Johnson 2
Economics
The Romans wealthy class spent large amounts of money to fund their parties and lavish their homes with the finest décor and foods. The government sponsored games and holidays were slowly draining Rome of its wealth. The government was constantly raising the tax rate and the middle class was bearing most of the load and ultimately was moving into poverty.
Inferior technology was another economic downfall for the Rome. The Romans were almost completely limited to engineering through the use of animals and human labor. They neglected to invent machinery and tools and as Rome declined there was less access to animals and human labor.
During the third and forth centuries the empires population decreases by twenty percent due to plagues. This greatly reduced their trade and production and put a further strain on the already poor declining situation.
Military
The military was split into two halves during the third century. This was due to the political decision to divide Rome into East and West empires. Another negative factor was the militaries composition changed, and included mainly Germans and Sarmations. This meant the new soldiers were not trained in the Roman way. The military was weakened and unstable do to the lack of leaders in Rome, low moral and false honor. The military began fighting for wages and not for the glory of Rome. This created a weak military structure defending Rome.
Johnson 3
Political
The reasons for Rome’s political decline were incompetent rulers and the policies to the throne’s succession were uncertain and often resulted in civil wars. The politics of the empire grew corrupt and self-serving. Eventually Rome lacked the structure to defend itself against the encroaching Germanic kingdoms from the west.
Conclusion
No one really knows the exact history as to why or when the Roman Empire fell. However I feel that the four components listed in this paper had a significant impact on the decline of the great Roman Empire. I especially liked this quote by Edward Gibbon from his book titled “Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”.
"The warlike states of antiquity, Greece, Macedonia, and Rome, educated a race of soldiers; exercised their bodies, disciplined their courage, multiplied their forces by regular evolutions, and converted the iron which they possessed into strong and serviceable weapons. But this superiority insensibly declined with their laws and manners; and the feeble policy of Constantine and his successors armed and instructed, for the ruin of the empire, the rude valor of the Barbarian mercenaries."
- Edward Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
Johnson 4
Work Cited
- Ancient/Classical History - About.com
http://ancienthistory.about.com/library/weekly/aa061599.htm?once=true&rnk=r&terms=fall+of+rome
http://www.ipl.org/
- Professor Gerhard Rempel, Western New England College
http://mars.acnet.wnec.edu/~grempel/courses/wc1/lectures/14romefell.html
- Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon
http://www.ccel.org/g/gibbon/decline/
- Illustrated History of the Roman Empire
http://www.roman-empire.net/collapse/collapse-index.html
- Reasons for the fall of the Roman Empire
All left Rome open to outside invaders
adapted from History Alive material
http://killeenroos.com/1/Romefall.htm
