In 27 BCE (Before Common Era) the Roman Empire was entering its golden age, “The Pax Romana.” During the Pax Romana, the citizens of all Roman cities enjoyed free food and entertainment along with access to all of the Roman amenities such as bathhouses, roads, and mail service. However in 180 CE (Common Era) the Roman empire took a turn for the worse and eventually the last empire fell in 476 CE. The once powerful Roman Empire was in shambles. So what happened to the empire? 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 …show more content…
First of all the Roman People did not want to serve in the military. They were used to the lavish lifestyle that the Roman people enjoyed (class notes). In order to fill this hole in the Roman Army they had to hire German Mercenaries. The loyalty of these mercenaries was questionable since they did not pledge allegiance to the Emperor (class notes). “The Roman Army was composed entirely of Germans” but the worst part was that the army could not even defend their own territory (DBQ, Doc. 5.) “In the late 300s a nomadic Central Asian people, the Huns, stormed out of the east and sent the Germanic tribes fleeing. Imperial defences in the east managed to hold, but those in the west were soon overwhelmed. The speed and ferocity of the Huns struck terror in the people they attacked.” (Holt p.191). The Huns even made it all the way to Rome itself, but Pope Leo I stopped them and even managed to get the Huns to leave, (class notes). Although he did get the Huns to leave that wasn’t the end of the invasions. “The endless column of Barbarians pressed on the Roman empire with accumulated weight; and, if the foremost were destroyed, the vacant space was instantly replenished by new assailants,” (Doc. 6). This meant the army was always fighting some barbarian group at any given time after the Pax Romana. Since the military problems affected everyone in the empire this is one of the two biggest factors that led to the fall of
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.)
Rome can easily be thought of as the most powerful empire at any given time. From 50 BCE, to 200 CE, Rome was the leader of the Mediterranean world. Stretching for about 1 million square miles, there was nothing that even compared to Rome. Spreading from current-day Italy, to Britain, to the Northern Coast of Africa; The Roman Empire was everywhere. This leaves one major question: How did the Roman Empire lose it power, land, and supremacy?
There were many different causes for the fall of the Roman empire, not just one. The Roman Empire was very strong, but eventually broke down over time for a multitude of reasons. Most of those reasons had to do with changes in Rome’s identity. Some of these changes in Rome’s identity led to the fall of Rome because they were so sudden; only portions of the Roman population were prepared for the change. Other times, citizens got into arguments because they were, in a way, too prepared.
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.
Fall of Rome DBQ Including most of the Mediterranean world, Rome, a city that was growing big enough to become one of the world’s largest empire’s would soon slowly fall apart because of their problems. In 27 BC, Rome’s first emperor, Augustus Caesar, took complete power. During his time, he ruled with Pax Romana, a time of Roman peace which lasted for almost 200 years. After his death, the Roman Empire begun to break apart. The primary reasons for the fall of Rome was it being geographically too big; the population was decreasing due to plagues which led to the Roman army becoming weak, social and military issues and laziness of the military would guide the army down which led to cities being lost, and their government and leadership issues of the weak or selfish power leaders would all conduct to the breaking up of Rome.
This emperor was different since according to Aristides he says that he was elected to protect and care for the people not to be their master and that he also had equality within the poor, rich, weak, and powerful people. The Roman Empire is a good representation of the modern world since the United States has a similar political system, but a bit more modern since we have one person in charge but he has more people under him to be able to rule the country effectively. The Roman Empire and the United States are similar since the government is there to care and protect the people from harm and to keep everything equal among the people. By having that type of government, it helped the emperor have peace within the people and by having that it allowed the empire to be able to conquer and control the empire with no problems which is why they were able to last a while without being
It wasn’t going to last forever, and for a while there were many things that built up to the Roman Empire’s eventual downfall. What were the events that caused it to happen? To start, Rome relied heavily on slave labor for things like farming, crafting, and
Numerous arguments have been put forward by people who suggest that the Empire survived on through the Eastern half which remained after the West fell. Regardless of this there a myriad of reasons for why the Roman Empire collapsed and in particular the western half and it is interesting and significant to see what caused this decrease and ultimate downfall of Rome. Through the next few paragraphs the economic, social and political factors which led to the demise of the western half of the Roman Empire will be explored and examined. There are many explanations for the depletion of the Roman economy and their problems with finances and productivity loomed in the shadows for a long period prior to their downfall. At first, Rome’s economy was primarily built on and based upon agriculture, urbanization and slave labour
I agree that Rome was not overthrown by external enemies but was defeated by its own internal problems. The fall of Rome was mainly due to internal problems because the Romans were only fulfilling their own needs, the law were not reliable and the struggle with the right emperor led to the end of Rome. These internal problems made the empire unstable and led to external problems. For example, in document C, Marcellinus, a Roman soldier criticizes the Romans for being selfish and only worrying about themselves.
Later roman emperors were corrupt and poor leaders (Guided notes). This supports my claim because it shows that corrupt and poor leaders could easily get into power. Poor and corrupt leaders usually make decisions that will lead to the fall of an empire. Political corruption could have been the fall of the
If the Romans were nicer to the barbarians the war wouldn’t have happened and maybe they could’ve worked to help the empire. Although even without the Barbarians and the Gothic War the Empire had many internal issues. The Roman Empire was never known for having good leadership even commemorating the five good emperors they had. Before the Roman Empire’s termination, it was once the strongest and most extensive social structure in Western civilization. The fall of the Roman Empire was inevitable, the empire was full of unfit rulers and didn't run off the proper foundation for a stable empire; however, the fall of the Roman Empire happened because of the way they treated the barbarians
The Decline of the Roman Republic The Decline of the Roman Republic Ancient history was profoundly affected by the fall of the Roman Republic, which signaled the end of one period and the start of another. The Roman Empire took its place in 27 BC after the Roman Republic had existed for more than four centuries. The Roman Republic was founded in 509 BC. Several issues, such as political corruption, economic unpredictability, and social discontent, contributed to the demise of the Republic. I would argue that political corruption and the theory of alliance of Julius Caesar, Pompeii the Great, and Marcus Licinius was the leading cause of Rome’s decline.
The main issue that led to the demise of the Western Roman Empire were the line of unfit rulers. These leaders would lie, cheat, and steal to get the most power they could. Though the leaders of Rome were not all bad, it was very regular to have an incompetent, greedy leader. Another major political issue was the emperor's bodyguards who were not to be trusted and were sometimes paid to assassinate the leader themselves. These were some of the first major problems that started the fall of the Western Roman Empire.
The population went down due to diseases. The country could not hold its own against other world powers such as the huns and the germans. The Germans overran the city of Rome this lead to downfall because it was the end of the country ir got destroyed by foreian invaders. The Roman Empire was on its last breath.
The Fall of the Roman Empire Michael C. Pinto World History Mr. Rodio 29 October 2015 Michael C. Pinto 1 Mr. Rodio World History 29 October 2015 The Fall of the Roman Empire The Roman Empire was one of the largest empires in the world and spanned over fifty-four countries.