The Fall of Rome By Brendon, Calvin, and Luke

3 Main Causes Military Decay Economic Issues Introduction of Christianity

Military Decay Around the 2 nd century AD Emperor Constantine started vast reforms of Roman laws These changes accelerated the effects of some problems that were at the time quite small

These reforms did not only change the way Romans lived their lives but also had a huge impact on the military Before this the Roman military was composed of foot soldiers divided into divisions of up to 8000 called Legions

The new organization was based on cavalry instead of infantry The main force consisted of mounted warriors called comitatenses The other division was called limitanei Comitatenses were the army and limitanei were the border guards

The border guards had land given to them near the fortress they were garrisoned at They were also responsible for farming in that area so they became isolated They had worse weapons/armour and insufficient training The cavalry who were the favoured division were had to be called in to compensate There was soon a lack in troops which spread then even thinner

The new laws allowed people to choose if they were going to join the army, where as it was imperative previously The inner provinces did not bother because they were never under immediate threat from raiders Causes of the Shortage of Troops

Map of the Roman Empire Rome encompassed quite a large area It had to constantly defend it’s borders from barbarian invaders Because of the weak border guards a huge number of them made it past the borders

Introduction of Barbarians into the Roman Military They had to recruit barbarians to make up for the lack of Romans entering These barbarians would either be brought in as individuals or entire tribes would be hired They did not follow standard military rules

Rights of a Barbarian These barbarians were given Federate Status They were by their own leaders They paid no taxes Were able to carry weapons among unarmed Romans The Romans ended up turning the barbarians into more of a threat than protection

4 th Century Military By the year 400 AD the Roman military was very weak The invading barbarians noticed this and took advantage They managed to create entire colonies like Spain and Gaul

Near it’s end, large civil wars tore Rome apart The barbarian chiefs would start clan wars for power While they fought each other the borders were left open The end up the Roman Empire came about when Odacer; a Germanic chieftain took over the throne of Rome

The Introduction of Christianity One of the most drastic changes brought forth by Constantine was the conversion of Rome's Religion to Christianity This change ended up contributing to Rome’s downfall

These new beliefs dictated that disputes between nations were better solved by peaceful means This greatly affected Rome’s ability to defend itself Also meant that large amounts of money were put into churches Less money to maintain Rome

Effects of Christianity It was believed that Christianity would bring morals and values to the people of Rome However there were still 32,000 prostitutes in Rome, Gladiator fights were still a huge hit and civil disputes arose from it Christians ended up being blamed for all of Rome’s problems When Rome finally fell people wondered why their God had abandoned them

Economic/Social Issues Economic and Social issues also played a role in bringing about the fall of Rome Near it’s end the western part of Rome had pretty much lost it’s economic will The prosperity it had once experienced was gone

Government Rome had expanded so far that one ruler would never be able to control all of it As a result it was split up among multiple rulers

Political Corruption Unlike Greece which had not always smooth but at least reliable and consistent methods of picking a new leader Rome did not have an effective way The choice was debated by the current Emperor, his private army (Like Hitler’s Gestapo), the Senate and the military

Often the Emperor’s army would be given complete authority on the choice and then when they chose their current Emperor again they were rewarded This stopped after one of the Emperors was strangled by his guards

It soon deteriorated into buying your way into reigning Over the course of 100 years Rome had 37 different Emperors and 25 of them were assassinated because no one liked them These political issues had a large impact on Rome as a society

Economic Aspects With all the military and political turmoil the economy of Rome also began to slip When rich land owners started up slave based farm operations the normal farmers couldn’t compete and ended up poor and homeless Taxes also soared as the Emperors became more concerned about money than their citizens

The Emperor now had upwards of 100,000 people to take care of because they were poor Due to other reasons the concentration of citizens caused diseases to spread with great speed These all lead to Rome’s fall slowly but surely