Preview

How Did Ancient Rome Fall

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1164 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
How Did Ancient Rome Fall
The ancient world’s greatest empire fell, so does that mean our country could face the same fate? Rome lays on the Western side of Italy; a mere 30 miles away from the Tiber River. Ancient Rome was home to one million people, a feat that could not be surpassed by another city until more than a thousand years later.But the most impressive part is how Ancient Rome managed to capture 1.699 million miles of land. Their success came from the sheer size of their skillful army and the devoted patriotism ingrained within their culture. The empire lasted a total of five hundred seven years under many emperors, one of them being the infamous Julius Caesar. Ancient Rome was very innovative, for example; the empire built aqueducts that transported water …show more content…
Ancient Rome did not have a standard practice for choosing emperors. Consequently, it was the old emperor, the general army, and his private army that chose the new emperor. The new emperor would award riches to those who voted him to power. These people were not fit to be the emperor and as a result, they abused their power and ultimately drove the empire into oblivion.This is so because in the text it says “ This system worked fine for a while, but later, after 186 A.D., the practice of selling the throne to the highest bidder made it difficult to have good rulers. “ First off, this system allowed just about anyone with money to become powerful. The problem is that the people who were elected were not properly trained. They did not care for the welfare of the people: they only cared about themselves hence they abused their power as emperor to gain personal wealth. Additionally, it also stated, “ In fact, there were 37 different emperors during a 100-year period with 25 of them being removed from office by assassination.”Secondly, there being 37 different emperors during a 100-year period is obviously a result of the bidding. Especially with 25 emperors being removed from office via assassination. Imagine how bad they had to be to for people to assassinate instead of impeaching them. So that is 25/37, which means at least 67% of the emperors were horrible to the people. Now how does this all apply to the falling of the empire? The emperor is the one who makes all the decisions and judgments so of course, they are going to be responsible for everything within the empire. If the empire is overthrown then, it is reasonable to presume that the ruler must have had some part in this as they are the “brain” of the empire. They are the ones who made the decisions leading to the empire’s death.To make matters worse, the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In this essay I will argue that the Principate is a history of military dictatorships insofar as certain emperors seize power via some form of military coup. I shall cover emperors via the themes of: bread and circuses, reliance on the army and Praetorian Guard as depicted on imperial coinage and the times when the accession of an emperor is instigated by either defeat in battle or the assassination of one’s predecessor.…

    • 206 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    One of the primary reasons that Rome fell was they had poor government. First of all, Rome may have good rules, but they did not enforce them. For example, too many people were exempt from conscription. (Document B) This was a problem because they didn’t have enough people in the army because everybody turned down going to the army. Also, Rome failed to enforce their laws. According to Priscus, wealthy lawbreakers in Rome were able to get away with crimes. (Document E) This was…

    • 516 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Fall Of Rome Dbq Analysis

    • 485 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Going back to document B you remember that they mentioned something about the soldiers asking permission from the emperor to get rid of their armor. This shows the emperor wasn’t very strict with their people and let them off the hook too easily. And because of the military being weak, the emperor was often either killed in battle or assassinated by invaders/enemies. According to Doc. A 13 out of 22 leaders were possibly assassinated because of the military's mistakes. Most others were killed in battle and one died as a slave to the Persians.…

    • 485 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Roman empire lasted from 700 BCE until 476 Ce, and incredible 1,176 years. But how did Rome fall? Some say political squabbling. Others argue invasions. However, the downfall of Rome was due to military problems, and natural disasters. Earthquakes brought buildings to the ground, while illnesses killed thousands of innocent people. Also, the military was losing it’s edge. They decided to become lazy, beginning to think too much of themselves.…

    • 629 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    emperors ruled during a 50 year period and none of them died from natural death and…

    • 639 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A legal voting was not followed in any way. His ability and power to establish himself as a dictator were so strong that not only he ingrained himself as a dictator, but did so indefinitely until he wanted to. However, at the time he felt he had made the changes that needed to be made, he did resign as dictator, which is what causes so many controversies among the people. Because his actions show two different perspectives, one, his honesty and intentions of truly changing the way Rome was being led at any cost, and the other the man who wanted to be a “reformer” but ended up being a “dictator.” In addition, I believe that by taking Rome by force he also set an example for future generations, one that he will not be able to “abolish.” (Badian, 1) He awoke in others this feeling that if Sulla did it why can’t I?. As a result, I believe it is just a matter of time before someone else tries to establish himself as a tyrant as well. However, I don’t believe that future dictators will have the same idea of resigning to such power as Sulla did, which could represent a real chaos for the…

