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The Roman empire and how it changed
Success of Christianity in Rome
The economic decline of the Roman empire
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Recommended: The Roman empire and how it changed
There are many reasons for the fall of the Roman Empire, and all of them are related to one another. The Christian religion that was adopted by the Romans made them more passive people than before, which in turn made it difficult against attackers. Money was being used for lavish parties for the governs which could have been used for the people. The people became lazy and glutinous and didn't care about the republic. First the morals and values of the people were at a rapid decline towards the end of their empire. Crime was running ramped through streets of Rome and made it unsafe for the common folk. There were about 32,000 prostitutes that were readily available for senators, generals and basically all the big wigs of the empire. The emperors like Nero and Caligula became infamous for wasting money on lavish parties where guest ate and drank until they became ill.(http://kileenroos,com/1/Romefall.htm). The amusement was watching gladiatorial combats in the Colosseum. These events brought all classes of people; the rich and the poor sat in the same arena, which very rarely did this. This shows that the people of Rome were changing into this people that stop caring about what they once were. There were many public health and environmental problems. The wealthy people had water brought to their homes through led pipes. The wealthy death rates were very high because of the lead poising. The blood shed from all the death was a big cause of the spread of disease. Alcohol use was becoming a big problem; this led to the incompetence of the public. The next problem was the political corruption. This was especially present in selecting a emperor; unlike other emperors Rome never had a set way to delegate that is going to be emperor. The old emperor, the senate, or the Praetorian Guard, and the army. The Guard eventually ended up gaining complete control of the choosing of the emperor. The Guard started to take the highest bid for the emperor because of their greed. The unemployment during the latter years of the empire; farming was done on large-scale estates called latifundia that were owned by wealthy men who used slave labor.(http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/romans/fall.com). A farmer who had to pay workmen couldn't get profit of the land, so they had to sell their farms.
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.
Rome was once one of the world's greatest empire until around 200 BCE when Rome started to crumble. The Fall of Rome did not happen suddenly, it took about 1100 years to take place. The first two centuries as an empire were named the "Pax Romana", which meant the time of Roman peace. The Romans were living the life, without a worry in the world. So how and why did Rome start to collapse, if the empire was was doing so grand and magnificent? To answer that question, the primary reasons that Rome started to decline were that the Romans had difficulty with their government which caused social problems/decay, their military was falling behind on their duties and became indolent, and natural disasters.
The fall of Rome occurred over many centuries and was caused by several factors including military decay, barbarian invasions, and the failure of the government to respond to these problems.
...ion this all showed that style of governing and ruling an empire started a century long pattern of events that eventually lead to the fall and destruction of the old oligarchy led by the Senate. The combination of desire for personal gain and glory of a politician or general was what weakened the Roman customs and the Senate. This was a cycle among the Senate, to find themselves stuck in a problem and to find others to fix with of course military means but in turn make everything more corrupt with their disruptive practices such as Pompey and Julius Caesar. But they were not the only ones there were others who were to blame for causing such decay and corruption such as Marius, Sulla, Gaius and Tiberius Gracchus. They were the ones who kept this corruption cycle going and it was Augustus Caesar who finally broke the cycle and brought stability and order back to Rome.
...eat. Every decision that Rome made had a great affect on the city itself and the rest of the world. Many foolish emperors weakened the city and eventually cause the many aspects of life to crumble. The social issues were that no one took interest into Public affairs. The Political issues were that because no one took any public interest in government jobs, because there were not looked at as something that was good. The Economic issues were that they had poor harvest. Food was scarce people needed food so they went after it. The Germanic tribes started taking over the western half of the empire.
...hyperinflation after the unfortunate period between the Severan Dynasty and the Crisis of the 3rd Century. On top of this, the West desperately needed a standing army at all times to defend against enemies on virtually all sides, enemies that would happily see the Empire crumble. To pay for it’s already volatile standing army, Western Rome was forced to increase taxes on an already tax-burdened population that simply did not have the money for. In unison with the perpetual siege by the germanic tribes, the Western Roman Empire’s sever lacking of stable and strong leaders caused not only losses against the germanic tribes, but civil wars to break out on a regular basis. Combining all of these factors together, you can clearly see that Western Rome had entered a spiral, a spiral that it could not escape from, a spiral that slowly whittled Western Rome out of existence.
