The Fall of Rome: Political and Economic Corruption
Think about having lived in what was thought to be the mightiest of all empires. Now, think about watching your once powerful empire become weakened by deadly plagues and natural disasters. Seeing political and economic corruption destroy the organization of the empire. Imagine your ferocious empire just crumbling to the attack of foreign invasions. Let’s just take a step back and analyze the underlying causes of the destruction of the Roman Empire, who or what was really responsible for their resolution? Were they really as mighty as they thought? T he once fearsome Roman Empire kneeled to the power of political and economic corruption, foreign invasions, along with natural disasters and diseases. The Roman Empire was assumed to be a sturdy empire, however, Rome experienced much corruption, both politically and economically. Rome had a total of 19 emperors from
235285 CE (
Document A
). Thirteen of the nineteen emperors either were, or were assumed to have been, assassinated. A pattern of assassination in royalty alludes to the fact that people were unhappy with their rulers. Along with that, a constant change of emperors makes it hard for anything to get done, because as the new emperor takes over priorities often change. The Roman economic and justice system was very much in favor of the wealthy: “...A [wealthy lawbreaker]... is not punished for his injustice, while a poor man.. undergoes legal penalty.”
(
Document E
). This injustice caused for the poor people to reject their own home, the people became less willing to fight to keep their empire thriving. Rome, though viewed as this large, strong, and unbreakable empire, this was not the case.
Negligence lead to the abandonment of the customary armor and parade ground drills. The
Roman soldiers fought without armor because the armor became too heavy, for the men never wore them.. Michael Grant states that, “There can be little doubt that the weaknesses of the late
Roman army
235285 CE (
Document A
). Thirteen of the nineteen emperors either were, or were assumed to have been, assassinated. A pattern of assassination in royalty alludes to the fact that people were unhappy with their rulers. Along with that, a constant change of emperors makes it hard for anything to get done, because as the new emperor takes over priorities often change. The Roman economic and justice system was very much in favor of the wealthy: “...A [wealthy lawbreaker]... is not punished for his injustice, while a poor man.. undergoes legal penalty.”
(
Document E
). This injustice caused for the poor people to reject their own home, the people became less willing to fight to keep their empire thriving. Rome, though viewed as this large, strong, and unbreakable empire, this was not the case.
Negligence lead to the abandonment of the customary armor and parade ground drills. The
Roman soldiers fought without armor because the armor became too heavy, for the men never wore them.. Michael Grant states that, “There can be little doubt that the weaknesses of the late
Roman army