Reasons for the fall of the Roman Empire (Does history repeat itself?)

There were many reasons for the fall of the Roman Empire. Each one intertwined with the next. Many even blame the introduction of Christianity for the decline. Christianity made many Roman citizens into pacifists, making it more difficult to defend against the barbarian attackers. Also money used to build churches could have been used to maintain the empire. Although some argue that Christianity may have provided some morals and values for a declining civilization and therefore may have actually prolonged the imperial era.

Those morals and values that kept together the Roman legions and thus the empire could not be maintained towards the end of the empire. Crimes of violence made the streets of the larger cities unsafe. Even during PaxRomana there were 32,000 prostitutes in Rome. Emperors like Nero and Caligula became infamous for wasting money on lavish parties where guests ate and drank until they became ill. The most popular amusement was watching the gladiatorial combats in the Colosseum. These were attended by the poor, the rich, and frequently the emperor himself. As gladiators fought, vicious cries and curses were heard from the audience. One contest after another was staged in the course of a single day. Should the ground become too soaked with blood, it was covered over with a fresh layer of sand and the performance went on.

There were many public health and environmental problems. Many of the wealthy had water brought to their homes through lead pipes. Previously the aqueducts had even purified the water but at the end lead pipes were thought to be preferable. The wealthy death rate was very high. The continuous interaction of people at the Colosseum, the blood and death probable spread disease. Those who lived on the streets in continuous contact allowed for an uninterrupted strain of disease much like the homeless in the poorer run shelters of today. Alcohol use increased as well adding to the incompetency of the general public.

One of the most difficult problems was choosing a new emperor. Unlike Greece where transition may not have been smooth but was at least consistent, the Romans never created an effective system to determine how new emperors would be selected. The choice was always open to debate between the old emperor, the Senate, the Praetorian Guard (the emperor's's private army), and the army. Gradually, the Praetorian Guard gained complete authority to choose the new emperor, who rewarded the guard who then became more influential, perpetuating the cycle. Then in 186 A. D. the army strangled the new emperor, the practice began of selling the throne to the highest bidder. During the next 100 years, Rome had 37 different emperors - 25 of whom were removed from office by assassination. This contributed to the overall weaknesses of the empire.

During the latter years of the empire farming was done on large estates called latifundia that were owned by wealthy men who used slave labor. A farmer who had to pay workmen could not produce goods as cheaply. Many farmers could not compete with these low prices and lost or sold their farms. This not only undermined the citizen farmer who passed his values to his family, but also filled the cities with unemployed people. At one time, the emperor was importing grain to feed more than 100,000 people in Rome alone. These people were not only a burden but also had little to do but cause trouble and contribute to an ever increasing crime rate.

The roman economy suffered from inflation (an increase in prices) beginning after the reign of Marcus Aurelius. Once the Romans stopped conquering new lands, the flow of gold into the Roman economy decreased. Yet much gold was being spent by the romans to pay for luxury items. This meant that there was less gold to use in coins. As the amount of gold used in coins decreased, the coins became less valuable. To make up for this loss in value, merchants raised the prices on the goods they sold. Many people stopped using coins and began to barter to get what they needed. Eventually, salaries had to be paid in food and clothing, and taxes were collected in fruits and vegetables.

Wealthy Romans lived in a domus, or house, with marble walls, floors with intricate colored tiles, and windows made of small panes of glass. Most Romans, however, were not rich, They lived in small smelly rooms in apartment houses with six or more stories called islands. Each island covered an entire block. At one time there were 44,000 apartment houses within the city walls of Rome. First-floor apartments were not occupied by the poor since these living quarters rented for about $00 a year. The more shaky wooden stairs a family had to climb, the cheaper the rent became. The upper apartments that the poor rented for $40 a year were hot, dirty, crowed, and dangerous. Anyone who could not pay the rent was forced to move out and live on the crime-infested streets. Because of this cities began to decay.

During the last 400 years of the empire, the scientific achievements of the Romans were limited almost entirely to engineering and the organization of public services. They built marvelous roads, bridges, and aqueducts. They established the first system of medicine for the benefit of the poor. But since the Romans relied so much on human and animal labor, they failed to invent many new machines or find new technology to produce goods more efficiently. They could not provide enough goods for their growing population. They were no longer conquering other civilizations and adapting their technology, they were actually losing territory they could not longer maintain with their legions.

