A Brief History of Rome

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Rome was like a bridge, connecting the East and West Civilizations. It included both East and West properties. This bridge, Rome, prospered for centuries and has left an impact on today’s society. Unfortunately, “all great things must come to an end.” As much as it prospered, this bridge suffered internal cracks. These cracks destroyed the foundation of the structure, causing it to collapse on itself. The main cause for these cracks would be the social, political, economic, and military issues.
The first crack appeared due to the plundering of the social world. As seen in document 3, “While the empire was expanding, its prosperity was fed by plundered wealth.” At first, the Roman empire was constantly expanding across the world. When they could no longer expand its’ territories, the wealth they gained from each conquer soon ceased. When wealth stops increasing so does the economy. During certain imperator regimes, this economic fallacy had an extensive impact on coin value. The coin currency was debased, and ad no default value. IT was represented by the amount of silver contained, which decreased overtime. At one point during the rule of Emperor Claudius, the coins were only 1% silver. The debasing of coin currency soon led to extensive and severe inflation. This inflation directly caused a rack in the bridge of Rome, damaging it and its’ people. The people could no longer afford most necessities, which economically destroyed Rome.
A second crack appeared when political issues came to rise. As the empire grew in size, it diffused with the cultures and religions in their conquered territory. As seen in Document 2, this led to “The introduction… of Christianity.” While the emperors were very lenient with religious views, the ri...

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...As see in Document 5, “The roman army [was] composed entirely of Germans.” These Germans were paid mercenaries. They were not devoted, had no courage, and certainly would not willfully die for the empire. Old citizen soldiers would not come and assist, for they would refuse to leave their retired states in their nice estates. These soldiers lacking any heart for the empire, soon caused for enemies, like the Huns, to soon overthrow the Empire. Finally, in 476 AD, Alaric, the leader of the Visigoth Empire, forced Romulus Augustus to surrender, which in turn ended the prosperous Roman Empire.
The bridge of Tome, connecting the East and West civilizations, prospered for years. “All great countries are destroyed” clearly depicts the ending effect of all cracks found in the foundation of the Roman Empire. These foundation cracks led to the final destruction of the Empire

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