Fall of Rome

Fall of Rome

An empire as great and powerful as Rome would eventually have to come to an end. Still, Rome was too large to be destroyed by a single cause or event. Many different things played parts in leading to the eventual collapse of Rome as a superpower of the ancient world. The different things that caused the fall of Rome were social, economic, and political.

A social cause is one that has to do with the general population of an empire. The people are a major part of the success of a country. In Rome, the people had begun to question Rome's greatness (Document 1) and didn't really think it was "worth saving." This document is from a textbook, so its point of view would be an unbiased source. Another social issue that led to the decline of Rome was the spread of Christianity throughout the empire. (Document 2) This document was written by someone who came long after Rome, so they don't have a point of view on it.

This was good for people on a personal scale, but on a larger scale it divided the empire. This would lead to the eventual fall of Rome.

An economic cause is one that has to do with an empire's money. An empire needs to have enough money in order to thrive and prosper. When Rome was expanding, its main source of money was from plundering and stealing from the conquered lands. (Document 3) After it stopped expansion, it was unable to make that amount of money again. There were many slaves in Rome as well. This led to extreme payment cuts because people would rather use slave labor and not spend anything. A large amount of money went into the military, and many people lived on welfare. (Document 4) This was bad because the government was losing more money than it was gaining, and this would contribute to the eventual collapse of Rome.

The actions of the government and military are considered to be political causes. The military of Rome was made up of German mercenaries (Document 5) that were being paid to fight. This means they lacked the drive and had no purpose other than money to fight hard. This mediocre military was no match for the numerous invaders (Document 6) that came in from all around Rome.

The fall of Rome was caused by many factors. However, I think there needs to be a document written