Maintaining an army to defend the border of the Empire from barbarian attacks was a constant drain on the government. Military spending left few resources for other vital activities, such as providing public housing and maintaining quality roads and aqueducts. Frustrated Romans lost their desire to defend the Empire. The empire had to begin hiring soldiers recruited from the unemployed city mobs or worse from foreign counties. Such an army was not only unreliable, but very expensive. The emperors were forced to raise taxes frequently which in turn led again to increased inflation.

For years, the well-disciplined Roman army held the barbarians of Germany back. Then in the third century A. D. the Roman soldiers were pulled back from the Rhine-Danube frontier to fight civil war in Italy. This left the Roman border open to attack. Gradually Germanic hunters and herders from the north began to overtake Roman lands in Greece and Gaul (later France). Then in 476 A. D. the Germanic general Odacer or Odovacar overthrew the last of the Roman Emperors, Augustulus Romulus. From then on the western part of the Empire was ruled by Germanic chieftain. Roads and bridges were left in disrepair and fields left untilled. Pirates and bandits made travel unsafe. Cities could not be maintained without goods from the farms, trade and business began to disappear. And Rome was no more in the West.

The above history class notes were found while perusing the internet for information regarding the Roman Empire and its' demise. Readers will note the striking similarity to the situation of the present day United States. In fact, the very last part of the article (not shown) urges readers to think of modern day examples for each point. I post this as intellectual fodder for freepers who like this sort of stuff. Enjoy.

No state has the inherent right to survive through conscript troops and in the long run, no state ever has. Roman matrons used to say to their sons: "Come back with your shield, or on it." Later on, this custom declined. So did Rome.

THE NOTEBOOKS OF LAZARUS LONG

by Robert Anson Heinlein

Rome lasted for a very long time, but regretably, no ordinary institution lasts forever.

The United States has the longest-lasting continuous, legitimate government in the world today. It will last as long as her citizens continue to give more to their country than they take. But nothing lasts forever in this world.

I would point out that the Roman Empire fell twice, once to the Latin 4th Crusade, Led in part by the Doge of Venice~ So much for the western Romans being overrun by Barbarians~ in the 12th century or so, and once to the Ottomans in 1453 when Turkish cannon knocked a hole in the walls and the Jannisaries (decendents of crusader captives, in an early attempt at eugenics.

Odoacer was a barbarian, but he was also an officer of the Roman Government. The Dioclitain semi-constitution, And "Augustus" in the East and West, and a "Caesar" in both east and west, is what changed. Odoacer quite politely sent the western imperial regalia back to Constantinopolos.

It should be noted that whereas Constantine flipflopped on One God and One Church, he was pretty hard over on One Empire.

The Western Roman empire was not centered on Rome, but rather on Ravenna, rather high up on the eastern side of the boot.

If you watch Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, his history gets its inspiration from the fall of constantinopolos, and the Uruk hai, who are half man, half orc, refers to the janissaries who were of european fathers and Arab mothers, who were raised as muslim fanatics.

In reality, the sea borne relief did not arrive, and the Rohirrim (aka the Bulgars) cut a deal with the Ottomans.

From what I recall in reading The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire years and years ago, the essential problem was that the society became too fractured, with special interest groups all working against each other to gain their own special advantage - like unions against corporations, academics against the military, leftwing churches against fundamentalists, gays against the boy scouts, etc etc etc.......

And another point from that series of books, is that the truly best and brightest of the Empire retired to their quarters and their books, and looked only inward.

As a consequence those with the wherewithall (sp?;word?) to pull the Empire from the abyss were AWOL.

With your shield or on it was a greek saying, I think more spartan than otherwise. That was because the close order greek phalanx was very vulnerable to flank attaks, and the only recourse was to run (and you cant run well with the shield knocking against your knees.

That was ancient history during the Roman period. The Alexanderian phalanx used longer pikes and smaller shields.

The Romans evolved, from Camillius and his three lines of skirmisher, main body, and heavily armored "triari" third line, to the Marian legion with chain mail, to the empire with lorica segementata, that you see in the cartoons (asterix and Obelix! ) Later they adopted heavy cavalry which was a weakness in the republican and principate, a major strength in the Eastern Empire.

