The Fall of Rome

The fall of Rome was not an immediate event; Many causes over a long period of time that contributed to the decline and eventual collapse of the Roman Empire. It started over hundreds of years, starting around 300CE with Emperor Constantine. That was the beginning of the end for the Romans. The Roman Empire fell in around 476CE, and the Empire played a huge role in the making of the western world because the basis for all the languages of the places that it conquered is Latin. Latin was the official language of the Roman Empire and without it many languages would be drastically different, such as Italian-Latin based-Spanish-Latin based-French-Latin based-and even English which has some words of Latin origin. The main reason that Rome fell was because of a series of events in the military, the second most significant factor for the fall of Rome was a large amount of corruption in the government, and the third significant reason for the decline and collapse of the Roman Empire was large social discontent.

The main reason for the fall of Rome was a series of problems throughout the ranks of the military. One such problem in the military was with the soldiers. The soldiers disrespected the authority of Rome and made decisions on their own. They were thinking solely for their own benefit rather than the benefit, and betterment of Rome. Gibbon, a man living around this time stated, “The victorious legions, who, in distant wars acquired the vices of strangers and mercenaries first oppressed the freedom of the republic and afterwards violated the majesty of the purple.”. The troops became ruthless and power happy,. First they oppressed the freedom of the Republic by taking all the citizens rights, then what they did was they disrespected the majesty of the purple. This could be interpreted in one of two ways.

The first way that it could be interpreted, as is that the legions disrespected the Roman Emperor, or they disrespected the government and laws of the people whom they had just conquered. Either way you look at it is bad. This started all the way back into the age of Caesar when he returned from Africa and (wanted knew that he could achieve his ultimate goal of becoming the Emperor of Rome -awkward), when his soldiers pledged their allegiance to him instead of Rome the fall had begun. However, it is not only the soldiers that are to blame; it is their commanding officers as well, such as Caesar. These people are also to blame because being the commanding officer in the military whom were usually hand selected by the lead Generals of Rome. They started the mutiny (not sure this is the appropriate word – what mutiny?) that led soldiers to have no more choice except to give their allegiance to the General. Gibbon states, “…the vigor of the military government was relaxed, and finally dissolved, by the partial institutions of Constantino; and the Roman world was overwhelmed by a deluge of Barbarians…” this quote is saying how because Constantino relaxed the grip of the military government, Rome was unable to secure it’s boarders from foreign and unwanted company. Rome was invaded by a deluge of Barbarians, meaning that since Rome was now vulnerable and could not protect it’s frontier, that it was open to invasion, which is what happened. Barbarians flooded across the boarders of Rome and the military could do nothing to stop them. Eventually Rome fell to the Barbarian hordes of the east.