Decline Of Rome Essay

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Rome at its peak was one of the greatest empires in the history of the world. Rome had modest beginnings, in the 10th century BC. (Knight, H) Soon, however Rome was to become one of the largest empires of its time. However, when Rome hit its peak everything started to go wrong. Rome started to suffer both economically and socially. The economic crisis during the later parts of Rome’s existence was a major contributor to the decline of Rome. Socially, Rome started to fail socially with huge inequality and the increased use of slaves putting many out of work. (Knight, H) As well, there was sparks of conflict internally leading to countless civil wars between different political groups. (Knight, H) The political aspect of society was also a massive downfall for the romans. The emperors were chosen by violence, or by birth, so they weren’t always capable leaders. They started to get lazy and not work hard to solve the issues for the lower class. (Knight, H)
When Rome started to decline there were a variety of issues that helps worsen the situation at a more rapid rate. The government had to look for a quick way to pay for public construction, their army, and the reconstruction and repair of their roads. The biggest one was the decline of the economy. One of the sub reasons was inflation. The roman emperor Nero and various other emperors degraded the currency to make a demand for more coins. (Gill, N. S.) Doing this meant that the coin was only the value of the gold or silver it used to contain. It no longer had its own currency value but the intrinsic value. (Gill, N. S.) When Claudius II Gothicus came into power from 268-270 A.D. the amount of actual silver in an apparently 100% silver denarius only contained 0.2% silver. (Gill, N. ...

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.... This helped the gap between the social classes grow to be even bigger than it was before. The poor were even taxed more than they could afford and worked to their limit. (Knight, H) This left the entire working class unhappy. This led them to rebelling, which lead to more civil disputes.
The fall of Rome was a very large event that has taught the world a lot about how an empire can function and when it cannot. Rome fell due to three major reasons. Political corruption with emperors being incapable of leading and doing large harm. Social inequality within the empire, and economic crisis with the currency failing. Rome at its peak was one of the greatest empires in the history of the world, but when Rome finally fell, it was truly tragic. From modest beginnings to the leading source of architecture and engineering, Rome was certainly an inspirational place.

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