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Much like its birth, the destruction of Rome did not happen all at once. Rather, there were many contributing factors to its ultimate demise. Rome’s destruction began as a disease slowly disintegrating from the inside. Political corruption, the division of wealthy and poor, decline in moral values, and public health to name a few, were all major contributors to this disease. For the purpose of this paper, this disease will be called ‘The Roman Condition’.
To understand the Roman Condition, we must first understand how it got from a thriving empire to an empty shell in the span of 200 years. From the year 14 – 180 AD, there were five good emperors which attempted to reestablish a republic type empire. They restored the senate and established a new succession line. Previously, since the establishment of the empire, succession was limited only to the Julio-Claudine bloodline.
These five good emperors established a succession policy by appointment rather than bloodline. Unfortunately this opened a much more serious problem for the military. By the year 190 AD, Rome’s army was spread throughout western Europe. The army had begun to split into parts, and each part had its own idea who should be emperor. This caused them to war with one another until one part was successful in establishing their emperor. Between 211 – 284 AD, twenty three of such emperors were established by the different parts of the army, almost all were killed by rival emperors. This fighting among the Roman army and within Rome weakened the structure of the Roman political system and reduced the respect for moral law and order only advancing the infection of the Roman Condition. (Heather)
In 284 AD, Rome was divided into an Eastern and Western empire each with it...
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...on 8: The Fall of Rome: Facts and Fictions. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2013. .
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Heather, Peter, Dr. "The Fall of Rome." BBC News. BBC, 17 Feb. 2011. Web. 30 Nov. 2013. .
Kamm, Antony. The Romans: An Introduction. London: Routledge, 2008. Print.
Trueman, Chris. "The Fall of Ancient Rome." The Fall of Ancient Rome. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2013. .
Van, Sickle Clifton Edwin. A Political and Cultural History of the Ancient World: From Prehistoric times to the Dissolution of the Roman Empire in the West. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1970. Print.
The government officials in Rome were military soldiers, who decided they were so important that they had authority to pick the next emperor of Rome. “...the elite bodyguards of the emperor, led to political corruption and grew to such an extent that this massive troop of soldiers decided on whether an emperor should be disposed of and who should become the new emperor!(Tribune...
The Roman empire was a very large and successful empire, although like many things it had to come to an end. The three primary reasons that had most contributed to Rome's fall is foreign invasions, military weakness , and weak leadership.
The year is 476 A.D. and the Roman Empire has collapsed after being overthrown by barbarians. Looking back, the causes of Rome’s decline can be separated into four categories, social, economic, military, and political. The social aspects of Rome’s fall are the rise of christianity and civil wars. The rise of christianity displaced Rome’s polytheistic roots which viewed the emperor as having a godly status. Pope and church leaders took an increased role in political affairs which further complicated governance. Civil wars also deteriorated the empire. More than 20 men took the throne in only 75 years and the empire was thrust into chaos. The economic aspects of Rome’s fall were high taxes from the government and labor deficit. The roman empire
To understand the fall of the Roman Empire, we first have to analyze the influence that had
Over the span of five-hundred years, the Roman Republic grew to be the most dominant force in the early Western world. As the Republic continued to grow around the year 47 B.C it began to go through some changes with the rise of Julius Caesar and the degeneration of the first triumvirate. Caesar sought to bring Rome to an even greater glory but many in the Senate believed that he had abused his power, viewing his rule more as a dictatorship. The Senate desired that Rome continued to run as a republic. Though Rome continued to be glorified, the rule of Caesar Octavian Augustus finally converted Rome to an Empire after many years of civil war. Examining a few selections from a few ancient authors, insight is provided as to how the republic fell and what the result was because of this.
In the early first century AD, the Roman Empire was subject to autocratic rule and the old Republic was long dead. Augustus had been ruling for forty years and most of that time he was loved and praised by the Senate and the people of Rome. Throughout his reign, Augustus had the one lingering problem of finding a successor to take over the role of Emperor. He had chosen 3 different heirs in his time of rule; however, they all passed before they had the chance to inherit Augustus’ esteemed power. His fourth choice, Tiberius, was the one to succeed Augustus. He was often referred to, by Augustus, as an outstanding general and the only one capable of defending Rome against her enemies. The statement, ‘Tiberius is condemned by many ancient historians (including Tacitus), and his reign is often portrayed as being detrimental to the welfare of the Roman Empire’ is invalid as he treated the senate fairly, created strong economics and security in the state and boosted the empire into an unprecedented state of prosperity. This hypothesis will be proven through this essay by analyzing factors such as Tiberius’ administration of the Empire, his relationship with the senate, his financial control, the effect of Sejanus over his rule and why were his last years as Emperor referred to as a ‘reign of terror’ by Tacitus.