    • 924 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Why Rome Fell Dbq

    • 1010 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Rome was one of the greatest empires of its time. They conquered so much land that they had to split it in half to be able to manage all of it. They had ruthless leaders who gained so much power and land for Rome. They also had a military that was practically invincible and they could take down anyone who tried to stand in their way. A civilization as strong as Rome should not have fallen. And the reason as to why it did is still a mystery to many people. The Roman Empire fell because of invasion by the Huns, the loss of people, and because the people of Rome got tired.…

    • 1010 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Why Rome Fell Essay

    • 679 Words
    • 3 Pages

    To begin, when Rome was going through the tough times the had twenty-two emperiors in just fifty years. With this ineffecrive and inconsistant leadership Rome had stopped growing and evolving into what is could have become. The people had, instead of working with the leader to figure things out, ddecide that assaination was the way to go, aside from that the people also had a rough time choosing their leader. This shows how disrespectful and inconsiderate some of the people in Rome really were, which is my second point. Lastly, the population which at on point seemed as though it would never stop grow, in fact did. Because of this there was less tax money coing in then what was needed and it led to an increase in prices for everything else. Due to all of these problems with the government Rome was being distroyed from the inside out, but is that the only reason…

    • 679 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Why Did Rome Fall

    • 346 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Through all this time Rome has had a lot of things wrong with them. They all noticed this but they did not do anything to fix the problem. That's is why Rome…

    • 346 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Why Did Rome Fall Essay

    • 942 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Roman Empire was a great empire and was around for some time, but all great things come to an end. Many things took part in dragging the Roman Empire down, but the economy and its problems were one of the main causes why the empire fell. As we know the economy is a big part of what keeps a country going, however in Rome the economy had problems that contributed to Rome’s fall.…

    • 942 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Oligarch's Death

    • 133 Words
    • 1 Page

    Poetic and symbolic, the oligarch’s death served as a metaphor for the downward direction of the empire.…

    • 133 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    We all know the saying “Rome wasn’t built in a day”, and much in the same way one could say that it didn’t end in a day either. It was a major power at the time with a full scale economy, a concrete political system, and a seemingly stable infrastructure. The fall of this empire, be it from the power struggles between the Emperor and the Senate which ended up bringing about the phrase “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely”, the decline in morals which led to the view of romans as being a lewd society, the rapid growth of the empire which created an ever growing need to protect the borders of the empire, the failing economy due to the cost of defense spending and the constant amount of gold being lost to other empires via trade, or the constant attacks of the barbarians who were continually getting stronger and more accustomed to Roman military tactics, taught…

    • 2345 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The first main reason reason that Rome fell was because of its economy. The economy was a main issue because of the rising taxes. This led to economic hardship, driving people out of the empire. Another reason that this is an issue is because people had to pay for justice. Poor people were punished more for their crimes, while a rich man was not. All those problems drove people out of here empire, weakening it.…

    • 289 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Roman Government

    • 1305 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Although the form of government in the Roman Empire changed several times over its thousand year history, many parts remained the same and it has served as a model, inspiring the founding fathers as they created the governmental system of the United States of America almost 2,000 years later. Scattered around seven hills in the middle of the Italian peninsula, Rome began as a simple village of wooden huts. As it grew, it became governed by a monarchy, with a king having complete control. This lasted for over 200 years until the king was overthrown and a republic form of government was developed. Although controlled to a large extent by wealthy land owners and nobles, the general population was given an increasingly larger part in how the empire was run. This form of government worked well and the Roman Empire prospered. However, social unrest in the first century A.D., coupled with several military defeats, ended with Julius Caesar taking control and declaring himself dictator for life, ending the true republic form of government. Assassinated a month later, Rome then entered a period of rule by an emperor, which lasted until the fall of the Roman Empire in 476 A.D. The Roman Empire lasted longer than any other government in the western world and it has provided the foundation upon which the government of the United States is based, along with providing valuable lessons for future generations.…

    • 1305 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    As shown in document A, over the span of fifty years, twenty-two emperors had died. Out of all twenty-two emperors, none of them had died of natural causes. Eight out of twenty-two emperors had died of either suicide, plague, or they were killed in battle. The fourteen other emperors had died of assassinations. Usually, the new emperor after the previous emperor, was most likely the one who had assassinated the previous emperor. This demonstrates that the Roman leaders often fought each other for the position of emperor, which gives off the impression that there wasn’t any sort of stable leadership in the Roman government. The frequent deaths of emperors and abrupt changes in leadership led to distrust from the Roman public, and decrease in power. Furthermore, the constant changes in leadership could also give outsiders the perception that Rome was an easy target to attack. As displayed in Document C, outsiders were able to attack the Roman empire. Several groups of invaders, such as, the Huns, Vandals, Ostrogoths, and Visigoths, were migrating through the Roman empire. As these groups migrated through the Roman empire, they most likely pillaged villages. This elucidates that the emperors were not successful in ceasing the invasions, which would eventually lead to wariness from the Roman public about the…

    • 800 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays