The Romans were a well-established civilization of immense power in the Hellenistic era, conquering nearly the whole Italian Peninsula and most of Europe. Unfortunately, a time of continuous difficulty led Rome to its decline in 476 CE. The fall of Rome can be characterized as a series of troubling events that provoked an influx of citizens to Catholicism in the hope of receiving eternal salvation. Most importantly, it allowed the Catholic Church to rise in power from 590 to 1517 CE and become the most dominating and influential community in Europe. For one, Rome was unable to govern its excessively large empire, which set the beginning of a steady economic decline. Moreover, not only did the invasion of the barbarians on Western Rome cause …show more content…
In 146 BCE, Rome had conquered its arch-nemesis, the Carthaginians, and took control of all their lands and possessions, which allowed the Romans to expand through most of Europe. The apparent conclusion derived from this success would be that Rome was now unquestionably the strongest Empire in the world and that any sort of decline would be unimaginable. However, upon closer inspection, it would seem that the newly conquered lands put Rome in a position of weakness rather than strength, almost as if it was marching toward its own death. In fact, Backman states that, "The problem was that the Romans had not exactly planned for their success. Their political system, designed to govern a compact land-based republic, unexpectedly found itself in awkward possession of a vast, scattered, sea-based empire" (183). Unfortunately, the Romans lacked a clear vision of how to integrate the newly conquered lands into their empire. The lack of preparation only grew worse with each passing day, and soon enough, it became an impossible task to solve the issue. Rome entered a phase of economic decline, which twisted the already miserable lives of citizens to an even harsher reality. More specifically, the Romans of lower class, who made up the large majority of the population, and who were also generally denied of basic needs, found themselves in the position of unemployability. This is evident in the following
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
In the glory days of Rome, the empire was safe. People got along very well, large scale public works including bathhouses and aqueducts were built. A single emperor had control of one of the largest empires in history. Great games and festivities rang throughout the land. But, all glory eventually comes to an end. 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.
Essay: Why was it possible for Rome to become an empire and last so long. What were the reasons for it's fall?
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.
Political Ascendency through coercion and financial influence revealed the failing virtues of an empire that would live under the glory of its former shell. Expansion beyond its border brought military wealth and an influx of material wealth to be incorporated, but also further weakened the division in infrastructure and defenses of the empire. The demise of the Roman Republic after failing to meet the needs of the people serves as an important lesson that countries along with governments must humble themselves as a global partners instead of sole control driven by
The era dominated by Roman empire is one the most well-known and influential periods of history, home to famous names from Julius Caesar to Jesus Christ. At its height, Rome’s territory stretched from the Atlantic coastline to the Middle East, reigning over 60 million people, one-fifth of the population of the ancient world. However, the Roman empire’s treatment of their conquered people’s and their own citizens ultimately led to the permanent downfall of Rome.
The Roman Empire is known as one of the most powerful and influential empires the world has ever seen. At it’s height, this Empire had peace, economic prosperity and was expanding. Roman cities contributed to a fair amount of this success because they contributed to many advances during Pax Romana and united the empire. After the fall of the Empire, Christianity survived because although the empire separated into many kingdoms they were still being influenced by the religion.
Rome was one of, if not, the most influential civilization in the western world. Rome once ruled the majority of the known western world, yet it was unable to hold that title. The Roman Empire eventually came to an end just like many other civilization, but the reasons for its downfall are still being debated to this day. Rome didn’t disappear overnight it was a steady downfall that consisted of several different symptoms. Symptoms that when combined together created the perfect storm to bring down the most powerful Empire in the world at that time, at least the western portion of it.
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.
The Roman Republic began in 509 B.C.E. with the overthrow of the Etruscan monarchy. In 27 B.C.E the Roman Empire began with Octavian Caesar becoming the emperor, this ended almost 500 years of republican self-government. There is much debate over why Rome became so powerful so quickly. Many think it had to do with Rome’s military strength. Others think that it was because Rome knew of and controlled most of the trade routes. Still others believed it had to do with the technology that was advanced during the Roman Republic. All of these factors played significant roles, but which one played the most important role?
For Augustine, the question is did Rome fall to barbarians because it renounced paganism and embraced Christianity, or is it simply a coincidence in which even if the opposite had been true, the result would have been the same? Augustine takes up this issue in de Civitate Dei and I agree with his argument that Christianity was not responsible for the fall of Rome. Augustine uses a series of reductio ad absurdum to defend Christianity against claims that it is responsible for the downfall of Rome. In Book IV, 3, Augustine asks “what reason . . . there is in wishing to glory in the greatness and extent of the empire, when you cannot point out the happiness of men who are always rolling . . .
The Roman Empire was incredibly large and successful. In the prime of the empire population reached up to 56.8 million people. The land they conquered amasses to an outrageous 1 million square miles. Their influence is so great that even now people can see their imprint in architecture, law, and even helping spread Christianity, the world’s most populous religion. These amazing facts also begs a question. How did one of the world’s greatest civilization fall? Well, the fall of Roman Empire in 476 ACE was aided by ineffective rulers, the crumbling economy, and the invasion of 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
The Fall of the Roman republic all started in 133 B.C. Economic inequality was at an all time high and there was an obvious gap between the rich and the poor. The cause of this gap was because, “Roman overseas conquest resulted in too much wealth coming into Italy too quickly to enable equitable distribution throughout society”(Lecture 26). The rich had much influence on the government. Politics was dominated by the rich and in order to be involved with the government, one had to be rich. Voting was, too, dominated by the rich because the rich’s votes had more influence. Basically, people wanted the distribution of money to be more fair. In 133 B.C.,Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus was the head of the tribune at the time and he was dedicated to help the
“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.