The Roman Empire: The Down Fall Of Rome

The Roman Empire was one the largest and wealthiest empires of all time; and it was definitely the largest of its time (Wells 21). At its largest it contained about 20 percent of the worlds known population (Wells32). Historians have studied Rome for decades to learn as much as possible about their art, politics, military, and their economy. They study Rome to see how one small city turned into one of the most prominent empires in history. Rome rose from nothing into a strong republic and eventually grew into an even stronger empire, however there are many historians who believe that everything that made Rome strong and fascinating, such as its size and wealth and its leaders, is exactly what eventually lead to the down fall of this great empire. In this
This may sound contradictory but when Caligula was assassinated the politicians attempted to end the empire because they favored the republic; however the Praetorian Guard proclaimed Claudius the new roman emperor successfully shutting down the futile attempt to rebirth the senate. The declaration of Claudius as emperor becomes defining in Rome’s history because as emperor he invades Britannia and completes the largest expansion of the empire since Augustus. This expansion does eventually lead to the down fall of Rome because the expansion was so large and violent.
After Claudius’s successor, Nero, committed suicide Rome again suffered a brief period of time involved in civil wars and rebellions like the ones in Judea (Martin 716). Because of the rebellions in Judea 4 different legionary generals were appointed emperors to rule their territory under the roman emperor. It was after this that the empire reached its greatest extent under the rule of Trajan the Roman emperor. Trajan invaded and conquered many new lands to add to the empire and brought nearly double the amount of income into Rome than it previously was making