Explain Why The Roman Empire Fell

This is a very interesting and I think, timely question. Was Rome’s fall inevitable and can modern super powers remain in power indefinitely? My short answer is yes – it was inevitable and no- super powers can’t stay in power indefinitely. The United States has formally been a country for only 242 years – that is just short of the time frame that Rome was a monarchy (244 years), we are just babies on the world stage. Other civilizations and countries throughout history have had numerous surges in power, followed by falls -British Empire, Ottoman Empire, Roman Empire etc., they all rose to world power status than fell.

Historians have many reasons why the Roman Empire fell. Some of the reasons that resonate with me is the way the Roman Government used so many resources in the actual expansion and conquering (Hunt, Martin, Rosenwein, & Smith, 2016). During the late years of the Roman Empire, inflation became so severe from spending so much money on the army that Diocletian had to impose price controls. Prices were escalating as people panicked and hoarded goods (pg. 215). Money was needed to support the far-flung empire’s army especially as invaders from all sides started to move into Roman lands. As the wars dragged on, trades people and farmers were away from their families and soldiers raided farms for food (pg. 204). Basically, the Roman Empire fell from

various forces from both outside and within its boundaries.

When you look at current times and modern countries that have collapse, a similar pattern remerges – governments over spending, citizens getting nervous, invaders waiting to take over as the country weakens from within.

This is why, as much as I don’t want to, I can ‘t help but answer “no” to the question of a country remaining a super power indefinitely. Human nature would eventually cause a collapse as greed, and in fighting eventually allows another country to take over. It may take hundreds of years, or happen in a lifetime, but eventually, I really believe all super power nations

crumble.

The video for this week poses an interesting question – What if Rome didn’t fall? The video just seems to talk about a continuation of the mixing of cultures. Instead of by forces, they predict it would happen over time. I think that is somewhat true – look at how mixed country tend to get as boundaries switch around. For example, my father-in-law is German as his family came over here just prior to WWII and came from a German town, however, just a generation or two prior to that their town was Polish. Same town, same people, but prior to WWI the borders moved, and the people identify with a different country. One point the video made was that people from distant areas would want representation, and therefore would eventually the Roman senate would be mixed nationality.