The political disorder had Rome no longer boasting of a strong, stable government and leadership. The armies quickly became overcome in the political affairs, and not shortly after the leaders of armies were to become emperors to try and fix disjoints. Another part of the reason for the decline of the empire was economic troubles.
The fall of the Western Roman Empire was a major problem, and the political aspects were partly to blame. One reason why the political demeanor of the Western Roman Empire was partially the cause of the fall, was that Western Rome had several unfit rulers. The emperors were greedy, and cruel enough to do unfair actions for power. These emperors inherited the throne, and that led to these ability lacking rulers. In addition, there was no cycle for the Emperors. In the United States Of America, if the president is no longer able to rule, the vice president takes over.
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
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)
The Roman Republic ultimately failed due to the lack of large-scale wars and other crises that had united the Roman populous early in the history of the Roman Republic. Roman leadership and honor became compromised. In the absence of war and crisis, Rome’s leaders failed to develop the honor and leadership necessary to maintain the Republic.
Modern historians have written thousands of books and essays attempting to account for the causes for the fall of Rome. The Roman Empire, from 27 B.C.E. – 476 C.E., ruled the entire Italian Peninsula and controlled all of the land surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. What were the causes that led to the fall of Ancient Rome? English historian Edward Gibson wrote the first major study, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, published in six volumes, which claims many causes for the Rome’s decline, three of which are as followed: Rome’s “immoderate greatness,” or its having become too large to govern itself efficiently; the destructive barbarian invasions, and the rise of Christianity whose ideas supposedly weakened Rome’s traditional martial spirit (Nardo). These three events were not the only reasons for the Roman Empire’s collapse but played a significant part.
Ineffective leaders are one reason why the Roman Empire came to its demise. After the reign of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, the Roman Empire started to decline. His son, Commodus, was next in line for the throne. Commodus managed government affairs horrendously. One major mistake he made, was to sell government offices to the highest bidder(Fsmitha). This allowed for corrupt and overall bad people to gain positions of power in the government. He also gave the guards the freedom to be abusive and torment the citizens(Fsmitha). These actions did not make him very popular with the senate or the masses. He tried to rectify this mistake by holding gory public performances to win him popularity. He also often went in the arena, to fight and club animals that were tied down(Gibbon 118). While he did win some popularity, most thought that himself fighting was demeaning of the Emperor position. Commodus was also concerned about military governors contending for his position. He was so paranoid that he had their children under his care( Fsmitha). Essentially, he had military governor’s children held hostage. This, instead of fixing his problem, led t...
middle of paper ... ... In my opinion, this is the major factor pertaining to the collapse of the Roman Empire. The political corruption allowed the Praetorian Guard to be above the law and announce whoever they wanted as Emperor regardless of whether they were capable of the task. The dependence on slave labour caused high unemployment and the stagnation of technology for the last 400 years of the Roman Empire.
The Pax Romana, or Roman Peace, was a time of great prosperity for all people under Rome’s rule. Roman citizens enjoyed the spectacles of the gladiators in the coliseum and the comedies performed at the many theatres. The Romans are attributed with the development of concrete, which enabled them to build large structures such as aqueducts. As Rome grew into the primary world leader, it’s Republican government was falling apart. The Senate was ineffective because it had no control of the vast armies that provided power. Conservative Romans who believed strongly in the Republic would immediately target a strong general who took sole control. Rome was in need of a solitary, powerful leader. Octavian skillfully turned himself into an emperor without suffering the fate of his great-uncle, Caesar. He controlled the army, and managed to please the masses. Once in the position of power, he changed the government not only to benefit himself, but also to benefit the Empire and ultimately the people. This structure was so strong, that it could survive through weak emperors such as Caligula and Nero and major problems like who the next emperor should be. Octavian was so influential that eventually the Romans did not care that they were no longer a Republic. They knew that with Octavian, they could become the greatest empire in...