The Fall of The Roman Empire
Why the topic is interesting: The Roman Empire was one of the greatest and most powerful communities that ever existed, so how such a mighty Empire could decline in power is very interesting.
Background:
What was the Roman Empire? The Roman Empire came after the era of The Roman Republic. At its peak, it controlled territories from Britain and Germany to the Persian Gulf and North Africa. The great Empire was then separated into the Byzantine Empire and the Western Roman Empire and attacked by Barbarian invaders.
Thesis
In my opinion, the Fall of the Roman Empire was mostly caused by sociological and political factors. Some examples of this are the decline of morals …show more content…
Some of the ideas in the sources go hand in hand with my thesis whereas others provide completely new information or thoughts that disagree with my thesis completely. However, all of the sources used are valid forms of information and will help in forming my opinions. For this paper, my thesis is that the Roman Empire’s decline in power was ultimately due to political and sociological causes. In order to prove my thesis is correct, I will state my supporting facts and ideas as well as counter claims to my thoughts. I believe this is the only way to properly state an idea; by giving an idea as well as its opposition.
Part Two
Social Causes lead to Political Causes In 509 b.c., Rome changed their government to a Republic which became an internal conflict amongst the Romans. This was largely due to the fact that the Republic had a Senate and a Consul, both of which were positions of authority only given to the wealthy men of Rome, also called Patricians. Many disputes among the people of Rome began to arise, and acts of violence even began to occur within the empire walls. It was not until the less wealthy citizens found an officer that would vote in their favor and veto the bills of the rich. Once the people of Rome solved the political issue, and had a stable government, they began to take control …show more content…
When it came to engineering and public services, however, the Empire did wonderfully. They built very good bridges, structures, roads, and aqueducts. However, the Roman’s success was extremely dependent on human labor and the labor of animals. This prevented them from inventing very many new machines or technology that could help produce items faster and produce more of them. As previously stated, the Roman Empire had a great deal of territory. They, however, could not produce enough products to support such a large population. As well, they were getting defeated more frequently because they could not compete with other militaries’ technological superiority. Due to all of this, they could no longer maintain several territories, they were not gaining new ones or the new technology that would come with new territories, and the Empire could no longer maintain its military. This is also a cause that does not correspond with my thesis, but I am willing to agree that it has great