Rome's Military Mistakes Essay

Rome has fallen and cannot get up. Rome may have begun as a tiny settlement in 750 BCE; however, by 200 BCE, the war machine known as Rome, had taken out all of their major rivals. As Julius Caesar came to power, the well working Republic had shifted to an empire. Then, things took a turn for the worse. Critics may argue that foreign invasions was the main contributor to Rome’s decline, but the true contributors to the fall of Rome were the empire’s military mistakes and moral decline in society. Military mistakes was a big problem for the Romans. The Roman military was as good as a rock at fighting. Also, the people of Rome had a only-do-what’s-expected-of-me attitude. That is not going to cut it for a first-class and massive empire.

To begin, Rome’s military could not be described in a single word. The choices and actions they executed were simply lazy, weak, and whimpy. In the ancient book, Concerning Military Matters, by the Roman historian Vegetius

states, “But when, because of negligence and laziness, parade ground drills were abandoned, the customary armor began to seem heavy since the soldiers rarely ever wore it.” This quote shows that because Rome’s army was absolutely weak and lazy. This lead to the army abounding all of the drills that they would normally do. Instead they did nothing. Also, they got rid of most of the armor that they wore because they would not work out. Now, the army is weak and has no armor when they go to war with any invaders. The abounding of drills and armor in the Roman army made it a whole lot easier for the Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Huns, Vandals, Angles, and Saxons to finally take over all of Rome in 476 CE. To add, Michael Grant says, “There can be little doubt that the weakness of the Roman army… to enforce regular conscription.” This statement gives a great example that the Roman army’s regular conscription (draft of people into the army) was not being enforced. This is because the army was to lazy. This lead to the little numbers in the Roman army. This allowed most invaders to walk in to rome in the 200 year invasion. All in all, Rome’s military problems were out of control and brought to an end.
Next, another main contributor to the fall of Rome is the civilization’s moral decline.

One fact in a chart compiled by various sources is that Rome went through twenty-two rulers in a fifty year period. This fact shows that the people of Rome were especially stubborn, violent, and unaccepting during the fifty year period. This is not an ideal environment for everybody, from the poor to the rich. Clearly the violence of the Roman people was present. In addition, Ammianus Marcellinus states that, “The Hun’s exceed any definition of savagery...so wild...completely ignorant.” This very interesting statement shows that the people of Rome liked to describe their enemies as animals so it is easier to kill them. To them it is easier to kill an animal then it is to kill a human. The harsh and violence everybody now contains in Rome truly shows in this horrible description. In the end, Rome’s moral decline ended the all-mighty Roman empire because of the do-what’s-expected-of-me attitude and the harsh environment

.
On the other hand, some historians may argue that foreign invasions may have caused the downfall for the Roman empire. Foreign invasion may have caused havoc across Rome by taking Rome’s land. However, if Rome’s military was prepared and ready, the threat of foreign invasions would have disappeared because the army would have been able to defend the invaders attacks. To add, if the military was functioning, Rome would have been able to conquer the land of the now weak invades. Also, the Roman population would be more happier of their leader who now has taken over more land and enemies for their empire.
In summation, Rome was a powerful empire that was brought to an end by military problems and moral decline in the mass population. Both combined lead to a lazy, weak, and not a hardworking empire that would soon to be taken out. The small town established in 750 BCE was running before it was walking, but it was falling before it was climbing.