Western Roman Empire Research Paper

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There were many errors that led to what seemed to be an everlasting empire to its downfall. The Western Roman Republic got pounded with Political and economic disasters, horrific diseases and foreign invaders. These pressures could not be withstood even by the best of its time, which is why the Western Roman Empire fell.
Political problems brought Western Rome to a downfall. Out of all the Roman emperors only a couple helped Rome. The rest were cruel, mean, greedy and were not worthy of being Emperor. These Romans got into power by inheriting the throne. There was no system for finding a new emperor, so it was auctioned to the senate. Many of the emperors were killed by the Praetorian Guard a spy group in Rome. The Praetorian Guard were hired …show more content…

This started when Roman legions wanted an increase in salary and forced taxes to be raised. They threatened that if Romans didn't pay them more they wouldn't protect Rome. Romans did, but started buying goods from other countries or empires. This decreased economic growth within Rome because not many citizens would buy the goods there. Rome sent trading ships to merchants out into the Mediterranean Sea, but pirates looted the ships and took their money. After that the republic made higher tariffs where the taxes on imported goods cost increased Romans stopped buying imported goods which led to gold not being imported into Rome as often. This also was because no one explored new land. Less and less gold and normal coins was produced. Since inflation happened where the price of the coins went up, but value went down, not many Roman citizens had money or coins any more, so they traded goods for goods instead. This was bartering, but when Rome had a drought, farmers could not produce food and goods. Many Romans did not have food and starved. Farmers, traders and merchants migrated to the cities for living and jobs. The economic downfall of the Roman Republic was a big problem in Roman …show more content…

When the drought was happening many Romans moved to the city. This was an issue because Rome became too over populated and some people didn't have a place to go. Many Romans had to live on the street because of this. Also the water from aqueducts ran into lead pipes that led into Rome. This was a major problem because the lead from the pipes got into many water sources which go into the drinking water. Not only was lead in water, but it was also on eating utensils and dishware so illness was easy to get. Some water led to communal baths which are for Roman citizens to bathe in. The water was really warm in the baths so bacteria spread quick. This was very bad because if one person was sick in the bath than everyone would potentially become sick. Bathrooms in Rome were advanced, but were very unsanitary. Some people would even keep their urine for bleach. Another sickness in Rome spread and it was Malaria. Malaria killed many and there was no way of stopping it. Empires including Attila the Hun did not want to enter Rome because they were scared they might get Malaria. There was also the Bubonic plague which killed vast amounts of people. A big part of Rome’s population died or got bad diseases

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