Download Reasons for the Fall of Rome

Reasons for the Fall of Rome
Learning Target: I can list and
explain the main reasons for the
fall of the Roman Empire.
#1 Barbarian Invasions
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When Roman soldiers were moved from the
Rhine-Danube frontier to fight in civil wars in
Italy, the Roman border was left open to attack.
Germanic hunters and herders from northern
and central Europe began to raid and take over
Roman lands in Greece and Gaul.
In A.D. 476, Odovacar, the Germanic general,
overthrew the last of the Roman emperors and
made himself ruler of Italy.
#1 Barbarian Invasions
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From then on, the western part of the
Empire was ruled by Germanic tribal
chiefs.
Roads and bridges were left in disrepair
and many fields were left untilled.
Pirates and bandits made travel unsafe.
Cities declined and trade and business
began to disappear.
#2 Decline in Morals and
Values
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Violent crimes made the streets of the larger
cities in the Empire unsafe.
Emperors like Nero and Caligula wasted money
on lavish parties, where guests ate and drank
until they became ill.
There was a huge growth of the Roman passion
for cruelty. Example: watching gladiatorial
combats
#3 Environmental and Public
Health Problems
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Some historians believe that the leaders of
Rome were killed by consuming excessive
amounts of lead.
Only the wealthy could afford to have lead pipes
in their homes, as well as lead utensils and cups
Lead poisoning causes insanity and death.
However, this theory is challenged by the fact
that the eastern part of the Empire survived long
after the decline of the Western part.
#4 Military Spending to Defend
the Empire
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Spending so much money to maintain an army,
left little money for other things such as public
housing and maintaining roads.
Rome had to hire soldiers recruited from the
unemployed city mobs or foreign countries. This
army was unreliable and expensive.
Taxes were raised frequently. This hurt the
businessmen and farmers, which in turn hurt the
economy.
#5 Inferior Technology
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Even though the Romans were responsible for
building marvelous roads, bridges, and
aqueducts, as well as establishing the first
system of medicine, they failed to invent new
machines or find new technology to produce
goods more efficiently.
Therefore, the Romans were unable to provide
important goods for their growing population.
#6 Inflation
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Inflation= increase in prices
Once the Romans stopped conquering new
lands, the flow of gold decreased.
However, the Romans continued to use gold to
purchase luxury items. This meant that there
was less gold to make coins.
As the amount of gold used in coins decreased,
the coins became less valuable.
Merchants had no choice but to raise the prices
on goods sold.
# 6 Inflation
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Eventually, people stopped using coins
and began to trade goods for goods,
rather than using money. This is known as
bartering.
Money was worthless.
Salaries had to be paid in food and
clothing and taxes were collected in fruits
and vegetables.
#7 Political Corruption
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The Romans never created an effective way to
choose new emperors.
The choice of a new emperor was open to
debate between the old emperor, the Senate,
the emperor’s private army, and the army.
Gradually the emperor’s private army gained
complete control to choose the new emperor.
#7 Political Corruption
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However, in A.D 186, the army strangled
the new emperor and the practice of
selling the throne to the highest bidder
began.
During the next 100 years, Rome had 37
different emperors, 25 of whom were
assassinated.
#8 Rise in Christianity
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Historians believe that Christianity made its
followers into pacifists (people against war
and refuse to join the army)
This made it difficult to defend Roman lands
against barbarian invasions.
They believe that the Church attracted the
best leaders.
They believed that money was being used to
build churches and monasteries, rather than
being used to maintain the Empire.
#9 Unemployment
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A farmer who had to pay workmen could not
produce goods as cheaply as a farmer who
used slave labor.
Therefore, slaveowners were able to sell their
crops for lower prices.
As a result, farmers could not compete with
these low prices and were forced to sell or
lose their farms.
Thousands of unemployed men filled the
cities, where there were not enough jobs for
all of them.
#10 Urban Decay
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Most Romans were not rich and had to live in
small, smelly rooms in apartment homes with 6
or more stories called islands.
At one time, there were 44,000 apartment
houses within the city of Rome.
First floor apartments were not occupied by the
poor since they cost $400 per year.
The upper apartments that the poor rented for
$40 per year were hot, dirty, crowded, and
dangerous.
#10 Urban Decay
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Anyone who could not pay rent was forced
to move out and live on the crime-infested
streets.
Cities were filled with homeless people.
The government did nothing to improve
the lives of the common people.
Due to this fact, the cities began to decay.