The Primary Reasons for the Fall of Rome

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Have you ever wondered what were the causes for the fall of Rome? Rome began as a small settlement around 750 B.C, and the weak community slowly came into power, using “the thrust of a spear and the slash of a sword.” By 146 B.C., Rome was the most powerful empire in the whole Mediterranean region. However, by the end of the 5th century A.D., Rome began weakening. What were the primary reasons for the fall of Rome? History has shown that Rome fell because of the Roman army, foreign invasions, and disasters and diseases. One of the primary reasons for the fall of Rome was the Roman army. “Because of negligence and laziness”, they stopped having training drills, and they also got rid of their armour piece by piece. Since the soldiers rarely wore armour, breastplates and helmets began to seem heavy. This made the Romans prone to injuries and “because they have no armor, think about running and not fighting” (Document B). Because of the loss of troops from the loss of armour, the Roman army’s numbers diminished. No soldiers were drafted since many groups were exempted from joining the army. This lessened the defences and security of Rome, and Rome became weaker. 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. In 410 A.D., the Visigoths breached Rome’s walls, and destroyed the Roman capital. They weren’t the last to invade Rome. Vandals, Angles, Saxons, Franks, Ostrogoths, and Lombards also came to destroy Rome. The western half of Rome was taken over by foreign invaders by 476 C.E. The

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