Decline Of The Roman Empire Essay

In 117 AD Roman Empire control the entire mediterranean world. From Spain the west, to Britain in the north, All the way to persia in the east.The Roman army had always been able to defend the borders of Rome, but now the army was changing More and more “barbarians” entered Rome in search of land and food.Many of these people such as the vandals and Visigoths were being pushed into Rome by the Huns. For years the well disciplined Roman army held the barbarians of Germany in check. In the third century A. D. the Roman soldiers were withdrawn from the Rhine- Danube frontier to fight civil wars in Italy, and the Roman border was left open to attack.Gradually Germanic hunters and herders from the north and central Europe began to raidand take over Roman lands in Greece and Gaul. In A. D. 476, the Germanic general Odoacer overthrow Italy. From then on, Germanic tribal chiefs ruled the western part of the Empire.ew the laws of the Roman Emperors and made himself the ruler of all Roads were left in disrepair and many fields were left untilled. Pirates and bandits made travel unsafe. Cities declined and businesses began to disappear.

They claimed that consuming excessive amounts of lead killed some of the leaders of Rome off. Since only the wealthy could afford to have lead pipes bring water into their homes and utensils made of lead for cooking, their death rate was increasing. What didn’t make sense were those people from the Eastern part of the empire survived longer than those of the Western. Maintaining an army to defend the borders of the Empire from barbarian attacks was a constant strain on the government. Military spending left few resources for other important activities- such as providing public education and maintaining roads. In the last years of the Empire, the frustrated Romans lost their desire to defend the