Fall of Roman Empire free essay sample

Every glories Empire has one day to decline and fall, but every decline has causes and resons behind them, so we are going to discuss some of the key factors that played important role in the fall of once a mighty empire. The empire which was said to be unconquereable, and undefeatable because of its huge expensions and its population as well as its governance, and the key factors due to which that mighty empire had to see its decline. Background and History: The beginning and foundation of Roman empire is a myth. Rome began anexing provinces in the 3rd century BC. Augustus became the first emperor of Roman Empire after he defeated Cleopatra in 31 BC, saving the Roman Empire and making Egypt its province. The reign of Agustus whose real name was Octavious and Augustus was the title given to him lasted for 40 years, era known as the Golden Age rome as rome has extended its territories very large. [1] During Antiquity Age or Ancient age Rome was known as the biggest Economical, Military, Social power of the world along with other big Empires like Persia. Rome had the civilized socierty, great architecture, government structure, military, huge territory mostly expanding over the now a days Europe, and great power status. During its early stages religion of rome was polytheistic which they inspired from Ancient Greek dieties and by changing the names of dieties took the religion but later Chritianity took over the Rome and became the state religion of Rome [2]. . After seeing the era of glory and as the Biggest Empire of ancient age, Era of Roman empire came to an end. After its end Chritian Roman Empire came to existence. Factors for the Decline of Roman Empire. Religious Factor: For every civilization and Empire religion has been the main factor for the rise and fall of it. So as the case with Roman Empire religion has been considered as one of the main Factors to which it falls from the glory. During the Ancient Ages the state religion of the Roman Empire was polytheistic, which the people of Rome had assumed from the Greek dieties, they changed thier name and acquired it as their religion. In the Roman Empire same dieties were worshiped but under the different name in different parts of the Empire. People were tolerent and accomodating towords new dieties and the the religious expiriences of other people. After the beginning and spreading of Christianity, which people accepted quickly as the belief of Chritianity was to beleive in one God insted of worshiping different dieties. Christianity also gave the belief in the after life and hope and courage to people who desperate. At first Christianity was supressed in early ages, but after Emperor Constantine pronounced Christianity as the states religion, the new religion grew its root in the lower class of society and with time to the whole Empire. As the growth of Christianity the church and monestry grew into power so the power of pope, with the decline in the authority of the Emperor. Which is thought be one of the reasons behind the Decline of Roman Empire. [3] Decline in Moral Values: One of the main Reason for the fall of the Roman empire was the decline in the moral values of the society, especially in the difference between the upper rich classes, nobles and emperors. Immoral and unathical behavoiours such as adultry and orgies rise, and so the borthel and forced prostituation flourished. With the decline in the morals of the society saw the decline in petroitism in people and people became less alligience to the state [5]. The decline in the morals of the society also effected the poor class and slaves in the Roman Empire and with that extend of the decline in morals in all the classes of society became one of the factor for the fall of Roman Empire. [4] Slavary: Slavary became one of the reason for the fall of Roman Empire. During the first two centries of Roman Empire slavary grew dramatically, and with the increase in number of slaves caused the decline in the morals of the society, ethics and more importantly in the development and need for the new technology. As Roman people relied more on the slaves and man power instead of the technology. Due to the wrong and cruel treatment with the slaves led to the reballions and slave wars. But with the advent of Christianity the attitude towards slaves changed and so in the numbers of slaves declined, with the decline of the slaves the man power on which the whole Roman Empire was dependend declined, which caused a major blow toward the fall of Roman Empire as the tackle this crisis there was no technology to replace the needed man power. External and internal Threats and Military Spendings: As the Roman Empire expanded its territories very rapidly and conquered a large are, came the need to defend its borders and territories from invasion by the Barbarians and other threats. And for that reason a large number of army was required and more and more soldiers were hired. The people of the conquered territories hated Rome for their conquere, more and more taxes were implemented on those people which made them to continuously rebbel against the empire. A large ammount of money was spent on the hiring and training of soldiers. The barbarians and the other mecenries were also allowed to join in the army, which caused in the over-streching of the army and heaving spending on them. The barbarians and mecenries who joined the military of Rome gained the knowledge of the Roman military tactics and Roman style warfare by serving the military. Eventually turned against the Roman empire and used thier tactics and warfare again them to take down the Roman Empire. [5] Failing Economy and Inflation: Economy has always remained the main factor in the fall of civilization and Empire. When for some reason economy is effected, so the people are, mostly the low or poor class is effected because of fail in economy. As far with rome, rome was in the state of continuous war to defend its over-streached territory and supress the rebellions and barbarians of the lands they conquered, Rome was always threatened by the bankruptcy and failing economy [5]. Due to the heavy spending on the Roman military the productivity of good in Rome declined and so the Rome became more dependent over the foreign products. Due to decline in the moral and ethical values of society and people, breakdown the labour force occurred. Some and the main parts of the empires were not taxed but the other conquered and least important territories were heavly taxed [6]. Political Reason: Politics is a very important and essential part of the society. The rise and fall of empire widely depends of its political structure, even religion, military, economy and goverment widely depends on the political establishment of the society. Courrption and failuir in the politics causes the major reson in the fall of civilization. For Rome its politics was the integral part of the Empire. The Roman Empire was Republic and was governed by the elected counsul, the senate, and the piebian council, which was the popular assembly of Rome [7]. The courrption in counsul, senate and piebian councile was one of the main reasons for the fall of Empire. The other political courrption was in the Praetorian Guards, who were the elite soldiers and bodyguards of the emperors sworn to protect the emperor with their lives, few in numbers but strong in power. Their corruption led and grew to such extant that they started to decide on when and weather the emperor should be deposed or who should be made the next emperor of the Roman Empire. Public Corruption: One of the reasons for the fall of the roman empire was the unemploment of the working class and the cost of the Gladiatorial game. If the thousands of the people of Roman Empire are unemloyed and they are bored and nothing to they would start civil unrest and roits in the street. So, the Roman leader distracted these people with free food and gladiatorial games. Instead of speanding money for the betterment of people and to provide job oppertunities for these people, a large sum of money was spended over the games to amuse these people, so they do not start roiting in the street and cause civil unrest, the corrupt politician used these games and free food to gain the favor and support over the unemployment people, these games cost one third of the total income of the whole Roman Empire. Reference: [1]. http://www. historyworld. net/wrldhis/plaintexthistories. sp? historyid=ac58. [2]. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Religion_in_ancient_Rome. [3]. http://www. roman-colosseum. info/roman-empire/causes-for-the-fall-of-the-roman-empire. htm [4]. http://www. roman-colosseum. info/roman-empire/causes-for-the-fall-of-the-roman-empire. htm. [5]. http://www. angelfire. com/darkside/sjhscult/notes/unit1/fall_rome. htm. [6]. http://www. angelfire. com/darkside/sjhscult/notes/unit1/fall_rome. htm. [7]. http://www. enotes. com/roman-empire-reference-guide/ roman-empire.