Fall Of Rome Essay

The Fall of Rome Rome is known to be one of the greatest of the ancient empires. However, it deteriorated during the Pax Romana period, which ironically translates to Roman Peace. During this period, Rome experienced extreme internal conflict, as the emperor changed multiple times, each worse than the last. There was an increase in gladiator fights, a major fire which took out much of Rome, a partition which created two separate empires, and much more. Ultimately, political corruption, excessive military spending, and inflation were the three major causes of the Fall of Rome. One considerable factor in the fall of the roman empire was political corruption. The later part of the Roman empire was extremely corrupt. “Armies fought with each

He reigned for 66 days in the year 193 before he was killed by another faction of the army” (Discovery Education, Chapter 10.5). At this point, Rome was no longer a united empire with a leader representing the people. Now, emperors represented their faction of the army, and didn’t care for the rest of their subjects. The years before the downfall of Rome also saw many changes in emperors. “Emperors were killed because their discipline was too strict or because the soldiers grew restless for change. During the years 235–284, no fewer than 30 generals were proclaimed emperor by their armies. Few reigned as long as three years; one did not last even

His dying advice to his sons was, “Make the soldiers rich and don’t bother about the rest.” That guiding principle weakened the empire and helped lead to its end.” (Discovery Education Chapter 10.5). Emperors no longer cared about the people; they only cared about the soldiers who kept them in the position of emperor. To make things worse, much of the money emperors spent on the military came from the people. “Where did these emperors get the money to enrich their soldiers and pay off the barbarians? From the citizens of Rome. Since they were no longer conquering new countries from which they could get money, the emperors raised taxes'' (Discovery Education, Chapter 10.5). With the Roman treasury depleted by years of military spending, and with no new military conquests, later emperors took money from the people to pay soldiers. Without money going to help the people in poverty and fix other issues in Rome, the standard of living for Roman citizens decreased dramatically, the empire fell into disrepair, and the inflation rate shot