The succession of Augustus demonstrated the difficulties in choosing an heir.... ... middle of paper ... ... The architecture and art of the Roman Empire continued to expand while the empire lived in times of good fortunes, and expansion.
"The Flow of History." FC36: The Collapse of the Western Roman Empire (395-c.500) -. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Apr. 2014. .
There are many political, economic, sociological causes to the growth and expansion of the Roman republic and later the Roman Empire, but one major factor of expansion that the Romans are most famous for is there Army. There Army was famous for their harsh discipline amongst their own ranks and there mercifulness brutality amongst their enemies. According to our text Roman warfare was characterized by great ferocity and the Roman pursuit of victory was relentless. The Romans had a pragmatic view towards atrocity and massacre that viewed almost any act as justifiable if it eased the path of victory (Goldsworthy 2000) p. 24. The hoplite phalanx which originated by the Greeks and later adopted by the Roman army, demanded great discipline and adherence to orders in order for this group of soldiers...
For those who are interested in learning about history, the Roman Empire and its civilization were one of the most interesting spotlights in the human history. The Roman Empire existed throughout a hundreds-years timeline, officially since 27 BC under the reign of Emperor Augustus. However, to learn how this great empire rose up, they have to back to the “the early Rome and the Republic” period. In this period, these events happened orderly, from the rise of Rome in the Italian peninsula that led to creating the Roman republic, the conflicts with the Carthage Empire, the conquest of the Mediterranean and it ended with the fall of the Roman Republic.
"The Day of the Barbarians: The Battle That Led to the Fall of the Roman Empire." Publishers Weekly 22 Jan. 2007
One of the most common causes of the decline of an empire results from having weak military power and martial spirit. In order for an empire to be successful, that empire must present a strong will to fight or sacrifice property and life in order to defend its state. If an empire does not possess this characteristic, it often will quickly diminish. For example, the Roman Empire became successful because of the willingness of the males to defend the state. Shortly after, the males lost their willingness to defend and the empire had to recruit unreliable mercenaries to fight in war. Unlike the successful army of the past, these mercenaries did not have true loyalty to Rome. Because of constant warfare, the Romans had heavy military spending. The Roman Empire had become too large to control effortlessly. Families and soldiers in parts of the Roman Empire adopted local customs. The Roman Empire was made up not only of natives from the Italian peninsula, but it was also made up of barbarians from the conquered lands. The barbarians were very knowledgeable when it came to Roman warfare and military tactics. Corruption became widespread throughout the Em...
The decline and fall of the Roman Empire is a scholarly article written by Justin Ott about the Roman Empire and the events leading up to its fall. The article mostly focuses on the military and economy of Rome in the third century A.D. It lists in the beginning a few of the different theories people have of how Rome fell, including led poisoning and the spread of Christianity. The article seems to want to disprove these theories, showing how they are not the main causes for the collapse of Rome. “Gibbon’s arguments in these sections can be accurately summarized as “the insensible penetration of Christianity in the empire fatally undermined the genius of a great people.” The problem with this conclusion is two-fold. First of all, this explanation is too narrow as it is difficult to believe one single factor brought down the empire. More importantly, it is clear that the Eastern Roman Empire was by far more Christian than the West, therefore if Christianity was behind the fall, the East should have fallen first.” The article’s audience appears to be historians, or those who are interested in history, or just the Roman Empire. It
Ultimately, the Roman Republic’s downfall lay in its lack of major wars or other crises, which led to a void of honor and leadership. War united all of Rome’s people, and provided the challenge to its leaders to develop honor and leadership by their causes and actions. The lack of war allowed the Roman Republic to stagnate and become self-indulgent. By the end of the Punic Wars, which combined these elements, Rome was sure to fail. Without a common thread uniting its society, the Roman Republic unraveled because it had nothing left holding it together.
"Rome, History of Ancient Rome From Its Founding To Collapse." World History International: World History Essays From Prehistory To The Present. Web. 16 Dec. 2009. .