Rise Of Western Empire Essay

Rome’s constant golden age couldn’t last forever and the fall of the Western Empire was one of the biggest historical events in the ancient world. Its demise was the result of many contributing factors such as the invasions by barbarian tribes as well as the rise of the Eastern Empire. Both of these factors peaked during the late fifth century, but their roots are traced back to an earlier period of the Empire. From the very beginning of it all, the failure to deal with the invading barbarians and the split of the Empire over time, destroyed the Empire before its ultimate collapse. One of, and arguably, the biggest reason for the collapse of the Western Roman Empire was the constant failure to contain barbarian tribes and maintain the northern border. Throughout the history of Rome, Germanic tribes have always posed a threat, but by the 300’s CE the barbaric groups like the Goths had breached the northern borders. This was one of the many failures of the military during the decline of Roman power and
The division of the empire into two halves, Western and Eastern, during the reign of Diocletian aided in sealing the fate of declining Rome in the late third century. Although this decision helped the empire in the short-run, over time the two halves drift apart. The two halves failed to coexist and maintain a healthy, mutual benefitting relationship between each other. Failing to adequately combat foreign threats and failing to divide resources and military relief were two examples of this. Correlating with the decreased strength and effectiveness of the military, the strength of the Eastern empire during the reign of Constantine diverted barbarian invasions to the West. With Italy and the rest of the Western Empire in shambles, the diverted invasions were too much for Rome and thus the Western Empire’s political structure and organization collapsed in the late fifth