The Fall Of The Western Roman Empire
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.
The fall of the Western Roman Empire was a major problem, and the political aspects were partly to blame. One reason why the political demeanor of the Western Roman Empire was partially the cause of the fall, was that Western Rome had several unfit rulers. The emperors were greedy, and cruel enough to do unfair actions for power. These emperors inherited the throne, and that led to these ability lacking rulers. In addition, there was no cycle for the Emperors. In the United States Of America, if the president is no longer able to rule, the vice president takes over.
…show more content…
Overcrowded living conditions were not a good idea. Disease spread fast this way. People who live in apartments are living right next to each other, which could make the sickness engulf the city. Lead poisoning was also not good. This is because the pipes that carried water would contaminate what they citizens drank and bathed with. Along with lead getting into water for bathing, disease spread in bathing waters. For the temperature that baths were at, the sickness loved to grow. Warm water is perfect conditions for bacteria to live in. Along with these aspects, malaria and the bubonic plague spread throughout Rome. These illnesses came over Rome and fast, especially because of how crowded Rome was. Attila the Hun even avoided Rome because of how bad the malaria was. Furthermore, these economic issues definately took part in the fall of the Western Roman
The Roman empire was a very large and successful empire, although like many things it had to come to an end. The three primary reasons that had most contributed to Rome's fall is foreign invasions, military weakness , and weak leadership.
Emperors such as Caligula, Nero, and Commodus have shown that the empire crumbled because of the fact that the leaders weren’t able to successfully create a well structured “team”. Nero persecuted Christians for their beliefs, Caligula turned the palace into a brothel, and Commodus took over territories and claimed them as his own. All three of these emperors are part of the reason why the Roman Empire has fallen. The conspiracy was investigated as being part of the fall of the empire.
The fall of Rome occurred over many centuries and was caused by several factors including military decay, barbarian invasions, and the failure of the government to respond to these problems.
There are many reasons for the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the fifth century. A major reason was the political corruption and the instabilities of the government. The last ruling emperor of a united Roman Empire was Theodosius I. At his death in 395, he divided the empire leaving the east to his son Arcadius and the west to his other son Honorius. Constantinople and the Eastern Roman empire remained strong while...
With the largest empire at the time, Rome had an equal fall from grace. Rome fell because of the political corruption, inflation and the decline in morals of its citizens. By about the second century AD, Rome was suffering from political corruption. In 218 AD, Elagabalus rose to power and he was crazy. The Roman public had their fair share of bad emperors, but a guy that marries 5 women and 1 dude, at that time, was a little scary.
Rome was once one of the world's greatest empire until around 200 BCE when Rome started to crumble. The Fall of Rome did not happen suddenly, it took about 1100 years to take place. The first two centuries as an empire were named the "Pax Romana", which meant the time of Roman peace. The Romans were living the life, without a worry in the world. So how and why did Rome start to collapse, if the empire was was doing so grand and magnificent? To answer that question, the primary reasons that Rome started to decline were that the Romans had difficulty with their government which caused social problems/decay, their military was falling behind on their duties and became indolent, and natural disasters.
Edward Gibbon says the decay of Rome was inevitable. He writes that instead of inquiring why the Roman Empire was destroyed, it is surprising that it subsisted so long. Gibbons' argument comes down to four major arguments, divided into rulership, the abuse of Christianity, the expansion of the Barbarians, and finally the loss of the Roman military power. Edward Gibbon was one of the greatest English historians of the late 1700's. His father entered him in Magdalen College, University of Oxford but shortly after his enrollment in 1753 he decided to convert to Roman Catholicism. Magdalen college only accepted Anglicans so he was barred from the school. His father then sent him to Switzerland, in care of a Calvinist pastor, who by Christmas, 1754, had reconciled him to Protestantism. After many years in Switzerland Gibbon returned home and decided to devote his life to scholarship and writing. In 1764, while visiting Rome, Gibbon decided to write about the city's history. His work The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire was one of his greatest works and despite the availability of new factual data and a recognition of Gibbon's western Bias, Decline and Fall is still read and enjoyed.
The Roman Empire was the most powerful Empire during Antiquity. It is traditionally considered to have “fallen” in 476, when Rome’s last emperor was deposed. Many theories have been presented as to why it fell, from unsound economic and social policies to mass lead poisoning. The actual cause of Rome’s fall is the result of many factors, but was mainly caused by Rome’s poor economic policies.
...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.
There were many reasons for the fall of the Roman Empire. Each one interweaved with the other. Many even blame the initiation of Christianity in 337 AD by Constantine the Great as the definitive cause while others blame it on increases in unemployment, inflation, military expenditure and slave labour while others blame it on the ethical issues such the decline in morals, the lack of discipline of the armies and the political corruption within the Empire. Three major contributions that led to the collapse of the once great empire were: the heavy military spending in order to expand the Empire, the over-reliance on slave labour which led to an increase in unemployment, and the political corruption and abuse of power by the Praetorian Guard leading to the unfair selection of many disreputable emperors and the assassination of those not favoured by the Guard.
As a result, it can be concluded that many factors attributed to the collapse of the Roman Empire. First and foremost, the collapse of the economy caused what was once a beautiful, elaborate empire to fade away. The system of government in place was not capable of controlling the vast territories in its possession. The spread of Christianity resulted in a loss of Roman culture. Though the Western-Roman Empire was completely diminished, some characteristics of the Eastern-Roman Empire were preserved. This is due to the fact that it was further advanced and a more civilized region. Over a period of time, all of these different factors together cause the collapse of what was once an outstanding and extremely powerful empire.
All empires must come to an end. The Mongols, Ottomans, and Holy Roman Empires all don’t exist anymore. Even, the United Stated of America will come to its end in one point in time. Everything that goes up must come down. Even, Rome, one of the world’s greatest civilizations. To summarize, The Roman Empire fell because of ineffective leaders, the crumbling economy, and invasions by the Germanic Tribes.
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.
The fall of the Roman Empire happened after a extensive history of power. History’s biggest empire collapsed after about 1000 years. This occurred because Rome changed for the worst during the end of its time of power. Rome had 147 emperors throughout its time in control. There were also the good and corrupt times of Rome which all happened before the unexpected fall of the biggest empire in history. There are precise reasons for why the Roman Empire fell. The reasons the Roman Empire fell are that Christianity became the religion in Rome, the empire became too big, and overtime the empire decayed.