The great Empire of Rome, the greatest power to have ruled the Mediterranean. The Roman empire thrived in the time of Julius Caesar around 47 BC. Caesar had made Rome into an empire, but after he died, Rome started its downfall. It was unthinkable. The great Roman empire’s reign was over. There was no one single cause; it was many things happening at once, which caused the fall of Rome. The downfall happened with the army weakening, natural disasters and plagues rising, and leaders becoming corrupted all contributed to their fall. First, the army had become weaker when there were no more wars left. “Before the year 400 CE, foot soldiers wore breastplates and helmets. But when, because of negligence and laziness, they no longer used them.” …show more content…
“The Roman world was shaken by a violent and destructive earthquake. Fifty thousand people lost their lives.” (Fall of Rome, Doc F) The earthquake had vanquished many lives and destroyed plenty of their land. This was a factor of their downfall because of how big the damage was to Rome. “More important in initiating the process of the decline was a series of plagues that swept over the empire. The population of Rome decreased from a million people to 250,000.” (Fall of Rome, Doc F) With that many people dead, the economy worsened and left Rome to face the fact that their power was no longer there. The economy of Rome was also suffering. Rome was importing goods from its colonies but wasn’t exporting nearly as much because of all the deaths. This created the imbalance of trade. The colonies were creating their own finished goods and no longer relied on Rome for them. New coins were then made out of lead and gold to devalue the currency. Merchants now charged more money because these new coins were not worth as much as the old ones. This created inflation, this problem plagued the empire until its …show more content…
“A wealthy lawbreaker is not punished for his injustice. The laws and constitution of Romans were not fair.” (Fall of Rome, Doc E) The governors were harming the people. In fact, there was a civil war going on between the people for the emperor's position. The governors had believed that they could do anything they wanted, so they taxed the people badly for their own gain. After all, the government wasn’t being watched by the empire because of the civil war. “Roman Emperors, 235-285 CE. 13 out of 19 emperors assassinated.” (Fall of Rome, Doc A) The emperors weren’t liked. The abused power of the Praetorian Guard, leaded to the unfair selection of many disreputable emperors and the assassination of those not favoured by the Guard.The ones that were assassinated had short reigns, usually only lasting 3-6 years. For a fact, many of the emperors took their power by killing the previous emperor. They were so focused on power that they didn’t notice how bad their empire, land, and care of people had become. To conclude, the fall of Rome happened over the passing time of years, with multiple factors contributing. Although, if the empire wasn’t in civil conflict and the Huns hadn’t invaded, Rome might have lasted a few more years. But, Rome was bound to fall from the long and slow decline throughout history. This is an important question today as a result of how it provides information that a downfall of a civilization can happen
One of the biggest reasons Rome fell is because the military. The military started to become sluggish and weak. Since this happened soldiers fought the goths without any protection for their chests and heads (doc B.) This made it so soldiers were easily killed in battle by archers. Adding on to that Soldiers were exposed to wounds because they have no armour so they would think about running and not fighting (doc B.) Senators, bureaucrats, clergymen, cooks, bakers, and slaves all avoided the draft not giving enough people into to military (doc B.)
One important reason for the fall of Rome was natural disasters. In document F it shows that the population decreased from a million people to two hundred and fifty thousand because of the plague. This problem helps explain why Rome fell because it shows that thousands of people died, meaning there were less people. With less people in Rome many jobs are not being
The two most important factors that led to the fall of the Roman Empire in 476 CE were poor leadership and Military problems. The poor leadership in the Empire was a major factor that ultimately led the Roman Empires to their demise. Some of these bad emperors had mental
Rome was a very powerful empire, but eventually fell because of one thing, weak political leadership. Weak political leadership was the main reason why Rome fell and it was more of a chain because when there is bad leadership then there is bad military and more invaders. The invasions got more effective and hurt the empire a lot more than it should have at that time. First of all Rome went from a republic to a empire with all the power and rights from the people slowly slipping away to the all powerful emperors at the end. Emperors did not want to share any power with the people which was very bad because they only paid attention to power, for example how Julius Caesar get kill/assassinated on March 15, 44 BCE in Rome, Italy.
