Why the Roman Empire fell?

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16 years ago

Two thousand years back when the civilization was developing roman republic was the one who became strong and created an empire. Life started in the Rome which leads to many achievements and inventions. Everybody was happy and earning enough money including the rulers of empire but a time came when the empire fell. There are many factors and reasons for the decline of Roman Empire.

DICTATORSHIP
In 100 BC dictatorship was started in Rome which had affected the lives of general public. The farmers cannot leave the land of their farming, they had to remain with it else they will be punished. No worker and farmer has right to change his occupation. He has to continue with what he is doing. Even their children have to go for the same work. Town officials had to pay the money what the state says to pay no matter how much they had collected. Two parts of empire was created east and west. These hard dictatorship laws were not accepted by many people so they ended up without the fear of getting caught.

RELIGION
Christianity was getting popularity. Thoughts of people were influenced by Christianity. They all wanted to do good things. This thinking did not allow the people to join the army and kill people whereas barbarians do not care about these thoughts and never hesitated to kill anyone. During this period when Christianity was gaining popularity there were lot of civil wars and outside attacks. During 235 to 284 there were many leaders who fought against barbarians and also started fighting with each other. Romans protected themselves from the barbarians but they also started fighting with each other that made them vulnerable. Barbarians wanted to capture Rome because barbarians got threat from the Huns. People of Rome went to city and left their posts from the border. So barbarians also tried to capture more cities and places.

EMPERORS
The time came when the emperor was not elected on the basis of qualification but on the basis of money. The highest bidder gets the throne. In the coming hundred years many of the emperors were assassinated by their own army. The emperors only wanted to live in the luxury. They only made the beautiful palaces and temples and spent money in all these unnecessary works. They hardly care about the people of the empire or how to strengthen or encourage the army. Moreover they had no budget for spending money. They used whatever they have or we can say that wasted whatever sources were available to them.

INFLATION
Roman Empire did not further take over any territories which cause the scarcity of gold to be used in the coins. Prices were increased leading to inflation. So finally people stopped using coins and once again turned to barter system. They start paying taxes with fruits and vegetables. Farmers had raised prices because they have to further pay to their slaves who worked on the fields. Farmers cannot raise as much money as required. So the slaves were unemployed and they came to streets. Moreover people living in luxurious apartments did not have enough money to manage with the rents. And they also came to streets. Finally the streets were polluted and people were infected by many diseases like measles and small pox. Some were leaving Rome and others were dying because of disease. The population of Italy was decreasing.

Soldiers also not wanted to guard the lost interest. Because of money they left the weapons as they were not in good condition and there was no money to repair or make new. On the other side German army was gaining power. Romans were going through hard times. With the help of German military barbarians attacked on Rome in 476. The last emperor Romulus Augustus was thrown and German odoecer was the next emperor of Rome marking the end of Roman Empire. The traditional date for the fall of Roman Empire is 4th September 476.

Views of different historians about the fall of Roman Empire:-

Vegitius and Arthur Ferrill say that the military of empire was badly affected by â€œGermanisationâ€ which means the entrance of German mercenaries.

Edward Gibbon says that the people of Rome had lost their civic virtue and developed interest in Christianity. They remained away from worldly interests and waited for the rewards of heaven.

Bury says about many reasons that contributed in the fall of Roman Empire those were economic disturbance, reducing population, military dependency on German, murder of Aetius and no appropriate leader in the place of Aetius.

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