Why Did Roman Empire Fall, Research Paper Example

The fall of the Roman Empire by Gibbon happened in the 476 year. Roman Empire that once was a small city was one of the most notable civilizations in the history, and its grandeur through the centuries cannot be denied. But why did it suffer a century of decay and then fell?

Edward Gibbon is sure that it is not a decay that should sound so surprising, but Roman premature prosperity (Gibbon, 1996). Different sources claim different reasons of the Roman Empire decay. Actually, it is a common knowledge that there is a host of reasons. Some authors find up to 210 ones. Let’s find out how these views did change in the course of the history.

Military group of reasons and Christian group of reasons were discussed by Edward Gibbon in 1776. The most debilitating factor arguably was the division of the empire by two parts: Eastern part with a Constantinople as a capital and Western one that had several emperors struggling for power. Some of western emperors governed the country for several tears or even months. Here the distress of merits and strength of the Rome begins. Byzantine court beheld the problems of Western part with indifference. Hardly did their later alliance helped to restore the power of the Roman Empire (Gibbon, 1996).

War with barbarians undermined the military forces of roman army. Germans, Huns, Vandals, Saracens and riding nomads attacked the West continually. The empire lost much of its territory. Armed forces of Rome no longer consisted of roman soldiers who were trained and agitated to fight for the empire. Their salary could easily be stolen by their commanders. Demographic crisis led to lack of recruited soldiers. Recruitment of the barbarians undermined the strength of the roman army. Given the hordes of barbarians that invaded the empire every now and then, a loss of the military spirit was an incredible loss. Sons of Theodosius brought chaos to the empire, as they ‘abandoned the church to the bishops, the state to the eunuchs, and the provinces to the Barbarians’ (Gibbon, 1996). A decay of the army was put paid to the empire’s stability.

Second group of reasons is religious reasons. The Christian clergy preached the doctrines of patience and cowardice, thus ruining the remains of the military spirit of the nation that once was valiant and intrepid. A considerable part of the public and private capital was devoted to charity. Emperors were concentrated on religious conflicts and neglected the camps. Theological conflict split the society: religious factions cropped up. Sects undermined the spirits of society. Christian precepts were easy to obey as they sanctified natural inclinations of those who followed them.  Despite these unfortunate impacts on the government and society, the influence of Christianity can be estimated Christianity can be estimated as somehow beneficial as it changed the spirits of the barbarians in the North. It also influenced a temper of the conquerors. Constantine led pro-Christian politics and even founded a new Christian capital of Eastern part of empire (Dudley, 1960, p. 215). But, if truth be told, it drew the power from the emperor to the clergy (Gill).

Economic reasons were discussed by Michael Rostovtzeff (in 1926),  Ludwig von Mises (about 1900), and Bruce Bartlett (about 1970). Due to the constant attacks of the barbarians Roman Empire suffered from the lack of trade. It caused the inflation: silver coins contained less than 1 per cent of pure silver. Taxes were increased; increased taxes suppressed poor workers and peasants. Division of the society by layers increased and the feudalization began. Opulent urban citizens built walls around their mansions and wallowed in luxury, while poor citizens were seeking for money to feed themselves. Affluent Romans could defend their houses; they usually had armed security and could influence the military situation. An unfair and tense situation led to numerous mutinies. Bands of poor Romans formed armed street gangs just because they had no way to earn money honestly. The economic situation was very difficult and no one attempted to do something to improve it.

The latest researchers tend to assert multiple theories. So now some social reasons are defined. Ethnic dissolution changed the original Roman society. At the dawn of the empire people were taught to be fair soldiers of a great country. Later, mixed society that included barbarians, emancipated slaves and other nations was much harder to rule. Also, all attempts to dissolve Germans into Romans failed. Stratification of Roman people worsened social problems. Epidemics and lead in the water led to demographic problems. Demographic crisis weakened the armed forces. Polytheism that had its roots in sects, Christianity and other religions, enhanced the differentiation of the society. Social picture of the Roman Empire in IV-V centuries was quite dissatisfying. The country in the state of turmoil, its citizens failed to support the national integrity because of excess of social problems.

Despite this unimaginable pack of problems Roman Empire still pretended to be the great and invincible country. Luxury in the houses of the richest people, vain gloriousness that was no longer acceptable, individualism of those who could help the situation out, ignored lack of orderly imperial system hid the moral decline, cultural and social leveling, religious struggles, military decay, and economic problems. (Demandt, 1984)

Every scientist and historian emphasizes certain group of reasons and researches on it: historians tend to prefer economical reasons, while socialist historians underline social reasons. Gibbon’s opinion is some kind of classic when it comes to history of Rome, as his work is the first fundamental work in this area. Later, historians added to religious and military reasons economic and social ones, thus reinforcing the previous beliefs and deepening the historical understanding of Roman Empire fall.

Works Cited

Dudley, Donald R. The Civilization of Rome. New York: New American Library, 1960 <http://www.questia.com/read/1314764?title=The%20Civilization%20of%20Rome>

Gibbon, Edward. “General Observations on the Fall of the Roman Empire in the West” Medieval Sourcebook Dec.,2006. 10 March, 2009. <http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/gibbon-fall.html>

Gill, N. S. “Reasons for the Fall of Rome” Ancient/Classical History 10 March, 2009. <http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/fallofrome/tp/022509FallofRomeReasons.htm>

Santosuosso, Antonio. “The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians.” The Historian 69.3 Publication (2007): 585. < http://www.questia.com/read/5023338549?title=The%20Fall%20of%20the%20Roman%20Empire:%20A%20New%20History%20of%20Rome%20and%20the%20Barbarians >

“210 Reasons for the decline of the Roman Empire” The University of Texas At Austin. 10 March, 2009. <http://www.utexas.edu/courses/rome/210reasons.html >