to fall apart. If it wasn’t for the foreign invasions, Rome would have been an empire that would have lasted for another few thousand

In the picture on Document C * it shows How accessible the Roman empire borders were. This helps explain how Rome was an easy target and that it’s foreign population increased and became hard to control and keep them out. In Document B, * “So our soldiers fought the Goths without any protection for chest and head and were often beaten by archers”. When the Romans gave up their armor, it made it easy for the invaders to wipe them out. In Document E, * “[He]… considered his new life… better than his old life among the Romans, and the reasons he gave were as follows: … The conditions of [Roman] subjects in time of peace [is worse than war]”. So this shows that the Romans did not want to be Roman and that they would rather be captured then live under the Roman

The military in Rome emasculated and became too crippled to defend Rome and oppose foreign invaders, like the Huns, due to the incapability of enforcing conscription and the soldiers’ negligence to wear proper military armor. The excerpts found on Document B proclaim that the Roman infantry refused to wear protective head and chest armor during battles, thus resulting in losses of cities, battles, and soldiers. Document B also states that drafting of soldiers was not properly integrated into Rome, which lead to a shortage of infantrymen in the Roman army. Both of these issues caused the Roman military to falter because not enough men were in the military to defend Rome’s frontiers and the men that were in the military were defeated since armor was not in use. Correspondingly, because the military was weak and defenseless, powerful foreign invaders invaded Rome and defeated Rome’s military. The Huns were one of these powerful invaders that took over Rome. As presented in Document D, the Huns were savage and motivated through the aspiration to conquer other’s territory. Since the Roman military was weak, they could not withstand the force of the

During the period of Rome’s decline several different outside forces attacked Rome. They were the Vandals, Visigoths, and Huns. The Vandals took the region of Gaul, and the Roman army was too disorganized to stop them. The Visigoths plundered and took control of Rome, attacking them through the Alps. The Huns, while paid off by Pope Leo I to have them spare Rome, attacked both parts of the empire. The invasion of the Huns also led to more people seeking refuge and protection in the Roman Empire. The invasion of outside

When these invasions took place Rome didn't defend themselves properly and thats how these germanic warriors took over the outskirts of Rome. If they hadn't been so prideful and didnt forget about their