The Roman Cultures: The Fall Of The Western Roman Empire

The Roman civilization can easily be considered one of the most fascinating civilizations in all of written history. While the Romans were notorious for “borrowing” most of their culture from elsewhere, it cannot be doubted that they had a significant impact on the rest of the world. Thus, explaining why their culture is so well studied. The roman history encompasses multiple wars, several bloody battles, many powerful emperors and even the splitting of the expansive empire into the Eastern and Western Roman Empires. And one of the most notable aspects of the Western Roman Empire is its death in the 5th century. Multiple theories have been proposed as to what caused the demise of this once great empire. The end of the Western Roman Empire has

Heather’s main theory as to why the Western Roman Empire fell is that it was facing several outside threats and the empire could not successfully contain all of the threats. While Heather mentions several different barbarian groups in his reasoning, such as the Visigoths and the Goths, one group that he focuses on more than the others is the Huns. The Huns were one of Western Rome’s worst enemies and they did not hold back when it came to invading the empire. The Huns were a powerful barbaric group and “the growth of the Hunnic power… provides a unifying explanation for thirty-five years of periodic invasion” (Heather 434). The Huns were constantly trying to invade Western Rome and did so repeatedly over a 35-year period. This, no doubt, wore down the Western Roman Empire to the point that it was difficult and tiresome for them to try to defend themselves. When barbarians invade, they tend to do so for once reason, to gain land, and whether the loss of land to the barbarians is small or grand “Every temporary, as well as permanent loss of territory brought a decline in imperial revenue” (Heather 434), thus weakening the empire. When the Huns disappeared, the Western Roman Empire was caught off guard. At this point the Huns had begun to be integrated into the Western Roman Empire and had become vital