what contributed to the fall of the roman empire

6f. The Fall of the Roman Empire

Constantine the Great, 306-337 C.E., divided the Roman Empire in ii and made Christianity the dominant faith in the region.

The invading army reached the outskirts of Rome, which had been left totally undefended. In 410 C.E., the Visigoths, led by Alaric, breached the walls of Rome and sacked the upper-case letter of the Roman Empire.

The Visigoths looted, burned, and pillaged their way through the city, leaving a wake of destruction wherever they went. The plundering continued for iii days. For the first time in nearly a millennium, the metropolis of Rome was in the hands of someone other than the Romans. This was the offset time that the urban center of Rome was sacked, but by no means the last.

Constantine and the Rise of Christianity

One of the many factors that contributed to the fall of the Roman Empire was the rise of a new religion, Christianity. The Christian religion, which was monotheistic ran counter to the traditional Roman religion, which was polytheistic (many gods). At different times, the Romans persecuted the Christians considering of their beliefs, which were pop among the poor.

This 16th-century medallion depicts Attila the Hun, one of the nigh barbarous invaders of all fourth dimension.

In 313 C.E., Roman emperor Constantine the Neat concluded all persecution and declared toleration for Christianity. Later that century, Christianity became the official state organized religion of the Empire. This drastic alter in policy spread this relatively new religion to every corner of the Empire.

By approving Christianity, the Roman land directly undermined its religious traditions. Finally, by this time, Romans considered their emperor a god. But the Christian conventionalities in one god — who was not the emperor — weakened the authority and brownie of the emperor.

Constantine enacted another change that helped accelerate the fall of the Roman Empire. In 330 C.E., he separate the empire into ii parts: the western half centered in Rome and the eastern one-half centered in Constantinople, a city he named after himself.

Why Two Empires?

This map of the Roman Empire in 476 C.Due east. shows the various people who invaded and how they carved up the Empire.

In 324, Constantine'due south army defeated the forces of Licinius, the emperor of the east. Constantine became emperor of the unabridged empire and founded a new capital city in the eastern half at Byzantium. The city was his New Rome and was later named Constantinople (the "city of Constantine").

Empress Theodora was one of the most powerful women of late antiquity. She helped keep her husband, Emperor Justinian, in power and solidified the strength of the Byzantine Empire in the sixth century C.E. as the western Empire collapsed.

Constantinople was advantageously situated for two reasons. First, it was on a peninsula that could be fortified and dedicated easily. Further, because Constantinople was located on the frontiers of the empire, imperial armies could respond more easily to external attacks or threats.

Some scholars also believe that Constantine established a new metropolis in order to provide a place for the young religion of Christianity to abound in an environment purer than that of corrupt Rome.

The western Empire spoke Latin and was Roman Catholic. The eastern Empire spoke Greek and worshipped under the Eastern Orthodox branch of the Christian church. Over time, the east thrived, while the west declined. In fact, later the western part of the Roman Empire barbarous, the eastern half continued to exist as the Byzantine Empire for hundreds of years. Therefore, the "fall of Rome" actually refers only to the fall of the western half of the Empire.

Other fundamental issues contributed to the fall. In the economically ailing west, a decrease in agricultural product led to college food prices. The western half of the empire had a large trade deficit with the eastern half. The west purchased luxury goods from the due east but had nothing to offering in substitution. To brand up for the lack of money, the authorities began producing more coins with less silver content. This led to inflation. Finally, piracy and attacks from Germanic tribes disrupted the flow of trade, specially in the due west.

In that location were political and war machine difficulties, likewise. It didn't help matters that political amateurs were in control of Rome in the years leading upwardly to its fall. Army generals dominated the emperorship, and corruption was rampant. Over time, the military was transformed into a mercenary army with no real loyalty to Rome. As money grew tight, the regime hired the cheaper and less reliable Germanic soldiers to fight in Roman armies. By the end, these armies were defending Rome against their beau Germanic tribesmen. Under these circumstances, the sack of Rome came every bit no surprise.

Goth Rockers

Moving ridge after wave of Germanic barbarian tribes swept through the Roman Empire. Groups such every bit the Visigoths, Vandals, Angles, Saxons, Franks, Ostrogoths, and Lombards took turns ravaging the Empire, eventually carving out areas in which to settle downwards. The Angles and Saxons populated the British Isles, and the Franks ended upwardly in France.

In 476 C.E. Romulus, the terminal of the Roman emperors in the w, was overthrown by the Germanic leader Odoacer, who became the first Barbarian to dominion in Rome. The society that the Roman Empire had brought to western Europe for 1000 years was no more.

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Source: https://www.ushistory.org/civ/6f.asp

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