Recommended: Growth of roman empire
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.)
It is true that there are other reasons that explain Rome’s decline. For example. Political assassinations and natural disasters. However the three reasons above - foreign invasion, legal injustice, and especially military problems - provide the best explanation why Rome finally crumbled in the 5th century
The News Ela staff say, “Rome had tangled with Germanic tribes for centuries, but by the 300s “barbarian” groups like the Goths had advanced beyond the empire's borders.” The Germanic tribes and the Romans could not agree on border disputes for the land. Without having an agreed-upon border, the Germanic tribes simply kept going. This alone was forcing the military to work extremely hard to defend the vast territory it was alleged to defend. To add to this, Rome had to occupy all its empire, not just the part that was threatened by the Germanic Tribes, and these parts too were being attacked by barbarian tribes.
Rome was constantly being sacked, with invasions spanning from the west to the east. “The northern world outside the Roman Empire was restless. Raids across the frontiers became more severe.the east was also restless.the Persians were determined to deal with Rome more firmly.pushing his borders westwards into Roman-controlled territories” (Doc. 2). The adage of the adage. With all of these invasions against a weak army without adequate equipment, Rome could not defend itself.
The economy of Rome was failing because trade and business had begun to fade. As stated in document 1 “Commerce had largely disappeared owing to the lack of customers, to piracy on the seas, and to insecurity of the roads on land.” Due to the lack of customers and the dangers of the road and the sea, there
Lane, Kris E. Pillaging the Empire: Piracy in the Americas 1500-1750 (M.E. Sharpe Inc., 1998). Kris E. Lane’s Pillaging the Empire: Piracy in the Americas 1500- 1750 focuses on Spain and Portugal’s encounters with pirates in the Americas during the early modern era. Lane diverges from traditional history on piracy through his attempt to place pirates in a world-historical perspective and he emphasizes how pirates were motivated by their desire for money rather than patriotic motives. Lane is a professor of Colonial Latin American History at Tulane University. The purpose of Pillaging the Empire is to provide a chronological survey of piracy in the Americas and introduce maritime predation in Spain’s colonial holdings between 1500 and1750.
The Roman Empire lasted for 1200 years, conquering the Mediterranean with an iron fist. They were nearly unstoppable: a successor to Ancient Greek culture, a prosperous and innovative economy and government, geography which provided great protection, and a military that deserved its brutal reputation. Yet, they still fell. After the Pax Romana, a 200 year long peacetime, Rome lost the people’s support to fear. A series of natural disasters, mass-migration and disease, and political corruption weakened Rome, forging Rome into easy prey for the Goths to sack, and finally, ending its reign.
One of the main reasons that caused the Roman empire’s downfall was due to their financial strains. This can be shown in the text where it says, “There was a noticeable decline in trade and small industry, and the labor shortage caused by the plague affected both military recruiting and the economy. Armies were needed more than ever, but financial strains made it difficult to pay and enlist more soldiers. By the mid-third century, the state had to hire Germans to fight under Roman commanders.” (Document 1).
There were barbarian invasions that lasted from AD 400-500. The people were terrorized and Rome was sacked twice. Eventually, Rome was overthrown by the Germanic leader Odoacer in AD 476. After Rome was split, everything went downhill. There were two leaders, one in the east and one in west, and the emperors started losing control.
The people of Rome were shocked and scared by this catastrophe, and their fearful conceit led them to believe that there was a correlation between the signs of an imperial decline and the sinking world. This shows how Rome panicked when they saw they were falling short. The decline in population and land affected them tremendously. These are just a few examples of how the Western Roman Empire Fell. Although there is still another major reason for how it
The barbarians learned Roman tactics and band together they became a formidable foe that Rome just set up out post and left alone. Their reliance on Germanic people to fight in the army when people didn’t want to fight in the Roman army anymore. The Antonine Plague, and The Plague of Cyprian also took many of Rome troop one in three die with none Roman people fighting they had no loyalty and were able to infiltrate Roman society.
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.
Causes of Rome’s Decline The Roman Empire was the greatest civilization the world had ever seen, it lasted over than a semi-millennium. For a such great, undefeatable Empire to collapse, there should be many powerful causes. There is an endless debate among historians about the different causes that led to this decline moreover, they couldn’t agree on the most influential factors. In this essay, these different causes will be explored and try to find the direct causes of this decline.
Legions started to demand higher pay resulting in raised taxes. Also the desire for goods from outside the empire grew making less economic growth within Rome. As more products were shipped to Rome pirates started to steal more and more items making stores go out of business back on the mainland. High tariffs were placed on imported goods in a desperate attempt to get money flowing back into Rome. Furthermore the lack of new conquests also instigated the decrease of money flow into Rome because they were not stealing gold.
So Rome paid thousands of German soldiers to fight for them. Obviously this made Rome 's military weak because they would easily run from battle or betray Rome because they had nothing to protect in Rome. Another reason the Roman empire fell to shambles was because the Roman military stopped going on military conquests. When they did this the Roman economy collapsed because the economy relied on the constant income of plundered trophies from captured civilizations.