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Internal And External Factors Leading To The Decline Of Rome

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Imperial decline and collapse in both the Roman Empire in Europe and the Han dynasty in China in the period 600BCE to 600CE was caused by internal and external pressures and an economic decline.
Both the Roman Empire and Han dynasty faced internal and external conflicts that developed over time and eventually led to their downfall. In the Roman Empire, strong military leaders such as Gaius Marius and Julius Caesar raised powerful armies hoping to seize power over Rome and institute their rule. Diocletian, a Roman ruler, divided the empire into two parts, each with its own leaders, hoping that it would help stabilize the government. Non-Romans such as the Visigoths and the Huns invaded Rome, which was already declining at the time, and aided …show more content…

One reason for the decline of the Roman economy was military overspending which left little money for important activities such as providing housing and maintaining public roads and buildings. Another reason is that as Rome stopped conquering new lands and decreased trade, the flow of gold into the economy decreased causing salaries to be paid in food or clothing rather than money. Many Roman people began to buy items from slave owners rather than farmers because the slave owners’ items were cheaper. The farmers who did not own slaves could not compete with the prices and they were forced to sell their land and live on the streets since there were limited job opportunities in Rome at the time. Meanwhile, the Han had a weakening government that was not able to ensure taxes were collected, making them unable to collect enough tax revenue to fund the court and support the army. Large landowners also began to earn large amounts of money while the farmers with very little land were unable to earn enough money to support them, which widened the gap between the rich and the poor. Lower populations due to the spread of diseases forced Han leaders to raise taxes, but the lower classes could not earn enough money to pay them. Another reason why the Han dynasty

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The empires of the classical era have many similar characteristics, but they also had many defining qualities. For example, Imperial Rome (31 B.C.E.-476 C.E.) and Han China (206 B.C.E-220 C.E.) have utilized their methods of political control in various ways. These two empires had similar methods of political control concerning defense. Other methods of political control were different in the sense of how they conducted their society within the empires. Methods of political control in imperial rome and Han China were similar in the sense that both empire defense systems were weak and fragmented which later led to the collapse of central governments.

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Rich people stopped paying taxes while some others just left. Both empires relied on the slaves a lot. Only in Rome just like the rich the slaves stopped paying taxes and started to leave. There were less people in Rome and later on there weren't even a few lefts all because of taxation. In the Han dynasty they did struggle with taxation but not as much as the Western Roman empire.

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During the era of classical societies, the Han and Roman empires were two vast cosmopolitan societies which dominated regions all throughout Eurasia. In regards to the fall of the Han and Roman empires, both were similar in that they fell victim to internal government decay, but different in that Rome fell to foreign invasions, while Han suffered from rebellions of their own people. The Han and Roman empires were similar in their fall in that they both suffered from internal decay, specifically of their governments. In the Han empire, land distribution problems that were originally sought to be fixed by the “Socialist emperor” Wang Mang allowed large landowners to become even more influential than they previously were.

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“The division of the empire made it more easily governed in the short term, but over time the two halves drifted apart,”(Doc 9). When the halves drifted apart, they had trouble working together to fight off all of the invaders, and they started to fight over materials. In addition, when the Eastern Empire began to grow strong while the Western was weak, the invaders decided to attack the Western Empire more, causing Rome to weaken even more. Also, Rome had a problem getting leaders that lasted longer than a few years. Rome had 19 different leaders from 235 to 285 CE, and at least 15 of them were murdered (Doc 1).

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Cities were no longer organized or protected, so the bustling urban life that relied on structure disintegrated. Without the productive, systematic agricultural system, the population no longer had a reliable, widespread food source, and the lack of an imperial army and legal protection from violent or otherwise harmful crimes endangered the people, resulting in population decline. Additionally, because Rome broke up into many decentralized cities, and China dissolved into disunion and conflict, less area was under cultivation than under the large, connected empires. No public works like roads or bridges were in progress, and there were no large states to benefit from international trade.

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The year 27 BCE marked the start of the Pax Romana, the height of the Roman Empire. Rome had a series of good emperors, and everything was well until 180 CE, when this period of peace ended. A few hundred years later, in 476 CE, the Western Roman Empire fell once and for all. The fall of the Roman Empire was caused by a combination of powerful enemies, geographical challenges, and most importantly, political instability. These factors weakened the Empire’s power and eventually led to its downfall.

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The Huns were encouraged by a realization of the civilizations weakening. Another similarity emerged with taxation issues. In China, the already heavily taxed free peasants were burdened with new taxes and many lost their farms and became day laborers on large estates, making the upper class even wealthier. While in Rome, tax collection became difficult

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1. Identify and explain two examples of external factors that led to the downfall of a civilization The Inca Empire is an example of how external forces led to the downfall of a civilization. The Inca Empire was pushed to its fall by external forces such as diseases brought by outsiders and the Spanish conquistadors. A website called Discover Peru informed me that diseases such as smallpox, measles, chickenpox, and influenza killed between 50% to 90% of the Inca population (The Fall of the Inca Empire).

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These were the last reasons of the fall of the Roman Empire. War, invasion, and natural disasters or diseases were the primary causes of the “fall” of Rome. The diseases that spread across the area, the wars killing thousands of people on both of the sides, the different invasions. They all caused the Roman Empire to fail. These things have made the society the way it is

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The upper class of Rome gradually became more selfish and turned away from their jobs that once originally characterized their empire. Cultural decline caused by new commitments of the upper classes and lack of political authority also lead to the downfall of Rome. All these conflicts resulted in a spiral that steadily worsened. Explaining why the fall pf Rome left a bigger impact than the fall of the Han.

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The ancient Roman Empire declined over many years for many reasons. For example, the army was weakening, this is one cause that ended up leading to the fall of Rome. Political instability was also a big problem towards the end of ancient Rome. Also, even the size of the empire itself was too large to handle. It had to be split into two to be controlled.

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Before its collapse, the Roman empire had become too big for it to be effectively governed by one leader so in 330 AD the Roman emperor Constantine split the empire into two halves. The western half remained Rome but the newly formed eastern half

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I believe the Han Empire collapsed because of the Silk Road, a trading route from China to the Mediterranean. It bought some pro’s and con’s, like the spread of different cultures and the spread of the Bubonic Plague not only across China but parts of Europe as well. The Black Death originated in Europe and was spread across the eastern part of the world. It killed many people in the Han Empire meaning it killed thousands upon thousands. " Since most Empires were not advanced in their sanitation systems it spread quickly".

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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.

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