The Fall of Rome

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As of the second century, A.D., the Roman Empire measured nearly 3,000 miles from east to west and nearly 2,000 miles from north to south, with its total land area approximately one-half of the continental United States. Its population at this time, at its peak under Augustus, had increased from 50 million to as high as 70 million. At the time, only the empire of China had a populous that paralleled with the Roman Empire, and no other human group under a single government was as large as these two.

The era of “decline and fall” began with the death of Marcus Aurelius in A.D. 180, in which the great age of the Pax Romana ended. There was evidence from scholars who have written hundreds of volumes on the problems the empire faced, suggesting that several weakening forces were at work. In and around the middle of the third century, the combination of diminishing resources, political divisions, and growing barbarian strength brought about the beginning of the demise of the Roman Empire.

The empire appeared to be on the brink of falling apart, as a result of civil wars as barbarian tribal confederacies devastated the empire from Gaul to the Black Sea, as well as Spain and Greece being looted by barbarian war bands. A revived Persian kingdom overthrew the Parthian kingdom in the East, and those same rulers looked to revive the great empire of earlier centuries. Persia, at Rome’s expense, was ravaging provinces of the Middle East. With these events in process, the entire empire appeared on the brink of falling apart.

The rescue of the failing Roman Empire came at last, in A.D. 284, when the ruler, Diocletian, came to power. He, unlike rulers before him, had the shrewdness and good fortune to survive, as a determined visionary a...

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...service of the new leaders, Germanic kings.

History normally has a way of providing proof of the way things are truly meant to be. Critics may conclude that things “the fall of Rome” could have been prevented. Of course, “if a bull frog had wings, he wouldn’t bump his tail when he hopped” in other words, it is what it is. Naturally, the “fall of Rome” could have been prevented. I am a firm believer in destiny, and when you look at all of the barbaric and economic problems facing the Romans, it would have been nothing short of a miracle for them to overcome those adversities. To me the fall of Rome was truly meant to be, and not making light of it, but life went on. It was truly a fascinating journey for all of those involved, in the trenches of an Era that truly shaped the world for centuries going forward.

Works Cited

A Brief History of THE WESTERN WORLD

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