Roman Barbarians

The Roman Empire was one of the most mighty and powerful empires ever to exist. Some people wonder what could have possibly cause such a strong empire to just fall one day. Well that is where they are mistaken. Some people believe that the Roman Empire fall apart all at once, but in reality it was many events over a long period of time that caused this well known empire to one day collapse.

One of the causes of the fall of the Roman Empire was nomadic invaders from the north. This actually was not their first encounters with these specific invaders. These barbarians from Germany made their first appearance around 8 centuries before their last appearance (Nardo, 18). During this time in Rome, the form of government was still a republic

(1. Nardo, 18). In that republic, were citizen assemblies who elected their government officials (1. Nardo, 18). Those government officials included two jointly serving councils who administered and controlled the army and military (1. Nardo, 18). However most of the power went to the Senate which consisted of wealthy officials(1. Nardo, 18). So it was in the year of 390 B.C. when the nomadic invaders from the north, specifically German barbarians, began marching towards the south and destroying everything in sight as they marched (1. Nardo, 18). In the book The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire which was written by Edward Gibbon, Gibbons said the barbarians “were filled with innumerable tribes of hunters and shepherds” (Gibbons, ). They eventually got to Rome and threatened them, so the council got the army ready and they stated that they would resume their normal occupations when the battle was over (1. Nardo, 18). These same barbarians contributed to the fall of Rome in the future.
So much farther in the future they started getting invaded a lot.

One of the groups that invaded them were the Huns. The fiercely fought multiple battles to push the German invaders out of their way to Rome. Some other groups that attempted to invade Rome was The Visigoths, Ostrogoths, and some other minor Germanic people. They tried to invade the Roman Empire because they like many groups sought safety. Then around the year of 378 B.C. Aa group from the Roman army tried to fight back with a group named the Visigoths in an area called Adrianople. They ended up getting defeated pretty badly (Ellis, 170). ^^^. After their terrible loss at Adrianople barbarian invasions just began to worsen (2. Nardo, 98). Because of all these battles and invasions, the Roman military suffered greatly as far as numbers in their military went (2. Nardo, 98). Around forty thousand people were killed and never replaced (2. Nardo, 98). To try and cover their losses by hiring mercenaries (Ellis, 171) . Mercenaries are also known as foreign soldiers serving in an army for pay (Ellis, 171). Some of the soldiers just left because was experiencing increasing financial problems and could not afford to pay their soldiers as much as they used to (2. Nardo, 98). These financial problems also caused the decline of quality of the weapons they used to fight with (2. Nardo, 98). So that led to them not winning any

battles.
Rome also started declining because of loss of territory (2.

Nardo, 100). At the same time as the mercenaries that were helping the Roman army, their actual leaders in Germany were negotiating with the government of Rome ( 2. Nardo, 100). Rome’s leader at the time, Theodosius, agreed to exempt the Visigoths from any normal taxation, and also agreed to accord them to to the status of the federates (2. Nardo, 100). That meant that they were equal to the parcel of the Roman Empire (2. Nardo, 100). At this point in history WAS the first time ever that Rome was not controlled under just a single jurisdiction of government (2. Nardo,

100).
Along with that the imperial government also having some issues (2. Nardo, 101). Multiple suitors were put in the throne, even though most of them were illegal. (2. Nardo, 101). This happened periodically for a long time (2. Nardo, 101). Those people that were put in the throne created more rebellions which the actual Roman emperors had to put up with (2. Nardo, 101). This costed a great deal of money in not just money but also soldiers (2. Nardo, 101). While all of this was going on even more nomadic invaders threatened the borders of Rome (2. Nardo, 101). Dealing with these problems required a powerful central leadership which Rome at the time did not have (2. Nardo, 101).
Theodosius the Roman Empire’s last powerful (2. Nardo, 101). After he passed away in the year of 395, the Empire split into two different sectors each with its own goals and rules (2. Nardo,101). His son named Honorius took over the eastern side (2. Nardo, 101). He was eleven (2. Nardo, 101). His other son Arcadius, aged seventeen, took the west side (2. Nardo, 101). Rome ended up splitting right when a unified realm was greatly needed to help defend against the many foreign invaders that were still invading at this time (2. Nardo, 101). This caused even more problems for the quickly declining Roman Empire (2. Nardo, 101).
Some scholars have also suggested money to play a big part as well (1. Nardo, 15). Due to the large loss of money, the government the could not afford to pay the soldiers as much as they used to (2. Nardo, 98). The efficiency and quality went down because they could not afford to pay to get decent weaponry (2. Nardo, 98). As time went on the value of their money went down a great deal (1. Nardo, 15).
So in conclusion, there were actually more causes for the fall of the Roman Empire than one may think. Rome went through a long span of times where many bad things happened to them making the Empire weaker and weaker each time. Some things that contributed a great deal were invasions, financial problems, economic problems, and their military experienced some shrinking. The Roman Empire did not fall all at once, but fell due to various events over a long period of time.