Roman Empire Dbq Essay

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.

The Roman Empire had impressive and forceful enemies, and suffered from frequent invasions, which contributed to the fall of Rome. The Roman historian Vegetius states that Roman soldiers became negligent and lazy over time and often fought without

The map of Foreign Invasions of the Roman Empire shows the territory of the Roman Empire and how many different people were migrating near Rome, some even reaching the city itself. All of these migrations of people led to Rome being invaded often, as everyone wanted a piece of Rome’s riches. (Doc C) This evidence means that Rome suffered greatly from the migrations of people around them. The constant invasions and attacks Rome had to defend itself against contributed to their fall. According to author Edward Gibbon, the Romans suffered from natural disasters near the end of the Empire. They were hit with devastating earthquakes and floods, causing the deaths of hundreds of thousands. Fifty thousand people lost their lives in a flood in the city of Alexandria alone. (Doc F) This shows just how impactful these geographical challenges were, weakening the Empire and killing thousands. The already declining Roman Empire was thrown even farther off track by these natural disasters. The author, Edward Gibbon, is a historian credited with writing The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Since he is a historian writing a book, he wants to state the facts with as little bias as possible to make sure those studying his book get the most factual information. The migration of people around Rome, the invasions that came with them, and the natural disasters the

Priscus, a Roman ambassador for the Huns, writes about how he prefers his new life with the Huns to his old life in Rome. He talks about how expensive the taxes are and how the rich are able to pay for justice. (Doc E) The fact that a person who has lived in the Roman Empire their whole life criticizes their home country like that and says they prefer their new life shows how even Romans did not like the way the Empire was being run. This illustrates how unstable things had gotten in Rome, to the point where their own people wanted change. Priscus is an ambassador, and his writing is an account of a conversation he had. Since he is a Roman official, his writing is very believable. He would be expected to defend Rome and mention the positives, but he does the exact opposite, speaking factually about the state of Rome. Another example of the political instability in Rome was during the fifty-year period from 235-285 CE. Rome went through nineteen emperors, and only two died a natural death. Out of all those emperors, assassination was the most common cause of death. (Doc A) This paints a picture to the rest of the world that Rome is weak and politically unstable. If their rivals see that Rome cannot keep a leader for more than a few years, they might think it is the perfect time to strike since it looks like Rome is struggling. The fact that Rome cannot keep a leader, and that even former Roman citizens