Aidan Carpenter
Mrs. Dahlgren
Cause and Effect Essay
January 23, 2023
What Caused the Roman Empire to Collapse?
The Roman Empire was one of the largest and longest lasting empires in history, surviving for over a millennium. Founded in the 8th century BC, the empire was at a high point for many years, controlling a major portion of Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. There were many impressive things that happened during the time of the empire, but I’m not here to talk about that. It wasn’t going to last forever, and for a while there were many things that built up to the Roman Empire’s eventual downfall.
What were the events that caused it to happen? To start, Rome relied heavily on slave labor for things like farming, crafting, and
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Eventually, Rome was split into two halves; the west half and the east half. The east would continue to thrive for many more years, but for this I’m focusing on the west. After a while, Rome did allow Christianity in, although that may have caused problems since it took from the holy status of the emperor. It also caused troubles with their legal system, since now religious leaders like popes were taking part in political affairs, making things more complicated, which only added to their currently unstable government. Definitely not one of the biggest causes, but a cause nonetheless.
What was another
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Even after the split, the east got more resources than the west, and they were more fortified. The west was left with not that much, and was always under attack. They eventually allowed Visigoths and other barbarians inside Rome, but abused them. They eventually attacked Rome from inside, which made things bad for Rome, and then even worse once other barbarian tribes attacked as well. They began to take over land from Rome in areas such as Spain and North Africa. The city of Rome was eventually sacked by the Visigoth king Alaric in 401, and the last emperor was killed by Odoacer in 476, marking the official end of the western Roman Empire.
The Conclusion Although Rome was a great power for many many years, a mix of both internal and external issues eventually built up with each other and caused it to fall. The combination of poor spending plus all the attacks on Rome from other tribes meant a weakening defense system on the outside, and a crumbling economy on the inside. There were many more problems as well, such as many corrupt emperors and a distrust in the government, but these were some of the major problems. The eastern empire didn’t seem to have many issues though, and continued to survive until 1400 AD. Good job eastern Rome! You didn’t