The Roman Empire

654 Words3 Pages
The Roman Empire was without a doubt the most powerful governing body in the Mediterranean that there was. In the mid part of the first century it covered half of Europe, the Middle East, and the northern most part of Africa. It is believed that the Civil wars had a great role in reducing the strength of Empire. In 379 Theodosius stated that Christianity will be the state religion of Rome; also making pagan religions illegal. Many people believe that Christianity made Roman citizens into pacifist, which it harder for them to fight in the attacks of the barbarians. Money that was being spent on churches and other religious statues could have been spent on maintaining a better empire. When the third century came along the Roman Empire had been split in Eastern and Western. The reason for this is to make an attempt to make it…show more content…
Like most governments, the Western Bureaucracy was corrupted and inefficient. Constant feuds and civil wars were happening within the government for power. That helped the Roman state and the grip that they had over the land. The West received far less of the wealthy provinces. With this it decreased taxes collected and kept them from being able pay troops. The weak economy was the catalyst for the fall of the Western Roman Empire. If the Roman leaders had not been so power hungry and cause civil wars, brining chaos to the Roman government, then perhaps they could have been prepared for the German tribes that were coming in to capture Rome. It is apparent, through all of the problems that came to the late Roman Empire, the Roman treasury by barbarian tribes, discontinuing of trade between the east and west that the leaders of Rome following the Pax Romana were not paying adequate attention to the state of the empire. If they had been ruling sufficiently, then most of these problems that Rome faced could and would have been avoided, and the empire would have restored
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