"Rome Wasn't Built in a Day"- The Falls of Rome

 

“Rome wasn’t built in a Day” 
(Great Things take time)

 - The Falls of Rome -

  By Suryatej Vakkalanka

There were many theories about how Rome came to an end, and these are the top four. 

Barbaric Invasions- The Roman army always kept the edges of the Empire secure from Barbarians. In the 300’s A.D., the Roman army had to deal with civil war uprisings, and thus left the Rhine-Danube frontier unsecured. Soon, the hunters from Germany and herders from Europe began to raid the Roman lands in Gaul and Greece. The Germanic general, Odovacar, overthrew the last of the Roman emperors and made himself ruler. Furthermore, Germanic tribes settled in the west of the Empire. From then on, Roads and Bridges were broken, and many fields and crops grew dust. Pirates made the Roman Empire unsafe.  

Political Corruption- Rome had a major problem of choosing a new emperor. As the Romans never created an effective ways to decide the next Emperor, it was always an open debate for the old Emperor, the Senate, the army, and the Praetorian Guard. For sometime, it went good when the Praetorian Guard decided the next Emperor, and he would reward them. Although, starting at 186 A.D., the Praetorian Guard strangled with the new Emperor, and started to sell the throne to the highest bidder. This political waste might have caused the decline of Rome   

Rise in Christianity- This was difficult to deal with during the Barbaric times because Christianity made people “pacifists”, or people opposing war. This might have caused the Romans to refuse to fight the Barbarians. Another disadvantage with Christianity was that Churches attracted people who had skills to defeat the barbarians, but they just stayed inside the church. Lastly, the money that was being wasted on those churches could be used to hire extra army soldiers to protect the border

Inflation (In prices)- Right after the reign of Marcus Aurelius, prices started to go high in Rome. This was because the low gold deposit. In addition, because there was more gold being spent on luxuries, so less gold could be spent on coins. To make up for the loss in gold, Merchants increased prices in their goods. Eventually, people began to barter (trade) items on a daily basis. This may have helped lead to the end of Rome.