Emperor: Over the course of about 50 years (234-285 A.D.), before its split, Rome had about 35 different emperors, according to most historians. All these short reigns did not help the unity of the empire, as it suffered invasions, civil war, and economic problems, among other things. Historians say that the emperors were assassinated one after another by citizens of high class who fought to be Rome’s next leaders, though they were never really approved to be its rightful representative. This civil war worried the population, corrupted their education, and soon, the taxes and prices rose, leading the empire into poverty. Finally, in the year 285 A.D., Diocletian was proclaimed Rome’s new emperor and a few years later (392 A.D.), he strategically splits the immense Roman Empire in half, each with a senior and junior emperor, also known as “tetrarchy” government and a capital. The idea of having this kind of government was to try to stop people from claiming themselves emperors. The East side of Rome was renamed Byzantine with Constantinople as its capital, (named after Constantine) and the West, Rome. It was split due to the Empire’s …show more content…
In order to compensate for the financial deficit, the government starts raising prices of goods and taxes in the West. As a result of the wars, trade and farming are interrupted. People start going hungry, since they can’t spend that much of their money on food. Farmers and average people too! start hoarding the food they grow and citizens (and barbarians)constantly plunder and raid them. All the hard duties such as working on the fields and crafts making depended on Rome’s slaves. As the wars continued, slaves were sent to fight, and their labor force was not replaced. Furthermore, wealthy families who didn’t want to pay more taxes rapidly fled the West. All these conditions plunges the West further down into poverty and
The year is 476 A.D. and the Roman Empire has collapsed after being overthrown by barbarians. Looking back, the causes of Rome’s decline can be separated into four categories, social, economic, military, and political. The social aspects of Rome’s fall are the rise of christianity and civil wars. The rise of christianity displaced Rome’s polytheistic roots which viewed the emperor as having a godly status. Pope and church leaders took an increased role in political affairs which further complicated governance. Civil wars also deteriorated the empire. More than 20 men took the throne in only 75 years and the empire was thrust into chaos. The economic aspects of Rome’s fall were high taxes from the government and labor deficit. The roman empire
The economics of the Roman Empire soon hit rock bottom due to the high taxation to support the army. Gold was also eroding since Rome was no longer bringing new resources through the expansion. Emperors then tried to mint coins out of silver and copper instead and the end result was inflation and dramatic rises in Noochintra 2 prices on goods. There were many things that brought Rome to its downfall, but the biggest one was the violence and the ruthless ambition of men such as Marius, Sulla, and of course Julius Caesar. That ultimately destroyed the Roman republic.
Diocletian and Constantine had policies that were similar yet different in many ways. Diocletian ruled from 284-305 A.D. During his time as emperor, he divided the empire into four prefectures. This also separated the Roman Empire into east and west. The west was known as the Western Roman Empire and the east was known as the Eastern Roman Empire. Diocletian did not allow Christians in his empire and therefore persecuted them.
The Roman Empire In 27 BC, Augustus became the first emperor of Rome, thus creating a strong leader figure, which could shape and mold the Republic system into what was best for the empire or themselves. During the reign of the emperors, the political policies for Rome would vary according to, which emperor was in power. Not only were politics shaky, but there never was a clear-cut method of succession for the man who controlled those politics. Rome had created the position of emperor in hopes that men like Augustus would continue to lead her into prosperity, however the office of emperor struggled in attempting to find great men to lead Rome. The office never truly evolved into something greater than when it had been created, but rather the office varied according to the personality of the man in the position.
In 509 B.C. the Romans declared themselves a republic, free from rule of the Etruscan kings. (“The Rise of…”) From that point on, the Roman’s form of government would never include the title of “king”, in fear that a single person would gain absolute power. The republic included a dictator (in emergencies), the senate, two consuls, and several other positions. (Bishop) Although the goal of creating a republic was to have a government that represented the wishes of its people, the Roman senate consisted of men of wealth or power, leaving most of the plebeians, or common people, out of the picture. Many of the emperors’ policies strengthened the power of the government, and therefore weakened the power of the plebeians. By the end of Sulla’s rule in 78 B.C., grain prices had risen substantially and there was large gap between the rich and poor. (“The Rise of…”) When Julius Caesar took power, he initiated several reforms that were much needed at the time. Caesar spent large volumes of money on entertaining the citizens, while expanding citizenship to people of conquered lands and lessening the power of the senate. His policies threatened the method of income of senators and around 60 senators, in the name of saving the republic, murdered Julius Caesar at a senate hearing in 44 B.C. Civil war then erupted in Rome and lasted over a decade. At the end of the blood brawl, it was Octavian who emerged victorious; he would be the first Roman Emperor and would be known as Augustus. (Morey) Although the “Liberators” (Julius Caesar’s assassins), might not have realized it, the day that Julius Caesar died was the same day that the republic died; t...
