Fall of Rome DBQ

The Fall of Rome 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. The decline in Roman military happened for various reasons. The Roman empire had grown so immense in size that the army wasn’t large enough to protect it. Rome needed a larger army and finding soldiers was a hardship. With that, the military decided to hire mercenaries to fill the gap. With that “foreigners poured into this…void [lack of soldiers]. The Roman Army was composed entirely of Germans” (Document 5). The problem with the mercenaries is that they weren’t royal to the Empire; their loyalty was to the money. The original values the Roman army was based off of; loyalty, bravery and discipline were all fading. With Germanic attacks on almost all of the Roman empire (Document 6), the government pressed down hard on the citizens. The costs of mercenaries, artillery, food and housing led to the “strangling taxation” (Document 4). Rome’s massive army meant to protect the empire actually led to its downfall. Even though the decline in military played a big part in the fall of Rome, the depleting economy did its share as well. As the Roman Empire grew, the