Preview

Fall Of Rome And Republicanism Essay

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1828 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Fall Of Rome And Republicanism Essay
The Fall of Republicanism and Rome

Why did Rome fall? Some say Rome fell because Roman Empire was just too big, making it collapse. Others say the empire spent too much of its resources on the poor, drawing away much needed funds from the empire. Another theory was that plagues reduced the population to the point it could not sustain itself, and another was that the citizens of Rome became too satisfied and lazy, allowing the empire to crumble due to neglect. The list goes on and on; did the empire bureaucracy become too top heavy, eventually causing the empire to collapse upon itself? Did God turn away from Rome due to its sinful nature? Did it fall as the result of barbarian invasions? Well, perhaps the answer lies in one of those theories, or perhaps there is no clear answer.

What is republicanism? Republicanism is in the first place a theory of freedom and, in the second, a theory of government. It equates freedom with the enjoyment of non-domination: of living without a master in one's life. For the central theme in republican concerns throughout the ages -- the theme that explains all their
…show more content…
In the end, the Roman world became too large and complicated for the structures of the republic to cope. Most historians seem to agree that the point after which the Roman Republic was doomed was the killing of the Gracchi. Both killings were illegal. They showed that disputes about power in Rome would be settled by force and only in the interests of those who could use force - not by principles nor in the interests of the whole population. I have tried to show the early Republic of Rome, and some of the pssible problems that caused its demise here. From my research what I find is, that there is no clear cut answer, but what we have today is several theorys. Perhaps the answer will never be

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    As Sallust stated, “Greed destroyed honor, honesty and taught men to be arrogant and cruel. Ambition made men false. Rome changed.” The Roman Republic was critically weakened between 78 and 49 BC. The underlying flaws within the structure of the Senate and the republic itself, political corruption and violence and the formation of the first triumvirate, which should not have been permitted under the democratic state, all contributed to its decline. Manipulating these decaying social and political conditions were significant individuals, who, despite the efforts of the senate, rose to prominence and power, which culminated in Civil war.…

    • 1044 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The major reasons for the fall of Rome are truly those that have to do with Rome's political and economic state. One of the Rome’s problems prior to its fall was the lack of respect for authority, among the citizens and military forces. All the attacks from the barbarians caused problems in the military. This basically led to a lot of political turmoil because of all the chaos that was born, and it started to make the military crumble as well. Rome's economy started to go downhill too, after a long period…

    • 282 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    DBQ: The Rise Of Rome

    • 905 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Roman Empire, one of the biggest empires of the ancient world, was a strong and growing empire. However, it fell after many years of glory. Why did it fall? Was it because of attacks, failing economy, many unemployed? These all lead to one point, expansion. Or was it struggles over power? Even though the Roman Empire got more land, resources, and labor from expanding, the expansion led to the thinning out of resources and power, as well as a failing economy due to unemployed plebeians; lastly Rome’s defenses were weakened.…

    • 905 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    One of the primary reasons that Rome fell was they had poor government. First of all, Rome may have good rules, but they did not enforce them. For example, too many people were exempt from conscription. (Document B) This was a problem because they didn’t have enough people in the army because everybody turned down going to the army. Also, Rome failed to enforce their laws. According to Priscus, wealthy lawbreakers in Rome were able to get away with crimes. (Document E) This was…

    • 516 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Fall Of Rome Dbq Analysis

    • 485 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The roman empire fell for reasons that Historians aren’t exactly sure of. People have only made guesses to what caused it. The three main reasons that caused the fall of Rome were Military weakness…

    • 485 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    There were many reasons for the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. Each document in this essay explains a different reason. Some causes were: political, economic, social, and military differences and problems. Basically, the problem was that the gap between the rich aristocrats and the poor serfs got bigger and bigger; the rich got richer as the poor got poorer. Also, when something grows, it always falls back down. In Document 1, an excerpt from a book was taken out. According to the authors, the basic problems facing the Western Roman Empire came from the people that gave up devotion to the old civilization and didn't believe that it was worth saving. Why should they care about their land if they weren't allowed to take part in government say, they couldn't form groups to protect themselves, and were even excluded from their own army? The practically jobless people realized that their cities were slowly falling, but no one bothered to stop their decline; it was something that had to happen. The loss of popular support to the oppressive government, increased government corruption, division of the empire, and internal power struggles were some political causes that led to the fall of Rome. In Document 2, two causes for the fall of Rome were: the large size, and the introduction to Christianity. Because the Empire grew too large, it became uneasy to control. It was inevitable for the fall to occur, no matter how much anyone tried. Jesus' introduction to Christianity also started a change. The clergy (priests) helped change the moral values of society. It no longer mattered much, and military power was buried or thrown away. The rich's wealth was taken away and given to charity (poor). In Document 3, the Muller's explanation for the decline was an economic issue. As the Empire grew stronger, so did economy. When the Empire started to decline, business ceased and there was little progress, so that also crashed along with the empire itself. Slavery caused another…

