Declaration Of Human RIghts

The Roman Empire, one of the biggest unbeatable empire of world history, had come to an end in. It was the most dramatic loss in history. Even with a very strong ambush and a powerful ruler, how did the Western Roman Empire collapsed? To put into consideration, there were several challenges that Rome must encounter after the fall of the eastern part. Some of the major challenges that created hardships in the Western Roman Empire are barbaric invasions, difficulty of recruitment of troops and bad habits of human.

Even with it’s greatness, The Western Roman Empire had reached it’s downfall after the invasion of the Huns. The fight was brutal and the impact was huge. The map of the barbarian invasions of the Roman Empire prior to 476 shows the pathway of the Huns. The invaders advance their troops mostly from the North East to South East, where the Roman Empire is. The invaders spread out all over the Empire, taking control of all the places. A Roman Historian, Ammianus Marcellinus, wrote an Excerpts about the Huns. Ammianus explained that the huns are “savagery” and “unthinking animals” that roamed and slaughtered all the people like wild animals. The people of Rome; Ammianus thought of them like animals in a human body, killing everything that’s around them. Furthermore, the Huns wasn’t the only problem that lead to the fall of the Roman Empire, internal problems also create a huge impact in the Empire.

The origin of all the external problems; such as Barbarian invasions, started from internal problems that happened within Rome. The plague from southern Asia that swept an entire population of Rome (from a million people to 250,000) created a series of problems that can’t be irreversible. This event made recruitment of troops became more difficult. Regular conscription were neglected by the upper class people. In the book, The Fall Of the Roman Empire: A Reappraisal by Michael Grant, it was said that hosts of senators, bureaucrats, and clergymen were able to avoid the draft. Other groups; cooks, bakers and slaves, were able to successfully escaped. The refusal of the citizens caused the to reduced to hiring Germanic soldiers to guard the frontiers. From the textbook World Civilizations: The Global Experience, Rome is facing a financial crisis. The need to pay troops added to the state’s budget might be very worst, but just as declining production cut into tax revenues, Rome was buried with debt and payment.

While the condition of Rome isn’t getting any better, the people of Rome spent their days as if everything was normal. The upper class people were apathetic and had no interest in helping Rome. Instead, they carved statues of themselves as if could be rewarded after death. Ammianus, a Roman historian from the 4th century, grumbled at how foolishness the rich was. To encourage people to be vigilant about the trouble, Ammianus stated all the bad habits of the rich and to inform them that they’re going in the wrong direction. Nevertheless, the soldiers are stuck with bad habits. An excerpt from the ancient book Concerning Military Matters by Vegtius, a Roman Historian claimed that the soldiers in the army were too lazy to wear breastplates and helmets in battle, just because the armor is too heavy. He states that the problem that Rome lost is because of the foolishness and the laziness of the soldiers. There were many disasters which led to the loss of great cities however no one tried to restore breastplates and helmets. Sarcasmly talked about the problems as if it wasn’t a serious problem, Vegtius plays with the world helmet by separating the words into ‘hel-met’ and stating the problem, (not wearing armors) several times. He wasn’t actually trying to make fun of the soldiers, but he wants them to be more serious about the battle and to remind them about their safety in battle.

As a consequence, the Western Roman Empire reached its limit and eventually broke out. Rome had to face several challenges during the time, barbaric invasions, difficulty of recruitment of troops and bad habits of human. Even though the great empire had fallen, the fame and its excellence excels all other civilizations in the time period. The significance of Rome is widely known throughout the world and even when it had reached it’s downfall, Rome was still recognize to be the greatest empire of all time.