The economy went down because of the rising prices. Their government produced more coins led to Inflation where the prices rise as the money value declines. Also, there was disruption of trade since the capital moved to Byzantium, which is renamed Constantinople, for mores secure surroundings and they would be closer to trade routes. There was a civil war in 337 AD, where the empire was divided in half. The Roman Empire was the western half and the Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Half.
Also, many experts say that it fell because of the lack of heart the people had to the Empire, the rise of Christianity, it was too immense to govern and protect, the decline of the economy and jobs, the army being made up of mostly foreigners, and outside invaders. Thus, one can say that the Empire collapsed more internally than externally. The first reason why the Western Roman Empire fell was because the people that lived in it had a lack of heart in the Empire. People didn’t believe the Empire was worth saving anymore. As Strayer, Gatzke, and Harbison state in their textbook The Course of Civilization states “The basic trouble was that very few inhabitants of the empire believed that the old civilization was worth saving… the overwhelming majority of the population had been systematically excluded from political responsibilities.
Another primary reason of Rome’s decline was a series of foreign invasions. As Rome’s army weakened, foreigners began taking over parts of Rome. Many people hated Rome for taking all their land and property because Rome had conquered many provinces over the years of its prosperity. Land was important, and the Romans had a lot of it, so foreigners wanted to conquer Rome. The Visigoths were the first to reach there.
Over time, their Republic became more of a oligarchy, then converted into a dictatorship. The expansion weakened the stability of the Roman government and it virtually collapsed. As the Empire grew, the gap between the rich and poor Romans became more pronounced. Before the expansion, the rich patricians tried to support the lower plebian
This is demonstrated in documents 4, 5, and 6. Henry Haskell states that “The government undertook such far-reaching responsibility in affairs that the fiber of the citizens weakened” (Document 4) This shows that the decline of the empire was due to heavy taxation that couldn’t support the government. If the taxes couldn’t sustain the government then it wouldn’t be able to control the people. According to Montanelli “The military crisis was the result of… proud old aristocracy’s… shortage of children” (Document 5) This means that many children weren’t old enough to go into the military which caused the decrease of soldiers. With the lack of soldiers, it would be easier to invade Rome, which could’ve led to the decline of the Empire.
The causes for the fall of Rome can be divided into four categories: political, military, economic and social. Using the information you have read, identify one cause in each category and explain how it contributed to the decline of the Roman Empire. Military: Around the 4th century AD, the Roman military had become significantly feebler, mostly to the barbarians who had been attempting to breach Rome's borders for years. Soon, the barbarians began to gain access to the Western Empire on an even larger scale then before, first as minor groups of settlers and soldiers, but ultimately as entire tribes. They sensed military flaws and began to found small kingdoms, like Gaul, Spain.
The Middle Ages come into being around A.D. 500, which was after the western half of the Roman Empire collapsed. They lasted to about A.D.1400 and are referenced to as a period of time that experienced violence by Barbaric invasion, feudalism, disease, and strong feelings for faith. The Dark Ages, the Age of Feudalism and the Age of Faith are all appropriate titles, however the label that best fits is the Age of Faith because of the political, economic and social influence the church held. The middle ages are often identified as the Dark Age because of the Black Death, invasions by the Barbarians, and because of lack of enlightenment for the common people. A plague most likely originating from Asia spread throughout Europe.
Turning Points: Fall of Rome and Middle Ages In ancient history, just like today, there has been many changes throughout different countries. Some countries failed in maintaining the government, while others had economic problems, but Rome experienced both. By 400 AD, Rome was pretty much finished. It didn't only have economic problems and government instability, but they also had to deal with diseases, decrease in population, starvation, and military problems. The fall of Rome started off with the government, since the empire was too large, it was hard for them to govern effectively.
They would raise rent on peasants who didn’t have much which resulted in people going against authorities. One more reason is the Yellow Turban Uprising; this group of people rose up due to the hardships on the poor. The bureaucrats did not help at all and actually raised taxes and rent even when peasants didn’t have anything to give. The yellow turban rebels revolted against the Han dynasty gradually hurting the government little by
In third century rome faced a lot of problems. It came from in and out of the empire. Some of those problems were military, political, economic. Internal problems and invasions made the empire fall as well. The roman empire the economy system got weak.