The Collapse Of The Roman And The Gupta Empire

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The Roman and Gupta Empires fell for a number of reasons. The Gupta Empire was brought down primarily by outside forces, while the Roman Empire was first weakened by internal forces before being overcome by external forces. Both empires had very different approaches to leadership and government. Despite this, foreign invasions, a declining economy, and inner rebellion all played a part in the decline of the Roman and Gupta Empires. If neither empire had had a declining economy, they might not have fallen as soon. As it was, the economy made it impossible for either empire to deal with the other problems they were already facing, such as barbarian invasions and rebellions within the empire. Towards the end of the Gupta Empire, trade declined …show more content…

The government was too weak to control these rebellions, and they exhausted a lot of military force on them. These rebellions didn’t overthrow the Gupta leaders, but they did weaken the political system. Similar to what happened in the Gupta Empire, around 418 CE, a tribe called the Visigoths migrated to Rome and made an agreement with the Roman leaders that allowed them to live within the borders. They often became Roman citizens and fought as part of their armies. However, the people of the tribe were often treated badly by the government and charged higher taxes than the native Romans, which led them to rebel against the Romans. This, just like in India, occupied the government and weakened the army, which left it open to invasion from barbarian …show more content…

In the Gupta Dynasty, weak leadership added to its economic decline, rebellions, and invasions, and ultimately led to its demise. Because the Gupta Dynasty didn’t rely on a centralized government, it was easy for outside forces to come in and overthrow them. The Roman Empire made the opposite mistake. Instead of their leaders being too weak, they were too power-hungry and focused on conquest. This convinced the Roman emperors to spread their empire too far out, making it hard to rule or communicate. This slowly divided the people into sections so that when there was a rebellion or attack, Rome shattered into pieces, and couldn’t be reunified. This is what happened to the Han dynasty as well; they couldn’t go back to being under one government leader, so they dispersed into separate entities instead. This specifically was the reason for the fall of Eastern Rome, and it was later the cause of Western Rome’s fall as

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