What were the Primary Reasons for the Fall of Rome?

In 27 BCE, Octavian appointed himself as the first Roman Emperor. After being a republic for approximately 700 years, Rome was now an empire. The Roman Empire grew to be one of the greatest empires in history, conquering the majority of Europe, the Asia Minor, and much of North Africa. Rome went through a time of peace called Pax Roma. During Pax Roma many contributions were made such as arts and architecture. The Roman Empire declined because of its weakened military. The military began to weaken due to laziness, the land was easy to invade, and there we many different leaders throughout the empire.

Between approximately 509 BCE and the third century CE the Roman empire continually expanded and became one of the largest in history. While this expansion was due to many reasons, not the least of which was greed, to a great extent it was made possible because of Rome's overwhelming military and its combination of a democratic and republic government. (Lee) (Ferril)

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.

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

One of the many noteworthy reasons Rome came to its demise was the unstable nature of their military. The Romans were rarely using their armor to shield themselves and it was getting tiresome to wear the armor. The emperor then did not require the use of body armor anymore, “Therefore, they first asked the emperor to set aside the breastplates… and then the helmets.” (page 15). Because of the decision to cast away the breastplates and helmets, it made it effortless to wound and kill the Romans with skilled archers, such as the Huns (Doc D). Another pivotal fault was the draft, “The exempted categories were...numerous” (Doc B). Draft exemptions meant that not enough men were fighting and too many were lazing around. Even bakers and cooks were not required to serve under martial law(Doc B). Because of these mistakes, the Roman military became weak. Not having enough members on their command,

One of the greatest civilizations ever born was the Roman Empire.  When it started off Rome was known as a “sleepy little town”(Background essay) that had awakened once the Greek empire began to fall.  During the time of Julius Caesar was when Rome turned from republic to an Empire with Caesar as its first emperor.  Soon over the years Rome became a powerhouse with its lands stretching all around the Mediterranean Sea.  However unlike other civilizations where they fell because of other civilizations, Rome fell from within its walls because of several possible reasons and theories.

The Barbaric invasions began in 400 AD and affected Rome for the next 400 years. To summarize, the barbaric invasions was when many groups attacked Rome in a short amount of time and took over the land(document 6). Furthermore, “The Roman army was composed entirely of Germans”(document 5), which was another reason why their military was weak. Their military had a shortage of soldiers and was very lazy, which made the invasions harder to control. Also, the Barbaric invasions slowed down trade.

The Roman Empire was increasing in size as they kept conquering more and more countries, and eventually the empire was over 5,460,000,000 yards at its peak.(Doc 2 and OI) It was incredibly difficult to defend, especially with the military problem, of under-population of soldiers.(Doc 5) Many barbaric tribes such as the Ostrogoths, Huns, and Northmen, invaded the Roman Empire, and since, at times, some tribes would attack at once, the Roman soldiers couldn’t defend the empire. (Doc 6)

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

    Though Rome was a great empire that conquered countless territories, it was not immune to the numerous attacks from barbarians such as the Huns, the Visigoths, the Vandals, and others. The barbarians would raid and sack the capital and other cities in ancient Rome, leaving them without money or tradable items. The Vandals did so much damage to the cities that their name is associated with the crime of extensive damage to property. The Huns were another destructive group of barbarians that were led by Attila. They raided Rome in 451 AD, leaving an immense trail of destruction. Other barbarians attacked Rome at different times, each leaving Rome weaker and helpless. Each attack destroyed their economy and left them desperate for a solution. The Ostrogoths finally caused the Western Empire to fall when Odoacer chased Romulus Augustus, the last of the Roman emperors, off the

No one really does why Rome fell to it’s feet. They say Rome fell because of weak leadership and it

One of the reasons Rome fell was, because of the barbarian attack. The barbarians raided on the Rome partly rise from a majority movement created by the Huns’ withdrawal of Europe. The second reason Rome fell was because of the fall of economy. The Government was steadily warned by bankrupt owed to the cost of fighting for the Empire. The third reason is that there was constant war and military spending. Constant warfare was required military spending. The fourth reason was Christianity. Future and the life seemed pointless for lots of millions of people ruled by the Rome where a early death was