Essay about The Fall of the Roman Empire - 1275 Words

The Fall of the Roman Empire A reason that leads to Romes inability to remain self-sustaining as an Empire was its lack of technology. Technological advance did not increase at a rate proportional to the increase of the people per square mile. This lead to the inability of the Romans to become self-sustaining. Once again the slave trade was a reason that their technology levels failed to increase. The bulk of work done in the Roman Empire was always carried out by the slaves. This provided very little need or incentive for new discoveries. By neglecting the important technological advance, there was no increase in the efficiency of running Rome. Therefore, it was left behind from the start. What then started out small grew to†¦show more content†¦The enraged public rejected his authority, and his liberality (Gibbon-1776-pg. 94). But we can never be absolutely sure of the reasons. It could have been something like the lead pipes used in their aqueducts or even an evolution of human society to the next l evel. Another aspect for the Roman Empires decline and eventual fall was the dwindling of the Roman Empires economic might. This affected nearly every aspect of Roman life, from the decline of the population to the lack of maintenance of foundation. Between 218 AD and 268 AD, there were about fifty different Emperors (Grant-1978-pg.363). There were also some military aspects that led to their demise and because people became disinterested in joining the Roman army Rome was left unprotected against all of their enemies. That, in turn, was caused by the army’s lack of respect for the autocratic power of the Emperor (Grant-1990-pg.60). This outcome caused deterioration in the economy, which was the lack of circulating currency in the Western Empire. Two reasons for the lack of funds were wholesale stock piling of bullion by Roman citizens, and the widespread looting of the Roman treasury by the barbarians. These two factors, combined with the massive trade deficit with Eastern R egions of the Empire extinguished the growth of wealth in the west. The changing rainfall patterns and climate in the Mediterranean began to alternate annually between hot droughts and cold rainy seasons. This decreased the number of cropsShow MoreRelatedFall of the Roman Empire1288 Words   |  6 PagesThe Pax Romana was a two hundred year time period where the Romans had peace and prosperity under Augustus. The Roman empire started to decline at the end of the prevail of the last five emperors, Marcus Aurelius in 161-180 A.D. The rulers in the next century had no idea how to deal with the problems the empire was having. There was many reasons to the fall of the Roman Empire but three stood out the most. 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