he Fall of Rome
Rome was considered one of the greatest empires known to man. It was a thriving place with much wealth and power. Historians believe Rome fell in 476 A.D. There were several reasons why Rome, one of the greatest empires ever, fell. Some of these reasons were the government spending more money than it had, inflation, barbarian invasions, and environmental and public health problems. This is just to name a few of several causes of Rome’s fall.
The first reason why Rome fell was because they were losing their people and even their leaders due to environmental and public health problems. It states, “They claim the leaders of Rome were killed off by consuming excessive amounts of lead.” (Ten Theories Sheet). This lead would be in the lead pipes where people got water and even in the lead utensils. Rome didn’t know better to use poisonous materials to make items that will be used to transfer foods and water that will be consumed. This affected the patricians most because they were the only ones who could afford lead pipes and utensils. Though this theory is challenged by those people who discovered that people in the eastern part of the empire survived longer after the decline of the western part. This means Rome would slowly be losing its population and might not have enough people produce items or fightin the army to keep Rome safe.
Another reason why Rome fell is because they were in serious debt. As stated, “Rome spent more money than it had.” (Rhyme and Reason Sheet). Rome had used to much money to buy useless things, leaving them in debt. Since they had no money they couldn’t pay the army for their hard work, so soldiers left the army and made it markedly smaller than it was before. This made Rome practically defenseless to big armies or invaders. To try to get some money back, there was an extremely high tax put on plebeians. These people then went into debt because the could make the amount of money that needed to be given to the government as tax money. The tax should have been put on the patricians who had enough money to pay this tax. Since the plebeians were now in debt, there was a gap in between social classes which could lead to a civil war. A civil war could lead to a loss of population and damage to cities and buildings in Rome.
The third reason why Rome fell was because it had several invasions from barbaric tribes. It states, “ The most straightforward theory for Western Rome’s collapse pins the fall on a string of military losses sustained against outside forces. Rome had tangled with Germanic tribes for centuries, but by the 300s “barbarian” groups like the Goths had encroached beyond the Empire’s borders.”(History.com). The Roman army was withdrawn from the Danube and Rhine, the left unopened territories to be claim by anyone willing while they were fighting civil wars with Italy. Due to Rome’s debt they couldn’t pay the soldiers in the army, so it was smaller. The Barbarians has a huge, ravenous army that easily got by the small Romans. The Romans suffered from many loses which caused a loss of territory that was claimed by the Germanic tribes. This resulted in Rome having less territory and a huge threat of the Barbarians. These barbaric tribes could destroy parts of Rome and kill a lot of its citizens and soldiers.
The final reason why Rome fell was because of inflation.
As stated, “ Once the Romans stopped conquering new lands, the flow of gold into the Roman economy decreased,” and, “ As the amount of gold used in coins decreased, the coins became less valuable.” (Ten Theories Sheet). Rome had stopped claiming new territories so they didn’t get as much income as they used to when the were consistently gaining more territory. Since they weren’t earning as much money as they used to the value and worth of coins began to decrease. Money was becoming harder to get than it used to. Due to the loss of value in these gold coins, merchants raised the price of items that they sold to the public. As money began to run out and disappear people stopped using it and started to barter merchants. The would try to trade some of their valuables to get the things they needed. Overtime, workers salaries had to be paid in food and clothes instead of money. And even taxes weren’t collected in money, they were collected in vegetables and fruits. This is another problem that lead to Rome’s end.
In conclusion, the great empire of Rome had to fall eventually due to the problems of inflation, barbarian invasions, the government spending more money than it had, environmental and public health problems, and possibly much more.