The roman shield was hand held, not strapped and hanging from the shoulders, and the romans fought in open order during the time of the Western Empire.
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The book "Barbarians At The Gates" tells the story very well. Rome eventually allowed many of the babarians to become citizens, and even to become members of their military. This was the real reason for the decline and fall of Rome. Sound familiar with our own nation? Open borders, lax immigration laws, rewarding illegal aliens with licenses. The barbarians are at our own gates now.

Roman matrons used to say to their sons: "Come back with your shield, or on it."

I'm quite surprised by RAH. This was a Spartan saying, although it is possible the Romans adopted it.

The shape of the Spartan shield gave it real meaning, while the difference in Roman armaments would have made it purely a metaphor for them.

Ah, but the Empire's successful days were built on the conversion of the Gauls, the Britons, the Spaniards and many other peoples (including the Balkans, North Africans, and the peoples of Asia Minor) into Roman citizens who vigorously defended the Empire for centuries. In fact, that assimilation process began during the Republic as the city-state began to turn their neighbors into Roman citizens. It was often a bloody process (see Social Wars).

And Rome always had open borders -- it was only large armies that were stopped. The borders were too vast for the Legions to patrol as if it was the Korean DMZ.

Nonsense. Rome did just fine with it's army until it tried undercutting their pay too much. That's when they went into the skid. It's true the the Roman Army of Caeser's age was better in many ways, but the hired Germans were fully capable of the work. Above all it was the devastating demise of the gold supply that did it; too much shipped to India for gems for the wealthy to wear.

Hopefully, Congress will pay attention to the lesson and remember to always adequately compensate those who defend the state from her enemies.

...the truly best and brightest of the Empire retired to their quarters and their books, and looked only inward...this would be perfectly understandable in today's world...when many of the best positions go not to the truly best and brightest, but to those of the correct race and sex...when the power hungry, especially in government, do all they can to sidetrack the best and the brightest who threaten to thwart their relentless quest for control and authority...when taking a public stand determined through one's experience and knowledge but contrary to the prevailing politically correct, leftwing ideologies inevitably leads to ridicule and character assassination...after awhile it may come to seem that what's left of society really isn't worth the trouble to try to turn it around, and a cozy chair and intriguing book my look like the best of all possible worlds.......

Just a general comment on the article and posts. There is too much misinformation here to respond to it all. But mistaking the 4th crusade's attack on Constantinople in the 1200's, for the fall of Rome itself in the 5th century, probably takes the cake. One of my pet peeves is folks who try to tell you "why" Rome fell. The Decline and Fall Of The Roman Empire tells a 1500 year history of the Western and Eastern Roman Empire. Because it is a great work about mankind in general, there are lessons galore for all of us. But like any 1500 year slice of any part of the earth's history, you cannot come up with a snap reason why it all happened.

after awhile it may come to seem that what's left of society really isn't worth the trouble to try to turn it around, and a cozy chair and intriguing book my look like the best of all possible worlds.......

Not that I'm one of the best and brightest, but I find myself retreating and wanting a hermetic existence. Imagine those who are truly talented and love their Country...imagine how they feel when they compare their credentials against many of our Senators; who after all are supposed to be our conscience and deliberators.

It really is frightening, because the caliber of elected official is continuing on a downward spiral, IMO.

Don't forget the illegal immigration. From the Vandals, the Visigoths, the Ostagoths, the Alans, and so forth. The Visigoths in particular asked permission to cross over into Roman territory to escape other tribes pressing them from the east. Romans were OK with it because they only wanted jobs and land that Romans did not want. They ended up deposing the Roman Emperor and ending Roman rule a few decades later.

As the empire’s ability to defend its borders declined the Romans allowed barbarian tribes to settle border areas. This gave them a vested interest in defending the borders against raids by other barbarians. These Germans increasingly manned the regular western Roman armies, initially as grunts, and in time as generals. The western part of the empire broke up when one of these German generals (Odacer) informed the emperor that his services were no longer required and declared himself King of Italy. Thus, the Western empire went out with a wimper. Shortly thereafter the Eastern emperor Justinian reconquered Italy, Spain, and North Africa, but the western provinces were in such a sorry state economically that they was nothing but a financial drain on Constantinople and were gradually abandoned.

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Reasons for the fall of the Roman Empire

All left Rome open to outside invaders