Ancient Rome was the most successful empire in the world for quite some time. They conquered lands, fought wars, and earned money. So how did it perish? After the Pax Romana, Rome’s economy slowly diminished. There are many reasons as to how Rome failed. The three most damaging reasons why are political corruption, inflation, and barbarian invasions.
Political corruption played a big role in the fall of Rome. The way emperors chose their heir was problematic. The usual procedure was to pass on the throne to another family member. (Emperors without sons would adopt heirs) But often the throne would be sold off to the highest bid, or there would be a battle to determine the next emperor. Candidates for the throne also used bribery or other means to get it.
After the reign of Marcus Aurelius, inflation in the Roman economy increased. Since the empire didn’t grow/expand anymore, the flow of money decreased. Merchants set higher prices and Nero (the Emperor at the time) decreased the value of coins. The metal needed for coins were in other
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In around the third century, Rome split into two. The Latin-speaking West and the Greek-speaking East. The West had more demographic problems, so barbarians were able to ransack the cities. Rome, no longer fit to be the capital, was taken over by Visigoths in 410. More cities were ransacked by barbarians and the Emperor’s reign diminished. The Eastern Empire was able to thrive for another few centuries, until they eventually died out.
There are many more factors that contributed in the fall of Rome. But political corruption, inflation and barbarian invasions were what did it. They’d cheat for the Emperor’s throne, decrease the value of coins and barbarians would take over their cities. So, these are the three reasons that did most damage to the Roman economy. But, has the Roman Empire really fallen? Do we still see some Roman influences in cultures