Fall of the Roman Empire

Fall of the Roman Empire

Roman Empire enjoyed a significant social and political structure in western culture. The central government of the Roman Empire was in Rome. Hence, it resulted in division into Western and Eastern Empire by Emperor Diocletian. Augustus Caeser marked the first Roman emperor and ended in West when Odoacer, the Germanic King discarded Romulus Augustus emperor. The impact of the Roman Empire on western civilization is evident in every aspect of western culture. Many reasons exist behind the decline of the Roman Empire, key stakeholders and the impact of decline on them.

Reasons for the Decline

Edward stated that in 31BCE, Gaius Octavian Thurinus become the first emperor of Rome and was renamed Augustus Caesar after the Battle of Actium. Although Julius Caesar was always acknowledged as the first Emperor of Rome. From 31BCE to 14 CE, Augustus ruled the empire. He said to himself, and he discovered Rome a city of clay though left a city of marble. Following the law of the city reforms, the empire secured borders large buildings projects were established securing name greatest name characterized by political and cultural powers in history. After the demise of Augustus, his heir Tiberius took overpower, but he lacked vision and strength of character defined by Augustus. Caligula, Claudius, and Nero from the Julio-Claudian Dynasty. However, both Caligula and Claudius were assassinated in the office, and Nero’s suicide ended Dynasty and introduced the period of social unrest, also referred to as The Year of the Four Emperors.

Stakeholders

The four leaders were Gabla, Otho, Vitellius, and Vespasian. Edward stated that Gabla succeeded Nero though he was assassinated. Otho took over as he was anticipated to bring a good emperor though Vitellius instigated a civil war that made him assume reign in office whereas Otho committed suicide. Later Vitellius was murder by Vespasian men and took over power and founded the Flavian Dynasty, which led to economic development, building projects and expansion of the entire empire (Mitchell and JE 49). Nervana founded Nervan –Antonin Dynasty, which marked increased prosperity in Rome and from 96 to 180 CE five men which include Nerva, Trajan Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius ruled successfully. However, the raise of Perinax who ruled for three months Nervan- dynasty and entered a period known as Years of Five Emperors which lead to the rise of septum’s Severus power which defeated the Parthians and expanded the empire but extensive campaign in Africa and Britain lead to Rome’s financial crisis, and he was succeeded by Caracalla, Geta and Alexander Severus (Erdkamp and Paul 436). Later Imperial Crisis characterized by civil war due to fights to control empire which lead to  Diocletian division into the Western and Eastern Rome Empire having Maxentius and Constantine as successors. However, following the death of Diocletian, Maxentius and Constantine plugged the empire into civil wars, but Constantine defeated Maxentius and become the sole emperor of both western and Eastern Empires believing that Jesus Christ made him victorious hence tolerated Christianity (King et al. 64).

Impacts of the fall of the Roman Empire

The fall of Rome leads to feudalism in Europe, whereby new king not only want to tax their citizen but also wanted them to fight during wars. Feudalism leads to the decentralization of government that was prone to the conflict, which negatively affected Europe’s economy. The Roman economy was seriously affected by high inflation and weak currency since a lot of money was channel towards national defence resulting from rising in taxes to compensate. Roman money value decrease as people preferred barter trade. Besides, people lost their jobs due to cheap slave labour. Due to overexpansion of Rome, a lot of resources and manpower were required to defend its binderies leading constant problems as manpower became so scarce allowing conquered societies to join ranks hence give chance barbarians to learn roman’s battle tactics (Schnee and Christian 12).

Conclusion

In conclusion, the great Empire of Rome had the greatest power to ever govern the Mediterranean had fallen. The fall of the Rome Empire had profound effects on the world. For instance, when Rome’s infrastructures fell, the quality of life decrease because of the destruction of infrastructures and trade. Therefore after the stability which Rome provides was gone, many new nations had to rebuild their own. The leaders of today should review the mistakes of the Roman Empire and ensure not to make similar ones again.

Works Cited

Erdkamp, Paul. “War, Food, Climate Change, and the Decline of the Roman Empire.” Journal of Late Antiquity 12.2 (2019): 422-465.

Gibbon, Edward. EDWARD GIBBON: Historical Works, Memoirs & Letters (Including” The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”): Including” The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. e-art now, 2017.

Gibbon, Edward. The Collected Works of Edward Gibbon: Historical Works, Autobiographical Writings, and Private Letters, Including The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. e-art now, 2016.

King, Darwin L., Carl J. Case, and Jared L. Roosa. “THE COMPREHENSIVE TAXATION SYSTEM EXISTING DURING THE ROMAN EMPIRE.” JOURNAL OF BUSINESS AND ACCOUNTING (2019): 64.

Mitchell, Leo JE. Balancing the Books: The Economic Impact of Collegia in the Western Roman Empire. Diss. The University of Manchester (United Kingdom), 2018.

Santosuosso, Antonio. Storming the heavens: soldiers, emperors, and civilians in the Roman Empire. Routledge, 2018.

Schnee, Christian. “Images of weakness and the fall of Rome–an analysis of reputation management’s impact on political history.” Management & Organizational History 11.1 (2016): 1-18.