Cultural Causes of the Decline of the Western Roman Empire
The decline of the Western Roman Empire was the fall in which the Western Roman Empire did not oblige to its rule. This led to the division of the territory into smaller successor polities (Arnold, 2014). The decline is attributed to social, cultural, and economic causes. Some of these reasons are also related to state failure in the modern world (Arnold, 2014). The main aim of this essay is to discuss the cultural causes leading to the decline of the Western Roman Empire including, the invasion of the Barbarians during the migration period and the transformations away from the traditions.
The Barbarian kingdoms invaded the Roman Empire together with the Goths, and it led to a tremendous territorial loss. Their increasing pressure for the west made it difficult for them to be expelled. The western roman emperor had limited political and military power (Arnold, 2014). Also, the available armed forces in the Empire seemed ineffective. The Germanic barbarians conquered the Empire and established its cities in most areas making the Western Roman Empire unable to rise again (Arnold, 2014).
Rome had many people with different cultures and belief systems. Transformations came by after Greek was made a common language. This brought about changes in religious beliefs. Christianity was adopted mostly by the peasant class (Arnold, 2014). Many Christians, however, were persecuted and some were executed. The centralized government got weaker, and the decline that was caused by internal and external problems persisted (Arnold, 2014). This led to a significant shift towards an autocratic system of government.
In conclusion, there are two critical causes leading to the decline of the Western Roman Empire, which include invasion of the Barbarians during the migration period, and the transformations away from the traditions. Invasion of barbarians weakened the armed forces making them ineffective to guard the Empire, while the rejection of the Empire’s traditions by adopting cultural changes in religion and art also brought about the fall.