Roman Empire Dbq Essay

The great Western Roman Empire was considered to be one of the most powerful empires in human history. Rome became the most powerful state in the world by the first century BCE through a combination of military might, political acumen, and economic might. The empire was founded on blood of two brother’s who fought to the death to be crowned King, which lead to the first King of Rome who was named Romulus. By the third century BCE, all of Rome’s power and greatness began to diminish. Rome was falling. Historians have argued what caused the fall of the Roman Empire. Many historians have pointed to a number of reasons that the Roman Empire fell including; political instability, economic and social problems, the introduction of Christianity, the

The fall of the empire was caused by the “internal decay”, specifically the military. According to Document 5 it states “The military crisis was the result of…shortage of children. [Consequently,] foreigners poured into this…void [lack of soldiers]. The Roman army [was] composed entirely of Germans. The problems of the military was the shortage of children, foreigners had to join the military because of the lack of children, causing the Roman army to be composed entirely of Germans. The disloyalty from the military resulted in attacks on established governments by soldiers while distrust in the government among people led them to take matters into their own hands. The military instability influenced the fall of the Roman

According to Document 6 the map showed the barbarian invasions on the Roman empire. The barbarian invasions were the end of the Roman empire and the tribes overthrowing the empire. The fall on a string of military losses sustained against outside forces. Invaders surrounded the empire pressuring Rome. In the third century BCE, groups like the Goths had begun to push beyond the boundaries of the Roman Empire. This led to a series of rebellions by Germanic tribes in the late fourth century, culminating in the sack of Rome in the fourth century BCE by King Alaric. The Empire spent the next several decades under constant threat before it was raided again in the fourth century BCE, this time by the Vandals. Finally, in the fourth century BCE, Germanic leader Odoacer staged a revolt and deposed Emperor Romulus Augustus. The fourth century BCE was the century that the Western Empire suffered its death blow. This was due to the fact that no Roman emperor would ever again rule from a post in Italy, which led to its downfall. These barbarian invasions would grow onto build kingdoms that would eventually replace the great and Roman