This loss of population made it hard to find laborers and soldiers for war. This caused the empire to pay Germanic soldiers to fight for them. The need to pay for troops created a large debt for the Romans. Another reason that led to the decline of the Roman Empire was their water source coming in through lead pipes. Many people believed this poisoned the Romans which also led to low population.
The legendary Roman Empire lasted from 753 B.C.E. all the way until 1453 A.D. However Rome split in two at about 395 A.D. which crippled the ancient Rome we know. So really ancient Rome lived from 753 B.C.E. to 476 A.D. But the name of Rome continued on in the Byzantine empire for about another 1000 years. Yet many people nowadays still refer to Rome as one of the greatest ancient civilizations of all time.
In Document A, it shows 19 Roman Emperors in the 50 years of 235-285 CE. Thirteen of the nineteen leaders were assassinated or possibly assassinated. This perhaps is because of weak leadership or only wanting the power for themselves. Citizens were also upset with how the government was not “not possessing the spirit of former generations” and because of this, it was “ruining the state.” (Doc E)
DBQ:The Fall of Rome Rome, one of the world's greatest civilizations ever eventually fell. Thousands of years ago, one of the greatest civilizations to ever live was in modern day Italy. Between the years 20 AD and 300 AD the empire was thriving. They were productive and growing everyday. But after the year 300, it all went down hill.
In another's word the laws were unfair and based on wealth and money. Because of the injustice, Rome lost its citizens and allies, this contributed to the downfall of its empire. Political Instability Lastly would be political instability. Each ruler/emperor had what we call haters. Between 235-285 CE, there were 19 rulers, 3 of which died of natural causes, this includes illnesses like the Plague.
Rome never established a way to decide who would be next in line to become emperor. It was up to the old emperor, the Senate, the emperor’s private army, and the army to argue on who would become emperor and the new emperor would reward them for their selection (Guided Notes). Because there was no set system in place, the throne began to be bribed off starting in A.D. 186 and there were 37 new emperors where 25 were assassinated (Student Handout 1.3A). This shows that too many people ruled in little time and may were killed off to get the throne. Many historians thought political corruption with new emperor selection and bribery for the throne is one of the theories thought to be behind the fall of Rome.
The Fall of the Western Roman Empire The Western Roman Empire was an inspiring empire that mastered architecture, engineering, trading, and many other things. But as the empire grew political problems went with it and followed economic issues, diseases and eventually foreign invaders. One of the main reasons for the fall of the Western Roman Empire was the many political problems.
While that was happening a civil war was going on. The military was in bad shape and was interfering with the politics. The three Major causes of the the Fall of Rome were Economic Problems, Socico-Politcal problems, and external invasions that lead to the country not being able to protect itself. Economically
How did an empire so big and powerful fall apart after all of the work and planning that was put into it? The once powerful Roman Empire fell apart for various reasons, such as the over expansion of land and military overspending which led to inadequate man power to cover all of the frontiers and insufficient funds. Also, the corrupt government system of the empire and the instability of its politics for an empire so large, the government was not fit to control
The Roman Empire’s origin was something of a wonder, as it started off as a small town that slowly, but surely, grew into a great power. At first, Italy was engulfed by this incredible authority, but it would grow to spread around the Mediterranean Sea. Eventually, most of Europe, the Middle East and Africa were a part of this legendary empire (Allan, 7). Because of its location on the Mediterranean Sea, trade flourished throughout Rome, assisting in building its glory. Rome had experienced a tremendous golden age.
The Roman economy heavily relied on slave labor, and this put many small businesses and farmers out of business. The wealthier patricians that owned these slaves grew richer and so the gap between the rich and poor citizens grew. The empire, so large already, gradually halted in its expansion which ceased the import of more slaves causing the decline of Rome's primary agricultural workforce. Now, this was a problem. The support of the Roman economy was degrading, and there wasn't enough cash flowing in than what had already flown out (“The Fall of Rome”).