The Roman Empire: The Fall Of Rome

The Fall of The Roman Empire

In its prime, Rome was the greatest superpower on Earth. Its reach and influence stretched from Europe to Africa, into Greece and even Asia. They created some of, if not the, best aqueducts, cities, roads, and structures in the ancient world. The buildings and cities they made are some of the most recognised in the world and stand even thousands of years later. Their military was the most powerful the ancient world had ever seen. So how did this great empire fall? No one thing made it collapse, but rather several factors that slowly deteriorated Rome until it was no longer sustainable.

First, Several internal factors led to the downfall of Rome. One was the moral deterioration in the Roman citizen. As Livy,

Often when animals were involved, hundreds, and sometimes thousands, were killed in a single day. When humans fought, death was less common due to the cost of equipment, training, and etcetera, but the barbarity of watching fights to the death between humans and animals for pure entertainment is still a prevalent example of moral decline. The major cities of Rome, especially in the city of Rome, were also beginning to deteriorate, both morally and physically. The Empire, which had been exteriorly focused for many decades, was neglecting internal affairs, creating failing infrastructure and morals. Crime had become more rampant in the cities. Several examples exist in the royal family and the Emperors. Examples include Nero, who was not only exceptionally cruel, but so out of tune with the needs of his people that, it is expected, he lit a fire in the city that burned a large portion of it to the ground. Even if he didn 't do this, he certainly took advantage of the situation by building an extremely large and luxurious palace for himself. Another internal factor was corruption, oppression, and other problems with the government. According to Michael Grant, author of History of Rome, "Above all else, the burden of taxation they had

Not only internal maladies negatively affected Rome, though. External factors played a huge role in the destruction of the Roman Empire. For one, Rome had been conquering territory for as long as it existed. At its height, they owned Europe, Britain, Northern Africa, and Western Asia. They had, in effect, spread themselves too thin. So, Emperor Diocletian split it in two, with one capital in Constantinople, and one in Rome. By this time as well, several Germanic barbarian groups, such as the Vandals and the Goths, were advancing through the weakened Empire 's borders in the area that is now Germany. Eventually, a former Roman commander and leader of the Germanic tribe of Siri, Odovacar entered the city without resistance and dethroned sixteen year-old Emperor Romanus Rogustalus. The Eastern Empire was renamed the Byzantine Empire. Eventually, trade problems caused money shortages, and Turkish and Ottoman attacks from the West increasingly weakened the Empire, until it finally