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.

According to Killeenroos the increase of military spending left little money for up keeping essential structures such as public housing and aqueducts. As a result the people grew frustrated and lost their urge to help defend the Empire. As a result of this act the government had to hire soldiers to protect themselves, this was risky because these soldiers made war costs go up more than before. Also these soldiers’ loyalty and devotion was questionable. Josephus, a Roman Legionnaire in the first century CE, stated, “…but every soldier is everyday exercised, and that with great diligence, as if it were a time of war, which is why they bear the fatigue of battle so easily; for neither can any disorder remove them from their usual regularity, nor can fear affright them out of it, nor can labor tire them, which firmness of conduct makes them always to overcome those whom do not have the same firmness; nor would he be mistaken that should call those his exercises un-bloody battles , and their battles bloody exercises…” This quote is saying that each and every day the Roman armies were trained hard and long in order to keep them in the best possible fighting condition, and that nothing, not fright, any person, tiredness, nor sickness, could take them out of this everyday training. This as the case as long as the military was loyal to Rome, however as soon as the military changed its loyalty from the Empire to money they did not follow such rigorous training methods.

The second most significant reason for the fall of Rome was a great deal of corruption within the government. Political corruption is an important cause for the fall of Rome because without a stable and loyal government, the people get unruly. The Emperor was not acting on what he thought best. His judgment was clouded by gold coins, which smothered the truth of what was occurring, every one knew what was going on and they could have found a solution but they stopped thinking for themselves and started following the money. In terms of choosing a successor for the Emperor. Galgacus, a man living in ancient Rome, stated; “But there are no tribes beyond us, nothing indeed but waves and rocks…from whose oppression escape is vainly sought by obedience and submission…If the enemy be rich, they are rapacious; if he be poor, they lust for dominion; Alone among men they covet with equal eagerness, poverty, and riches. To robbery, slaughter, plunder, they give the lying name of empire; they make solitude and call it peace.” This quote is expressing how originally the Roman people lived in solitude from the rest of the world, and they were obedient, however eventually the people went bankrupt and fell into poverty. Once this happened people were restless and unruly because of which they began to run the Empire in to the ground because they began to rob from each other and plunder each other’s land, slaughtering someone’s herds of animals.

According to the Principle of adoption by Tacitus, “Augustus looked for a successor in his own family, I looked for one in the state, not because I have no relatives or companions of my campaigns, but because it was not from any private favor that I myself received the imperial power.” Choosing a strong leader was crucial and until 86CE, about one hundred years later, Rome had gone through 37 Emperors, 25 of these people were so greatly unfit to rule Rome that they (like Julius Caesar) were assassinated. This weakened the Empire overall because there was not a stable government in over one hundred years (186CE- around 86CE) Along with the assassination of an Emperor comes many unwanted things, such as political, and social chaos as people worried and fought over succession for the Empire.

The third leading factor that led to the fall of Rome was the spreading of social discontent. One factor for the social discontent was the drastic difference between the wealthy and the poor. There was such a large difference in fact that there were only two social classes: you were either obscenely rich or dirt poor. Life was terrible if you were poor because 9 out of 10 poor people were living on the streets of a large city, mainly in Rome, and working for any body that they could in order to get some money, and still there was that 1 out of 10 that didn’t work at all and lived off of food from the government. If this was your life than you were living off the food that the government provided to you, which usually consisted of grain, wheat, or a form of rice. On the other hand if you were obscenely rich your life style was the complete opposite of that of the poor. Ammianus Marcellinus describes the lifestyle of the rich, “Others place the summit of glory in having a couch higher than usual, or splendid apparel…blow about by the excessive fineness of the material, showing a desire by the continual wriggling of their bodies, and especially by the waving of their left hand, to make more conspicuous their long fringes and tunics, which were embroidered in multiform animals with thread of diverse colors.” This quote is saying how the people (mainly the rich people) grew to be more interested in their clothing and showing off their wealth rather than supporting the idea of glory and/or helping the poor. This is significant because the people’s values were shifting from patriotism towards Rome, to self-interested materialism. This is a prime example of the disparity between social classes, which only made life worse for the poor citizens of the Empire.

Another man by the name of Procopius uses the metaphor of a plague, “For much as men differ with regard to places in which they live, or in the law of their daily life, or in natural bent, or in the active pursuits, or in whatever else man differs from man, in the case of this disease alone the difference availed naught. And it attacked some in the summer season, others in the winter, and still others at other times in the year. Now let each one express his own judgment concerning the matter, both sophist and astrologer, but as for me, I shall proceed to tell where this disease originated and the manner in which it destroyed men.” This quote uses the metaphor of a plague or disease to explain that no matter what your social standing everyone can be affected by greed, which is what this plague is, it is a famine of greed that is overshadowing the very roots and basis of Rome (nice idea). In terms of an actual plague going around Rome, (which too is very possible because so many people were unhealthy and living on the streets in very overly-populated cities), this could cause people to die which would weaken the economic power of the Empire. Also this might affect the people’s attitudes towards the Emperor and the government because they might think (need to put this in a formal statement not question), ” This would breed distrust towards the government.

A series of events in the military was the major cause for the fall of Rome. Two other reasons contributed to the collapse as well. The second being government corruption. The final reason being widespread social discontent. The Roman Empire fell in 476 CE. This did not happen suddenly it took place over hundreds of years of seemingly insignificant events which added up and brought about the collapse of the empire. There was mutiny and a lack of loyalty in the military. The increasing greed and disregard for what was best for Rome contributed to major social discontent. We have benefited from the Romans’ intelligence and we can learn a lot from the fall of this great empire.