...attacked Western Rome, such as very weak military due to poverty of the Western Empire. The soldiers were no longer loyal to the army and their emperor. There weren't many that would risk their lives for the empire. Now there were many foreign soldiers who served for pay, that made it that much harder to be able to hold a large army. There wasn't the kind of discipline they had in the army before.
...eat. Every decision that Rome made had a great affect on the city itself and the rest of the world. Many foolish emperors weakened the city and eventually cause the many aspects of life to crumble. The social issues were that no one took interest into Public affairs. The Political issues were that because no one took any public interest in government jobs, because there were not looked at as something that was good. The Economic issues were that they had poor harvest. Food was scarce people needed food so they went after it. The Germanic tribes started taking over the western half of the empire.
The empire continued to contract as it lost territory until it was too weak to defend its capital city, Rome. A major reason for this decline was the Roman Legion’s weakness. The Legion was subject to constant civil wars between different generals, causing the army to be stuck in perpetual weakness. Every time the army recovered, a powerful general would sense an opportunity and claim the title of Emperor, igniting a civil war in the process. Over the course of the Roman Empire's life, it went through a total of seven civil wars, each one crippling the Empire’s army, infrastructure, and wealth. Because of this, the Empire was unable to defend its lands from invaders. Infighting among generals would weaken the army, allowing barbarians to take land,
One of the main reasons of the collapse of the Roman Empire was the over expenditure on the military to constantly fund wars abroad. In order for the Romans to invade and conquer other provinces they had to spend heavily on their legions. The Roman armies and supply lines became over-stretched resulting in thousands of soldiers being recruited and deployed from Rome into other territories as invaders or defenders. They also depended on soldiers to defend the borders of the lands they had conquered from barbarian attacks which resulted in the increased manufacturing of weapons and more money being spent on soldiers. High military spending left the Romans with very limited resources for other essential government projects such as the building of more public houses and the development of roads and aqueducts as well as leading to inflation. The over-expenditure on the military led th...
Technically, the Roman Empire didn’t fall until the 1400’s. Splitting up the Empire at the Time made sense, because the Roman Empire was too big to rule effectively by one man. Moving the the capital to Constantinople also made sense, because first it was located on a peninsula, which made defending the capital easier. Secondly, since the capital was located on the frontiers of the Empire, reacting to external threats became much easier(The Fall of the Roman Empire). Even though moving the capital and splitting the Empire was ill advised for the Western Roman Empire, it did save the Eastern Roman Empire(Byzantine Empire) for the next 1000 years(The Fall of the Roman
Power, control, influence and greed all describe the history of the rise and fall with some of the greatest empires, which all involve the jurisdiction of a central state including large quantities of land and diversity amongst it’s people. The growths of empires happen for different reasons such as military, victories, political control and economic growth and can be very short lived or last five hundred years ("Rise and fall of empires (article) |Khan Academy," n.d.). When an empire collapses it happens over a period of time as the central state gradually loses its power. The Roman, Anglo-Saxon and British Empires have many similarities that helped the creation and fall of these kingdoms.
The decline and fall of the Roman Empire is a scholarly article written by Justin Ott about the Roman Empire and the events leading up to its fall. The article mostly focuses on the military and economy of Rome in the third century A.D. It lists in the beginning a few of the different theories people have of how Rome fell, including led poisoning and the spread of Christianity. The article seems to want to disprove these theories, showing how they are not the main causes for the collapse of Rome. “Gibbon’s arguments in these sections can be accurately summarized as “the insensible penetration of Christianity in the empire fatally undermined the genius of a great people.” The problem with this conclusion is two-fold. First of all, this explanation is too narrow as it is difficult to believe one single factor brought down the empire. More importantly, it is clear that the Eastern Roman Empire was by far more Christian than the West, therefore if Christianity was behind the fall, the East should have fallen first.” The article’s audience appears to be historians, or those who are interested in history, or just the Roman Empire. It
“He is said to have been tall of stature… except that towards the end.” What was it that really led to the fall of the Roman Republic? There are a lot of different factors to consider when trying to determine what caused the collapse. By examining The Rubicon, The Life of Julius Caesar, and some accompanying handouts from class, this paper will discuss how the Roman Republic did not collapse because of one factor. The collapse of the Roman Republic was like that of a game of Jenga. Factors were pulled out of the Republican system just like a game of Jenga until the Republic could not stand anymore.
Rome was massive. It is known to be the first city that held one million citizens. It was also strong. The army was huge, and Rome seemed invincible, but unfortunately, Rome started to molder. Political aspects, economical issues, deadly diseases, and ruthless foreign invaders all eventually lead to the fall of the seemingly undefeatable Western Roman Empire.
As the Roman Empire shifted its center of power to the East, Rome lost much of the prestige and protection it had previously enjoyed. With Constantinople as the new seat of the empire, the West was left to stand alone, often defenseless.4 Barbarians attacked Rome in AD 410, and Rome found little help from Constantinople. With the Western Empire essentially abandoned, disease, poverty and instability were rampant. Many structures had fallen into disrepair, and famine ravaged the land. Most government officials had left Rome, leaving the churc...