The Fall of Rome
The Fall of Rome
The Fall of Rome
The Roman Empire was without a doubt the most powerful governing body in the Mediterranean ever. Why did Rome fall?
There was not any single cause to the fall of Rome. It was many things occurring in succession to each other.
After the Punic wars with Carthage, Rome acquired many new lands that it did not have before. During peace times it was easy to govern these areas but during war times it proved difficult.
The government had to pay soldiers to patrol the frontiers of the empire; it could no longer rely on the loot to serve as the pay for the soldiers.
This took a significant amount of money out of the Roman treasury. Some emperors wanted to save money and made the army too
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To give some stability in agriculture and manufacturing, he ordered people to stay in their jobs. There was no room for promotion. Diocletian died in 305 A.D.
In 324 A.D. Constantine took over as emperor.
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.
To the north of the Rhine and Danube rivers, lived a group of people known as the German tribes. They were herders and farmers who had migrated from Scandinavia. As their population grew, they began to look for new land. They decided that moving into the Roman Empire was a good idea. The Roman army was spread thin and could barely cope with the Germans. In the fourth century, the Huns, a nomadic people from central
Asia, began attacking the German tribes. Thus the tribes looked for protection from the Huns in the Empire. They received permission from the Emperor to live in the Empire. A couple of years later the Romans sent an army to defeat the Germans and failed to defeat them. This proved that Rome was not invincible. The
There are several different factors that led to the Fall of Rome in a 476 C.E. Four notable reasons are the attacking outside forces, the division of the Roman empire, inflation, and the change in the loyalty of the Roman army
One important reason rome fell was because of natural disasters. Evidence that this was a problem was according to document F is stated that “ The roman world was shaken by a violent earthquake…. The shores of the Mediterranean were left dry but the sudden retreat of the sea… but the tide soon returned with the weight of an immunace which was severely felt on the coast of Sicily, Greece, and Egypt. More than fifty thousand people had lost their lives due to the flood.” This problem helps explain why the roman empire fell because the roman empire was trying to
Rome was one of the most powerful forces in the Mediterranean at their time in power. They had their first major victory in the punic wars against Carthage. This win provided them with more territory and power, and soon enough they used this to conquer the rest of the Mediterranean. But they didn’t stay in power forever, eventually they did fall. The question is why? The most contributing reason to Rome’s fall was its poor leadership. That’s right, it wasn’t just the power of other forces, Rome fell from within.
There were many reasons for the decline of Rome and fall of the Roman Empire. Some of the reasons for the fall of Rome were military mistakes, economic and civic decay, and political instability.
The two primary reasons for the fall of Rome were military and social factors. One of the main reasons for the fall of Rome was the military factors. According to Document B, “Because of negligence and laziness, armour began to seem heavy since the soldiers never wore it. Therefore, they set aside their breastplates and helmets.
The primary reasons for the fall of rome were, internal threats, external threats, and a lack of patriotism. One of the reasons for the “fall” of Rome was that they had many internal threats. Firstly, Julius Caesar and other emperors used inhumane actions to get what they wanted, this caused many civilians to disagree
Rome was the world’s greatest place for about 500 years. The fall of the Roman Empire led Rome to split into two parts. The eastern part of Rome thrived much longer than the western half. Historians believe that Rome had not fallen until about 476 A.D. because of how long Eastern Rome survived as a Byzantine Empire. Western Rome had fallen after the split and when it did, a number of reasons are in the hundreds. They had decided to split their government due to the fact that they had so much land to cover that they thought it was easier to split the empire in half. There were three main reasons as to why Rome had fallen. The division of the Roman Empire lead to a weak economy, military as well as political and social problems.
By the fifth century, the “powerhouse of the Mediterranean” was struggling to protect itself with its decreased population, apathetic military, and leaders with debauched morals. Outside of the Roman Empire, Germanic tribes took notice of the internal chaos and began invading the empire’s borders. Many of the tribes were cruel and combative, such as the Huns. The Huns “exceed any definition of savagery” and were “fired with an overwhelming desire for seizing the property of others, these swift-moving and ungovernable people make their destructive way amid the pillage and slaughter of those who live around them.” (Document D, excerpts about an Asian tribe called the Huns from Roman History by Ammianus Marcellinus). Roman soldiers would have had a challenge ahead of them if they had to deal with the Huns at the height of the Roman military, let alone having to fight them when their numbers were depleted and motivation running low. The Huns played a large part in minimizing what little hope Rome had of reviving itself into the Mediterranean-dominating empire it once was. Many other tribes followed the Huns example and invaded Rome at its borders. Document C, a map created from various sources,
They were described to be ? extreme savages? and the other barbarians even feared them. The Huns failed to effect Rome because they did not have a leader. The Romans put up the Theodosian Walls around Constantinople to protect from outside barbarians.
One of the most pressing problems was the lack of money due to the split between the western and eastern roman empire. Since they became so tight on money they decided to employ the cheaper, but less reliable Germanic mercenaries. This was not a good idea because when the mercenaries were not loyal to Rome. Their first loyalty was to money, their second to their general, and their third to themselves. Once knew that they could not defend Rome from the attacking germanic tribes. They gave up. The sack of the city of Rome was on August 24, 410. Rome would be sacked more times after this by different tribes looking to control the
•This was a big strain on Rome's budget which lead too Rome losing a lot of money and sins Armies were loyal to their generals and not Rome there where a lot of new emperors.
For over one thousand years, the Romans remained an impenetrable force and though they were attacked often by foreign invaders, they were never successful. Now, the Roman Empire was weak, and had taken a fatal blow to both their military and economy. They were at their most vulnerable stage to outside attacks. Any substantial assault by Barbarians would surely crush the remains of the once golden civilization, and it was sure to happen soon. The first to succeed in doing so were the Hun Empire, led by Atilla the Hun in about 452 C.E. After the Hun invasion, many Germanic tribes soon followed in doing so. Outsiders
There are many reasons why the fall of Rome was not from a single event, but due to multiple events which contributed to the fall of Rome. At its peak, Rome controlled a vast area of land. This land was hard to keep under control. Invaders began to attack Rome, and Rome splits into two, which made it easier to control. Unfortunately, Alaric, a Visigoth, invaded western Rome and held it for Ransom. This strengthened his armies and weakened Western Rome. Finally, the last emperor of Rome, a young boy named Romulus Augustulus is kicked out of power my a barbarian general named Odoacer who had become a general for Rome because of his brave fighting skills. Therefore, Rome fell not because of a single event, but multiple events that individually
Forced from their homelands in Central and Eastern Europe by the savagery of the invading Huns, Germanic barbarian tribes invaded the western territories of the Empire. Under constant attack, the western Empire began to shrink, losing centuries worth of territorial gains in Britain, Gaul, Spain, and North Africa to the barbarian tribes, while the eastern territories remained strong, vital and secure. In 378, they dealt the Roman Empire a major blow at the Battle of Adrianople (now Edirne in modern-day European Turkey), near Constantinople. In
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