Why did the Roman Empire Fall?

Question

When, What, and Why?

10 points to best answer

Answer 1

It faded away in 5th century

but its existence began to fade away in 3rd century already

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1.invasion of mighty barbarians (especially Huns)

2.struggle against Persia over rich of middle-east

3.army began to interfear to politics, by supporting their generals to become emperors

4.economic depression due to

   1>no more slave : Roman economy was totally depending on slaves

   2>endless civil war : Just like US suffers by invaiding Iraq

   3>population decrease : Birth Rate kept decrease + war casualty

5.Christianity : destroyed Roman custom its partnership among states

6.Moving capital to Constantinople : They just abandoned Rome and western part of the empire

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And many other reasons

Answer 2

http://killeenroos.com/1/Romefall.htm

This link pretty much sums up all you need to know

Answer 3

Even before the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476, life in Europe began to change. The German barbarians on the fringes of the empire had long hungered for Roman land. These barbarians were vigorous, restless people led by warrior chiefs. As they pushed down upon the empire in the 4th century, they threw back Roman garrisons. Meanwhile the strength and discipline of the Roman Empire were being sapped by political decay, economic troubles, and decadent living (see Roman Empire). Surges of Goths, Vandals, Lombards, Franks, Angles, Saxons, and other tribes sacked and pillaged the crumbling empire. Their customs gradually submerged Roman civilization. The highly developed systems of Roman law and government gave way to the rude forms of the barbarians. The invaders lacked the knowledge and skill to carry on Roman achievements in art, literature, and engineering. “The whole world,” St. Jerome wrote, “is sinking into ruin.” This early medieval period is sometimes called the Dark Ages.

It was, however, a time of preparation, like working a field before planting seeds. Even as the barbarians pushed Roman civilization aside, they brought fresh, robust ideas of their own. Those ideas that most influenced the development of Europe arose from the barbarian belief in the rights of the individual. To the Romans the state had been more important than the individual. From the barbarians' ideal of personal rights grew their respect for women, their government by the people, and their crude but representative law courts. Kings and chiefs were elected by tribal councils, which also served as courts of law.

The essential quality in a leader was bravery. If he cowered in battle, the tribe at once hoisted another warrior on their shields as leader. When a tribe faltered, the women's pleas often stemmed retreat. Although the barbarians enveloped Europe and drove into North Africa, only one barbarian group, the Franks, created a lasting state. Their first great leader was Clovis, who in 481–511 established in Gaul the kingdom that was to become France.

Hope this helped!

-Tim :]

Answer 4

Multiple cause answer. The Barbarians - which invaded the Roman empire. The split of the Roman empire in two, then in four, then back into two. Weak Emperors - what could a teenage child-emperor do to protect the Empire? Then the inefficency of the law system - the laws/decisions were passed, but not carried out. Immense corruption. Slef-indulgence and laziness of the ruling class - the aristocracy, no interest in the external politics.

Answer 5

The ultimate dilapidation and subjugation of the Roman Empire is one of the most perplexing questions that inhabits and consumes the human imagination.

The Roman Empire is divided into the Principate: 27 BCE-235 CE, Crisis of the Third Century: 235-286 CE and the Roman Dominate: 286-476 CE. The general accepted view of the Roman Empire's abjuration was on 476 CE with the deposition of Romulus Augustulus as 'de facto' emperor. However, the last 'de jure' emperor was Julius Nepos who was a claimant to the Roman porphyrogene until 480 CE. Even then, after 476 CE, there existed an autonomous Roman province in Northern Africa under a Roman-Moorish hegemon and Syagrius of the Soissons from 457-489 CE. With the expiration of these remnants of the mighty behemoth, the Western Roman Empire had finally fallen.

The dynasties of the Roman Empire consist of the Julio-Claudian Dynasty, the Year of the Four Emperors: Galba, Otho, Vitellius and Vespasian, the Flavian Dynasty, 96-180 CE or the Five Good Emperors, the Severan Dynasty: 193-235 CE, Diocletian and the Tetrarchy: 284-301 CE, Constantinian Dynasty: 305-363 CE, 361-364 CE or the reigns of Julian and Jovian, Valentinian Dynasty: 364-392 CE and the Theodosian Dynasty:  379-457 CE.

For the multifarious theses on the fall of the Roman Empire, we must examine the 'Late Antiquity' theory. According to this theory, the 'Mos Maiorum' or the ideal of Rome never fell; major proponents of Roman despotism and imperial hubris continued in the 'Successor States': the Byzantine Empire, the Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy, the Carolingian Frankish Empire and the Holy Roman Empire. The Byzantine Empire consisted of the Amorian, Isaurian, Nikephorian, Phrygian, Macedonian, Komnenian, Angelid, Laskarid and Palaeologan Dynasties. During the 'Imperial Restoration' Period from 533-565 CE, Emperor Justinian with the aid of his general Flavius Belisarius from 526-532, 541-545 CE, 533-534 CE and 535-554 CE retook Africa, Southern Spain, Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia and Italy from the Vandals, Ostrogoths and Visigoths. Imperial prestige grew. However, from 568-572 the Lombards overran most of mainland Italy giving birth to the duchies of Bergamo, Brescia, Friuli, Turin, Spoleto, Pavia and Benevento. The Exarchate of Ravenna of the Byzantine Empire fell shortly thereafter. Manuel I Komnenos, John Tzimiskes, Nikephorous II Phocas and Basil II Bulgaroctonus still looked on to restoring the Roman Empire. The Catapanate of Italy was set up from 999-1069 CE. The expansion into Italy and the West though initially successful, rendered the threat from the Sassanian Persians and Balkan tribes as growing exponentially. Military expenditure, over-extension of manpower and economic exhaustion were the long term effects of the 'Imperial Restoration' Period.

The Carolingian Frankish Empire under Charlemagne: 768-814 CE upheld the appellation of the Roman Empire. Charemagne took the autonomasia of 'Rex Romanorum' and 'Rex Francorum' which conferred onto him the dignities of the Roman Empire. After the Treaty of Verdun on 840 CE, the empire became ditrichotomous.

The Holy Roman Empire: 962-1806 CE was founded by Otto I 'the Great'. The Ottonian or Liudolfing Dynasty from 919-1024 CE under Otto I, Otto II and Otto III had the chimerical dream of recreating the Roman Empire and viewed themselves as its successor.

The 'Pirenne Thesis' states that some form of the Roman Empire existed until the 7th century Muslim invasions that led to the fall of the Exarchate of Carthage and the decline of the Byzantine Empire onto its traditional defensive position. Edward Gibbon in his The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire promulgated that the pessundation and dilapidation of the Roman Empire was unstoppable and inevitable and fell due to its size, demoralization and its lack of rigor and previous effervesence. According to the geostrategic positioning of Hugo Grotius, a thalassocracy was needed to maintain the peripheral areas with the division of the empire into the Tetrarchy and the two empires left the empire as a whole fissiparous and thus more susceptible to enemy incursion. Finally, Immanuel Wallenstein in his 'Bimodal Construction' divided the Roman Empire into 1. interstices, 2. semi-peripheral zone and 3. peripheral zone.