Roman Empire Dbq

The United States was revolutionary in the 1780’s and 1790’s for their new ways of government, including giving the people representatives and having different heigherarcy groups all represented in lawmaking and government. Ancient Rome, however, was the first to use this “partial form of democracy.” The Romans were a group of people who settled in Mid-West Italy in 750 BCE. They steadily grew, and by 200 BCE they had turned into a powerhouse, slashing through neighboring land. While spreading their control and gaining power, the Romans spread their Democratic ideas. Although some believe that Natural disasters led to the collapse of the empire, believing that they succumbed to the elements, the primary reasons for Rome’s downfall was their

Natural disasters could not have been stopped, but the opposition may argue that there was no precautions but should have been, but the government, not willing to care about the people, did not attempt to help them. Rome’s military could have also helped prevent disease and help recover from storms, but they were too lazy to help out others. With most of Rome’s downfall coming from within itself, it could have easily been prevented.
Rome’s military: the source of all of their power and land, as the armed forces had conquered much of Europe, North Africa, and Asia Minor. But, for some reason, it became one of the smallest and weakest. This is asked by many, but can easily be solved. One reason that illustrates the armed forces sluggishness is in Concerning Military Matters by Vegetius, stating that, “when, because of negligence and laziness, parade ground drills were abandoned, the… armor began to seem heavy… they asked the emperor to set aside the breastplates… and… the helmets… fought the

Rome was at its peak when some of its greatest leaders, such as Caesar, were in power (this time was called Pax Romana.) After this period, which had lasted from 27 BCE to 200 CE, a 50 year period of unstable leadership greatly brought along an obvious reason for decline: greed for power. The chart on document A, titled Roman Emperors 235-285 CE, shows that the emperors and higher ups only cared about power and killing to the top, as in that time span, 13 assassinations (or possible) happened to more than half of the rulers, as 13 of the 22 leaders were killed in that way. This evidence shows that Rome’s leaders did not care of their people, as the message they were sending to the people was that they cared more about hiring people to kill people higher up than their own subjects. This obviously made the people of Rome feel negative about their government, as the leader’s reason for being there is to take care of their people, which they are not doing. Therefore, Rome’s leaders were too busy bickering for power to care for their people. Additionally, many of Rome’s own people felt it was a government unfair to live under. A historical text written by Priscus described that, “[In a conversation Priscus had with a former Roman citizen whose land had been conquered] The condition of Roman subjects in time of peace [is worse than war]… taxes are very severe, … men inflict