The Fall of the Roman Empire
The Roman Empire fell as a result of a historical period in which the Roman Empire became weak and the Western Roman Empire lost control of its territories (Heather, 2005). This lack of monitoring came as a result of the Empire's diminishing finances and a depleted military. As the Western Roman Empire lost possession of the territories, the territories were largely taken over by Barbarians, who had raised their pressure on the Roman Empire even before its defeat. This phenomenon which led to the failure of one of the world's greatest civilization is a critical topic to historians and scholars alike who are now trying to use the fall of Rome to characterize the modern-day failure of states.
The Time Span of the Fall
It has been agreed that the fall of the Western Roman Empire occurred in 476 CE during the reign of Emperor Romulus who was overthrown by the Barbarian ruler Odoacer(Gibbon, 2017). However, the fall was a process which occurred during a period that is referred to as the Late Antiquity. The Roman Empire became weaker during the period from the third to the fifth century before ultimately falling in 476 CE(Heather, 2005). This period saw the rise of Christianity in the Roman empire, the division of the empire into two and constant and persistent attacks on the Roman Empire by Germanic Barbarian tribes such as Visigoths, Franks, Vandals, Saxons, Angles, Lombards and Ostrogoths all of which took some part of the Roman Empire under their control(Winkler, 2012). It is during this period of weakening, in 410 CE, that for the first time, Rome was successfully invaded. Visigoths under their leader Alatic ruthlessly attacked and sacked Rome causing massive destruction and taking the city out of the hands of the Romans.
Reasons Behind the Fall
Scholars have cited a myriad of reasons to be behind the fall of Rome. These reasons range from historical events to bad practices like corruption. Out of the many reasons, a few have stood as they hold the most weight. One such reason was the rise of Christianity as a new religion in the Roman Empire. Before Emperor Constantine the Great made a decree to end the persecution of Christians in 313 CE, Christianity was a banned religion in the Roman Empire since its monotheistic beliefs profoundly contradicted the traditional Roman religion which in itself was polytheistic (Gibbon, 2017). Christianity moved from being a banned religion to being tolerated by the Roman Empire after which it was named the official Religion of the Empire. However, with time these changes proved to be very harmful to the stability of the Empire(Heather, 2005). One reason for this was that Christianity disallowed the general view by the Roman people of the Emperor as a god which weakened his authority.
The Splitting of the Empire
The downfall of the Roman Empire was further accelerated by the splitting of the Roman Empire into the western, and the Eastern half centered in Rome and Constantinople (Byzantium) respectively by Emperor Constantine(Winkler, 2012). The Eastern Empire mainly spoke Greek, unlike the western Empire which mostly used Latin. The decision to split the Empire into two was basically made to ease the governing of the Empire. However, this decision was significant in the fall of the Western Roman Empire. With time, the two empires failed to work together in fighting off external threats to the Empire (Heather, 2005). This led to the Eastern Empire thriving while the Western empire weakened. Unlike Rome, Constantinople was notably suitably located on a peninsula and could be adequately fortified and defended in case of an attack(Winkler, 2012). This together with the stronger stand of the Eastern Empire led to more attacks being aimed at the western Empire and ultimately led to its fall. However, the Eastern Roman Empire or the Byzantine Empire continued to thrive even after the fall of their western counterparts until it was finally subdued by the Ottoman Empire.
Other Factors
Other smaller reasons summed up to cause the weakening of the Western Roman Empire and its eventual fall. The over-reliance of the Empire on slave labor caused it to have a high labor deficit especially during the trying times when they were under attack by the Germanic tribes(Heather, 2005). It eventually led to low agricultural production within the Empire and ultimately weakened the economic standard of the Western Roman Empire. The economy was further weakened by the excessive military spending as the attacks by the Barbarian tribes grew more frequent and rampant corruption by officials. The hiring of foreign mercenaries into various ranks in the army also reduced the loyalty of the military to the Emperor(Winkler, 2012). The empire, therefore, did not have the resources to fund itself due to the weakened economy, and it could not defend itself due to the reduced military power. It, therefore, became inevitable for the Western Roman Empire to fall which it finally did in 476 CE.
In conclusion, the fall of Roman empire would be best termed as the fall of the Western Roman Empire since it involved the fall of the Western Roman Empire. This fall was the cumulative result of some factors as has been identified in this paper. The fall was an important event in history, and some of these reasons are very useful in explaining why states fail today.
Work Cited
Gibbon, Edward. The decline and fall of the Roman Empire. Volume six. Brooklyn, New York: Sheba Blake Publishing, 2017:1360. Print.
Heather, Peter. The fall of the Roman Empire: A new History. London, UK: Pan Macmillan, 2005:592. Print.
Winkler, Martin M., ed. The fall of the Roman Empire: film and history. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2012:352. Print.
