Western Roman Empire In 476 CE

Starting in 285 BCE and ending in 476 CE, the Western Roman Empire combined with the Eastern Roman Empire was one of the most contentious , belligerent, progressive and dominant European empires of all time . In addition the Roman Empire was on the peninsula known as modern day Italy, and covering from Spain, to Turkey. Rome also has a broad impact in modern society and government today. Historians are still debating to this day what brought the downfall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 CE . The top two factors that brought the annihilation of the Western Roman Empire in 476 CE were the increase use of slave labor that triggered many economical effects, and the external forces that drove the Western Roman Empire into the ground.

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the Increase size of Rome, slavery nearly doubled, leaving farmers with no jobs and having to rely on welfare, provided taxes were increased and that lead to no money for Rome contributing to its downfall severely. Since the “Roman Deal” was inactive Rome had two options kill conquered people, or send them into slavery. They chose to send them into slavery, due to that they were taking jobs from the citizen farmers of Rome. With farmers loosing jobs the farmers had no choice but to go into the cities to receive relief. What Rome did was since they had to pay for more welfare, they were going to have to tax their citizens leading to more jobs being lost because what was the point of being taxed highly when the citizen can just go to the city to be fed and entertained without not lifting a finger. In the end there was no money being made for Rome they were just losing and dying slowly (Class Notes). A quote that ties into this is “The abundance of slaves led to the growth of latifundia, the great estates that came to dominate architecture and ruin the free farmers who drifted into the cities, to add to the unemployment there. The abundance of slaves likewise kept wages low.” (DBQ #3) Taxation triggered many different effects since there was no knew wealth added to Rome. It made people want to quit and it made them expect something for nothing (Class Notes) It was the abundance of slaves that triggered the effects to contribute to Rome being demolished.
Because the Huns, Germanic tribes and, soldiers within the army of Rome either inside of its interior or attacking form the outside of Rome the downfall of Rome was speeded up a significant amount. The Huns were an extreme threat to Rome because they kept pushing there way into Rome the tribes out side of Rome were pushed inside Rome. The Germanic Tribes also gained control of many western provinces. In the process German soldiers made up a large amount of the Roman army and made it harder to fight against the germanic tribes and made the army much harder to control (Class Notes) “ The flying tribes who yielded to the Huns assumed in their turn the spirit of conquest; the endless column of Barbarians presses on the Roman empire with accumulated weight; and , if the foremost were destroyed, the vacant space instantly replenished by new assailants.” (DBQ #6) The Romans were at the point of destruction of the Western Roman Empire since the Barbarian armies attacking the boundaries of Rome and forcing the Germanic tribes to west and into Rome” (“fall of Roman empire”). The external forces of the Huns driving there way into Rome and forcing Germanic tribes into Rome was a catastrophe for Rome causing it to lower its defense and tearing the Heart of Rome apart.
The Increase in slave labor, and the external forces being applied to the boundaries of Rome were greatly effecting on how rome collapsed. They were the two most dominant reasons why the Roman empire came fell to ruins. The self inflicting damage of the Roman empire gave its self was tearing it apart and to add to that the Empire was being torn apart from the out side by external forces.