What were the main causes and consequences of the fall of the Roman Empire? Requirements of Your Written ESSAY Make sure your written assignments follow the following format: · Title page ·

Internal Weaknesses and Political Instability

The decline and eventual fall of the Roman Empire was marked by serious internal vices, largely seen in politico-administrative systems of the Empire. Gradually the central rulers found it increasingly difficult to manage the huge size of the empire and the various peoples. As the bureaucracy developed the political system of the empire wore out featuring corruption, inefficiency and inadequacy of clear policies of succession that resulted to power struggle and civil war (Cornell, 2020). The lack of stability during the years 235-284 AD also known as the ‘Crisis of the Third Century’ this was the period that nearly brought the empire to its knees, courtesy of internal conflict, economic downturn and constant loss on the field of battle. At this period more than 20 emperors came into power and most of them gained power through military coups which were harbingers of marked political instability in Rome, bureaucratic incapacity and executive irresponsibility which diminished the faith that the people placed in the State.

According to Burden, Christopher, (2020), major internal crisis was the economic downturn wasn’t helped by heavy taxes, spikes in inflation, and deteriorating physical structures. Debasement of money supply and frequent debasement of currency lead to inflation that weakened the empire’s capacity to provide its military forces and maintain enormous system of roads and cities. The reliance on slaves also affected the society in that it slowed down the development of technology and led to decayed economy of the empire did not evolve to better phases or come up with better models of economy in case of any incidences.

Military Decline and Barbarian Invasions

Another important aspect that used to support the Roman military structure and served as one of the primary drivers for the empire’s power encounters significant problems that have led to the empire’s collapse. In the later years the general quality and allegiance of the Roman legion suffered. Soldiers were paid less and fewer of them came from the empire, yet, many were mercenaries or contractors from the Germanic tribes many of whom gave their allegiance to their officers or tribes than to Rome. Thus, this change reduced discipline and efficiency of Roman army, it reduced their capability to protect the borders of the empire from external invasions.

According to McConnell et al., (2020), the most tangible external menace was posed by the so-called ‘Barbarians’, a diverse assortment of tribes consisting of visigoths, vandals, ostrogoths and huns, who constantly sought to force the Roman frontiers. These invasions could not be repulsed because the empire’s military was in decline and in part because the empire was strategically over-extended as it had to guard a vast frontier from the British Isles in the West all the way to the Middle East in the east. The barbarian invasions themselves are a mark of the declining strength of the empire, such as the sacking of Rome by the Visigoths in 410 AD, and the Vandals in 455 AD. These invasions also led to territorial surrenders but most importantly, they were also mental injuries to the romans and their pride.

Socio-Cultural and Religious Transformations

Other factors that led to the fall of the empire include socio-cultural factors such as change of ‘religion’ from paganism to Christianity. And so it happened, Christianity expanding from a religion of the eastern Mediterranean to cover the whole of the Roman empire and even becoming state religion in 313 when Emperor Constantine authorized this throughout his empire and thus Christianizing the society and the values of the new established Roman empire in the first half of the 4th century. The decline of the Roman virtues like duty, responsibility, and those of military began to fade when the Christians and their outlook on spirituality and the life after the physical one was emphasized. This shift was the cause of a decline of the civil and military apparatuses that had supported the empire in earlier years.

According to Whittaker, (2020), the later division the large empire into two, the western Roman empire and the eastern Roman empire (Byzantine empire) in 285AD under Diocletian weakened further the west. The second emperor of the Eastern Empire was Glvrias who followed the science of economics to maintain the empire stable and prosperous while the western empire deteriorated and got isolated. Divided along with negligence to the socio-political crises, the Western Roman Empire could not stand and resist the process of invasions and the subsequent changes; this led to the deposition of the last Roman emperor Romulus Augustus in 476 AD by a German chieftain Odoacer.

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