The Fall of the Western Roman Empire

The Fall of the Western Roman Empire

The fall of the Western Roman Empire was the course of loss of power and decline in the Western Roman Empire, where the empire was unable to enforce its laws and overall rule over its provinces. Many are the reasons that caused the fall of Rome and the loss of its strengths. Firstly, the decline of Rome was caused by the rise of the new faith; Christianity. Once Christianity was made legal by the Edict of Milan in 313, the traditional Roman values system was windswept, and the decree made decades of persecution come to an end. Christianity removed the Romanian religion, which saw its emperor as having a divine status quo, which caused a shift in the focus of glory from the state to one deity.

When Diocletian became emperor of Rome, he split the entire empire into the West and East to better protect the empire. Instead of the latter result occurring, the East became stronger than the West due to higher concentrations of wealth accumulated and had better military protection from its invaders. Diocletian wanted people to continue with their pagan beliefs, where he, as emperor, was seen by his subjects as a god. He persecuted Christians, and this made him highly unpopular among most of his subjects. The Western Roman Empire eventually came to a fall.

Citing Ferrill, another reason why the Western Rome collapsed is the influx of the Huns and Barbarian tribes (1986). When Eurasian warriors tore through Northern Europe, many of the Germanic communities were involuntary pushed to the borders of the Roman Empire. The Romans filled with grudges allowed a tribe called Visigoth into their borders but treated them with a lot of cruelty. The Romans created a dangerous foe within their borders who later revolted and led to the collapse of Rome.

References

Ferrill, A. (1986). The fall of the Roman Empire: the military explanation (p. 30164). London: Thames and Hudson.