Reasons For The Fall Of The Western Roman Empire

The greatest city in the world at the time has just gone up in flames.The year is 476 A.D. Rome the largest city in the world at the time has fallen, along with the Western Roman Empire. This argumentative thesis is going to argue one of the cause that resulted in the fall of the Western Empire, and even the reasons why the empire split apart into two seperate sections. The Fall of the Western Roman Empire is in part because of Christianity.
Rome was built upon ideas that allowed it to expand, conquer and rule all the territory it did. It was when their culture, and traditions began to change that the Western Empire was then to be doomed. “Every city town, village and rural community had its own set of deities and cults” (Neagle, 288) Not
This lead to people not seeking public office, become a soldier, or even a leader to help the roman cause. “The highest honors of civic life, the consulship, the Senate, municipal office, and the command of armies, were not of primary importance for Christians.. The values that had made rome what it was were being changes to the values that Christianity were based upon.” (Nagle, 341) While this caused many thousands to convert to Christianity further increasing the amount ideological change weakening the idea of Rome, leading to the fall of Western Rome. While the fundamental values of Rome were being changed by Christianity it also can be contributed to the the splitting of the empire. “Constantine, took the step of embracing Christianity, building a new capital, Constantinople”( Neagle, 334) The moving of the capitol is a further reason why the western empire fell because of Christianity “The relocation of the capital to Constantinople moved the administrative center even farther from the Western provinces and probably accelerated the dissolution of the regions of Italy and Gaul.” (The Western Experience 137) They moved most of all the important officials, bureaucracy, and most importantly the center of the empire to the city of Constantinople. Now Rome was being influenced by Christianity to leave behind its Western counterpart. The Western empire didn't just fall
Christianity changed the former traditions, and customs of the Roman way. It changed how the people looked upon their leaders, and their loyalty to the state. Christianity when it finally became the official religion of Rome was only tolerant of one religion, and this can be looked as a cause of the unrest in the empire. Romans became less patriotic in a sense as manpower for the military was down, and citizens no longer seeked to serve in public offices. Offices that were needed to keep the Western empire from falling. Citizens flocked to monasteries tries instead of fighting for rome. Christianity had some effect in causing the capital of Rome to move to Constantinople, leading to the dissolution of the Western Empire to come even faster. The empire was then shortly afterwards split into two, with the stronger eastern half being not very concerned about the weaker western half. The Western Empire’s military was ill disciplined and no longer fought for the idea of rome. The fall of the Western Empire was because of the people the empire were no longer the same as they were when they were making rome great. Their military was no longer the great force it once was, and their people the same. The very foundation they had built themselves on, fell. Christianity helped to bring forth that societal, and an ideological change that ultimately lead to its