Roman Empire Dbq

The Roman Empire used to be cutthroat and menacing, but what ultimately ended it? There were military invasions and the Roman army began to lose skill and discipline. There were also corrupt officials in office. Taxes grew and the poor became isolated. There were many elements that brought about the downfall of Rome, but the fundamental reason was the emperors. The last ruler of Rome was Romulus Augustulus. His father, Orestes, was in the Roman army and worked his way up in power and position. He eventually became so powerful, that he seized control of the government and put his son on the throne. Romulus was too young to rule, so his father was in charge of all the political aspects, while Romulus was the face of the Emperor. The people

In AD 284, Diocletian became the emperor and one of his first acts was to divide Rome. He took the eastand gave the west to his friend Maximian. Before Diocletian, farmers had been forced to work as slaves for other people, but Diocletian let them work back on their own land. He also fixed prices, so as to maintain the economy. He ruled until AD 305, then Constantine took over. 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. People were not working. Everything was out of control; it was a free-for-all. Judges 21:25 accurately describes Rome at this time “All the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes” (NLT). There was not enough people holding political power and the empire was becoming unmanageable. There were rebellions and surprise attacks. The climate was changing and there was freezing, which resulted in a massive move to the western border of Rome. The state of the empire was in shambles, and the emperors could not keep