Why Did Rome Fall Research Paper

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Rome was a superpower of the ancient world. It had all necessities a great empire should acquire including aqueducts, a sewage system, and a strong government and military. Knowing this poses the question, “Why did Rome fall?” Historians have narrowed the reason behind Rome’s downfall to three main reasons. These theories include: The Roman military being overexpanded which allowed barbarians to invade, Rome being split into two divisions that drifted apart, and finally Rome was ruled by incompetent emperors. At the peak of the Roman empire it controlled close to two-million square miles of land, from the Atlantic Ocean all the way to the Euphrates river. This spread Rome’s military thin along it’s borders. It became impossible to defend its borders from the barbarians closing in from all sides. The word barbarian originated from Greece and referred to those who didn't speak Greek. The word barbarian dramatically changed during the end of the Roman Empire. The word barbarian changed to all foreigners, especially the ones close to their borders. Among these barbarian were Goths, Vandals, Sarmatians, Huns, and Saxons to name a few. All of…show more content…
The Emperor Diocletian divided the empire into two. The Eastern Empire governed out of Byzantium and the Western Empire governed from Rome. He believed dividing the empire into two would make it easier to govern. Both sections were known equally as The Roman Empire. Due to the separation, more and more military defenses had to be built across the whole empire. This cost money that Rome did not have. To pay for this, taxes were increased. This lead to inflation causing prices to rise. The citizens of Rome were not in favor of the rising prices and began to revolt. This is just one of the many problems that came from the division of Rome. These problems weakened the Roman Empire, opening the door for barbaric tribes to attack. Thus, the Roman Empire
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