Persuasive essay

Telsi Greicar
Mr. Rose
AP European History
1 August 2014
The Internal Factors That Caused The Fall Of The Roman Empire Many people argue that internal factors within the Roman Empire caused it to fall were many social, economical, and political problems. One political problem was that the emperors and leaders became corrupt with power and wealth and then most soldiers in the army fended for themselves and didn't work together. The troops soon became pillagers targeting other citizens like them. “The troops became the enemy within; pillage and slaughter of fellow citizens was indiscriminate”(Santosuosso). The whole government and army was filled with leaders who wanted all of the money and power they could get their hands on. “Stopping one threat was not enough, for another would emerge; if that new threat was pushed back, another popped up elsewhere”(Santosuosso). The invasions of the Germanic and the Huns weakened the Roman army since they weren't very strong to begin with. The Germanic Tribes kept on fighting no matter how many times they were undaunted by defeats and hoping to lay hands on the rich spoils of the empire were continuous, but with low resources and a relentless war effort troops lost hope. Once the Roman army could no longer defend its own borders, the Germanic tribes began to invade and Roman provinces fell on after another. After Marius's reform which made it so that anyone with a Roman citizenship could join the army. This made more citizens to join, but they wanted immediate wealth, material goods and improve their condition, they chose to not to be loyal to the republic but to any leader who provided booty for them. Another factor would be the economical problems, the oppressive taxidation system caused farmers to abandon their farms because they couldn't find tenants to cultivate their land and their land was under tax burden, unable to make them a living. “The government tried to meet the demand by tying agricultural workers to their occupation by law”(Santosuosso) The farmers were forced by the law to stay on their land and become poorer than they were. Cultivated lands decreased as much as 50 percent in Africa and perhaps 10-15 percent elsewhere due to lack of manpower, land erosion, deforestation, soil exhaustion and a logical tendency to abandon areas prone to barbarian attack. With these factors the economy situation to be dire the poor and urban sold their own children to survive themselves. “But the Roman army created stresses, throwing society and the economy off balance”(Santosuosso). With the low resources the army had to begin with, legions getting destroyed and the huge taxidation in the empire caused a decline in agriculture and caused a decrease in population as well. “The Roman empire was fragmented, stretched and about to break down”(Santosuosso). One social factor was that there weren't many citizens who cared about the government and army anymore, “A decline of civic spirit spread throughout the social system and touched all classes”(Santosuosso). A lot of the social problems were caused by unhappy citizens who were losing trust and hope in the army and government. Over-taxation led to the lack of loyalty to the government and the disappearance of the middle class. Plebeians became unwilling and unable to meet the work and tax demands placed on them. In conclusion there were many social, economical and political factors internally in the Roman empire which caused it to collapse like the over taxidation, lack of manpower, and corruption in the higher classes.