    • 593 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Fall Of Rome Dbq Essay

    • 643 Words
    • 3 Pages

    One reason why western Rome collapsed is because of the military as seen in documents 1 and 4. These documents show that Rome’s military was weak, drafted more people, had loyalty problems, and hired mercenaries. First, the lack of breastplates and helmets(document 1) made the Roman…

    • 643 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Fall of Rome DBQ

    • 818 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The great Roman Empire expanded across all of Europe and into the Middle East. Its military was one of the finest. With major trading in Africa and Britain, the economy flourished with brining many citizens a healthy income. With amazing advancements in culture and technology, Roman society was at its finest. During the Pax Romana, the Romans had 200 years of peace and good ruling by level headed dictators and emperors. Despite Rome’s greatness in all of these areas, Rome would eventually fall. Surprisingly all of these qualities that led up to a flourishing empire were the same ones that led to its demise. As Germanic tribes invaded, the military weakened and the government became unstable. Along with increased political trouble, there was a decline in economic and social structure. The fall of Rome was due to its leaders ignoring the severity of Rome’s problems.…

    • 818 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    wealth or royal birth, in Republican Rome, usually a land owner, who is willing to serve his…

    • 2352 Words
    • 1 Page
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The traditional dates for the Roman Republic are 509 to 27 B.C. The latter part of this period from 133 to 27 B.C. is known as the late Republic. It is also known as the Roman Revolution. The result of this revolution was the emergence of the Roman Empire and the catalyst has traditionally been linked to a single Roman citizen called Tiberius Gracchus. The wake of his brief political career left Rome much different than it had been. Like a crack in the wall of a dam, Tiberius revealed a weakness in the Roman system of government that would soon spider out of control until it could no longer hold back the deluge of the building political tension. What was this weakness?…

    • 2567 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    I believe that there are many reason that contributed to the fall of The Roman Empire. The amount of short lived and inconsistent emperor's, moral codes people did not value their lives, the economy and the amount of people not having work. All of these things had a huge impact on the fall of Rome, it also caused the empire to divide which made the fall come even quicker. People not having work had great impact on the fall of Rome. When people didn't have work it caused the wealthy Romans and the Romans that are in poverty to grow apart from each other.…

    • 505 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Fall Of Rome Dbq

    • 641 Words
    • 3 Pages

    A colossal factor that contributed to the fall of Rome is political instability and political corruption. Holding a political office in ancient Rome was said to pay very well. Politicians were not only running for government positions for power reasons, but also for money purposes. This skewed the validity of government leaders, often leading to officials focusing on themselves and their wealth and title, instead of what is best for the people of Rome. The validity of government leaders can be related back to present day America. Government officials now are not always qualified for their job. Instead, one might say they are running for their own gain, or to achieve a certain title, not really caring about the good of America.…

    • 641 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Classical Republicanism

    • 759 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Today in our society we can describe our government and way of life as a modern democracy. In a modern democracy it insures the rule of the people by the people in which they share fundamental values and ideals. However our government has not always been in such a total agreement on how the people’s rights can be defined. Consequently the idea of classical republicanism was emerged and was devoted to the common good of the community. Despite the ideals of classical republicanism the natural rights philosophy also included ideals that emphasized more of a close relationship with personal interests. Lastly as our government evolved it has given us a more sense of personal interests but yet for the common good as well, after learning about these aspects one could conclude that our government today’s main purpose should be to serve the people by the people.…

    • 759 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Respond to the following statement, “What were the primary reasons for the fall of Rome?”…

    • 431 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Best Essays

    How significant were the wars against Mithridates and the Parthians in the political developments of the Roman Republic between 78BC and 31BC?…

    • 2247 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Best Essays