Download 6-5 The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE
THE DECLINE OF ROME
Around 200 AD, the Roman Empire began a __________________ that would culminate with the empire’s fall almost three
centuries later
The decline and eventual fall of Rome can attributed to three main factors:
___________________________
___________________________
___________________________
POLITICAL INSTABILITY
In 180 AD, Marcus Aurelius, the last of the ‘Good Emperors,’ died and his son ______________________ became emperor.
Commodus spent huge amounts of money on his own personal pleasures, causing the treasury __________________.
Later, the Praetorian Guard, along with his sister and mistress ____________________________________.
The ensuing years between 192 to 284 were ones of almost constant ___________________, as rival generals
continually fought for power and emperors were regularly deposed or murdered.
During this 92-year period of time, Rome had _________ different emperors.
This political instability led to the ____________________ of the Roman Empire.
ECONOMIC DECLINE
The years of constant civil war and turmoil disrupted _________________________________________.
As a result, profits and incomes plunged for everyone.
Warfare also destroyed ___________, leading to food shortages which, in turn, caused prices for food to ___________.
At the same time, the preoccupation with civil war severely weakened the border defenses, and invasions by Germanic
barbarian tribes from the north became _________________.
To stop these invasions , more soldiers were needed, so the government _________________________ in order to drive
up recruitment .
Thus, in an attempt to stop the increase in food prices, to stop the fall of incomes, and to continue paying its legionnaires, the
government began to _______________________.
Minting more coins would turn out to be a huge mistake.
In minting more coins and forcing more money into circulation, the value of the coins was __________________.
But now, because money was worth less than before, merchants had to ___________________ of their goods
to continue making a profit
Therefore, the government’s policy had created a situation in which prices for goods dramatically increased as a result of the
decrease in the ________________________.
This economic phenomenon is called ‘______________’
Rome desperately needed to maintain an adequately sized army to stop the Germanic invasions.
But with severe inflation, the only way to keep an army was to continuously __________________ relative to inflation.
But to increase the pay of soldiers, Rome needed to _______________________.
To increase revenues, the government began heavily taxing landowners.
Farmers forced to pay the extremely high taxes found farming less profitable and many of them _________________________.
Now, with less farmland being worked, the output of crops decreased and the food shortage worsened.
Prices for food _______________ even more, the ___________ rate shot up tremendously, and the economic
situation continued to get worse
In the midst of these continued economic crises, the ___________ half of the empire suffered much worse while the __________
side remained relatively stable in comparison.
In 330 AD, the emperor ________________ divided the empire into 2 separate administrative units that would each be
ruled by a co-emperor.
He even constructed a new capital city for the east, calling it _________________
Later, the emperor Theodosius willed that Rome be ______________________________ upon his death. This came to pass in
395 AD, and from this point forward, historians refer to the western half as the ___________________, and eastern half as the
______________________.
BARBARIAN INVASIONS
Rome’s political and economic problems had effectively weakened the empire from the inside out.
This made them much more susceptible to __________________.
As a result, by the 300’s AD, Rome was being constantly attacked by _________________________ from outside their borders.
Warrior Groups such as the Franks, Ostrogoths, Vandals, Angles, Saxons, and Visigoths, were all Germanic tribes
that pushed into Roman territory.
A combination of three factors was pushing the Germanic tribes into Roman territory:
1. _____________________________
2. _____________________________
3. _____________________________
By 410 AD, a number of the Germanic tribes had begun conquering chunks of the western empire and forming their own
___________________________
The worst of all the barbarian tribes were the ___________.
Led by their king, __________, the Huns cut a path of destruction across eastern and central Europe before moving
into Roman/Germanic Gaul
Only when the _________________________ joined forces were they finally able to defeat Attila and the Huns in 451 AD
Fighting against the Huns and the other Germanic tribes left Italy ________, ____________, and unable to ________________.
The Vandals, Goths, and Franks roamed Italy freely and attacked Rome at will.
The ___________ attacked the city in 455 AD, and finally in 476 a German chief named ____________ seized control
of Rome, deposed the sitting emperor, and named himself king of Italy
Because Odoacer called himself king and never replaced the Roman emperor, 476 is considered to be the year in which the
Roman Empire ‘_______.’
Again, the fall of the Roman Empire cannot be traced to one single event, but rather was caused by a complex interaction
events that took place between AD 200 and AD 500
The Western Roman Empire might have fallen, but the eastern half (Byzantine Empire) would continue to exist for another
__________ years
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS:
THE DECLINE OF THE EMPIRE:
What three main factors led to the decline and fall of the Roman Empire?
POLITICAL INSTABILITY:
Why was the empire politically unstable, and how did this instability lead to Roman decline?
ECONOMIC DECLINE:
What brought about much of Rome’s economic problems, and how did these problems contribute to the further decline of
Rome?
BARBARIAN INVASIONS:
What Germanic groups invaded the empire beginning in the 300’s AD, and how did they contribute to the final fall of Rome?