The Rise and Fall of The Roman Empire

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Power. Dominance. Strategy. One of the greatest and most predominant empires ever built that controlled and reined over much of the entire continent of Europe is known as the Roman Empire. The Romans were beyond the most tactical and strategic army, and obtained the most authoritative military control throughout ancient history. The Roman Empire was not only a militia of brute force and authority, but their political systems also were amongst the most developed and functional governances. The Romans contained a civic virtue, which was the outline of core values of their Roman culture. The Romans were infatuated and captivated by displayed affluence of their culture, they were obsessed with sexual intercourse, freakish and sensationalistic art forms, disparity of social class, and increased demand to live off of the state. The Roman Empire eventually fell, but left many laws and virtues that are still practiced today. Even if the Roman Empire would have stopped it’s wars and expansion, there would have still been envy from other countries in the surrounding region due to the lack of power and authority.
To begin with, by definition the term “civic virtue” is a cultivation of habits of personal living that are claimed to be important for the success of the community. Edward Gibbon’s quote “In the end, more than freedom, they wanted security…” can be agreed upon by explanation through a few points in indication as to why this statement is so profound. Internal conflict had developed when the distribution of power within the Roman republic developed during the taking of Italy, a senate was establish to rule and law what was determined by two classes and resulted in the class conflicts over rights to power and erupted into chaos (132...

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... greatest falls to ever commence. Perhaps if Rome would have invested in other areas such as agriculture and trade instead of investing time in invading and becoming a world power they could have sustained their reign much longer. The political systems failed due to the internal conflict between the rich and the poor, which could have been prevented by a civil order in which all men are equal and could have allowed all civilians to vote upon political positions. The best way to describe the Roman Empire is in the words of William Jennings Bryan, “behold a republic standing erect while empires all around are bowed beneath the weight of their own armaments – a republic whose flag is loved while other flags are only feared.”

Works Cited

John P. McKay et al., Understanding World Societies A Brief History Volume 1 to 1600. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2010. Print.

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