Beginning in the eighth century B.C., the Roman kingdom experienced rapid expansion and went from being a small town to a vast kingdom that included parts of Europe, Britain, the western part of Asia, the Mediterranean islands, and North Africa. One of the main causes of the Roman Empire's ascent was its civilization. It is known that the Roman kingdom was the most civilized kingdom in history. (Everitt, 2013). The kingdom was full of innovative and inventive elements that gave rise to important civilizational elements like aqueducts, roads, and highways. Momentarily causing its development was the Roman Empire's military expansion. In the early ages, the empire grew more exponentially both in power and size. Its military leadership was massively built, and it managed to gain control over the Italian peninsula by 264 B.C. Its legions were well developed and emerged out victorious in battles such as the Punic Wars. Its military conquest led to territorial expansion and brought in many slaves that provide labor to the empire. King Augustine greatly transformed the empire. Everitt states that “Augustus’ rule restored morale in Rome and ushered in peace and prosperity” (Everitt, 2013). Augustine was also strictly against corruption, and he brought various social reforms that allowed the empire to flourish. The trading activities that were carried out in the empire also worked towards its prosperity. Numerous merchants originated from the neighboring regions, turned the empire into a cosmopolitan region and saw a massive population increase.
After a 500-year existence, the empire crumbled in the 4th century. The collapse is blamed for various reasons among them the failure of its military, climate change, and natural disasters together with the crippling taxation system. Invasion of the barbarian tribes strongly brought down the world's most legendary empire. The fall of the Roman military made it difficult to sustain itself against the invasion of the outside forces. For many centuries, the Roman Empire had been tangled with the Germanic tribes. The barbarian tribes such as the Goths began to encroach the Roman Empire in the 300s (Gibbon, 1999). The invasion of the barbarian primarily stemmed from the migration of the Hun’s from Europe who drove themselves to the Rome borders. The mistreatment that the Hun tribes underwent under the Roman rule created enmity that fueled the invasion. Notably, the tribes made the Empire suffer deathblow resulting into collapse.
The empire began experiencing economic troubles and faced a massive financial crisis. The continuous wars from the outside forces led to overspending. The empire later on experienced oppressive taxation and inflation rates which made it struggle economically. Besides, the Roman Empire highly depended on the slave labor and in the 400s, it was rocked by a slave labor deficit. The overexpansion of the empire territory along with the massive military spending fueled its crumbling. Gibbon notes that “the Roman Empire stretched from the Atlantic Ocean all the way to the Euphrates River in the Middle East. With such a vast territory to govern, the empire faced an administrative and logistical nightmare” (Gibbon, 1999). The large empire led to communication difficulties, and it greatly struggled to manage its troops and its resources in defending the frontiers arising from the local rebellions and the outside attackers. This factor ran the empire into massive despair and contributed to its downfall.
The rise of the Eastern Roman Empire also contributed to the fall of the Western Empire. The empire was divided into two halves by Emperor Diocletian and this aspect sealed the fate of the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. In the short term, the division depicted to be a great idea, particularly in the governance as the original empire was vast and thus difficult in administration. However, in the long run, the two empires began to drift apart, and they later failed to sufficiently work together in combating the external threats. In fact, the two frequently disagreed over military and resources. As the rift between the two empires widened, the Eastern Empire started to grow in wealth while that of western started fell into an economic crisis. Indeed, the strength that eastern empire had built did serve to divert the barbarian invasion to the Western Empire.
The government of the Western Empire was also corrupt and politically unstable. Political decay had massively extended in the empire, and the widespread of corruption and the incompetence of the leaders that ensued only worsened the situation. The inconsistent and infective leadership culminated into poor governance which served to magnify the problem of its downfall. The attack on the Roman Empire fueled mass migration, and the Huns’ invasion drove way many of the Germanic tribes dwindling the population of the empire (Gibbon, 1999). Some Romans allowed other tribes such as the Goths into the Roman territory and later starved and oppressed them. With time, the oppression became hard for these tribes to bear, and as a result, the Goths rose up in revolt. The spread of Christianity and the loss of traditional values contributed to the fall of the empire. In 313, Edict of Milan legalized Christianity, and in 380, it became a religion of the state. This eroded the traditional values of the Roman system, and it ended up displacing polytheistic Roman religion. Church leaders such as popes increased their roles in the political affairs weakened the governance and the Roman legions.
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References
Everitt, Anthony. (2013). The Rise Of Rome. 1st ed., New York, Random House Trade Paperbacks.
Gibbon, Edward. (1999). The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire. 1st ed., London, Elecbook.
