Roman Empire Barbarians

The Roman Empire lasted over half a century, and at its peak covered land on all sides of the Mediterranean. As the Empire grew it had to deal with a struggling economy, immigration, and maintaining a strong military. The Roman Empire’s inability to keep a stable rule and the frequent fighting over succession magnified these issues. However, the Empire did not fall from this all at once it was a process that occurred into the 6th century AD, and as it fell the barbarians settled down and created laws and customs of their own.
The 4th century AD marks the beginning of the Empire’s problems. The Roman economy was suffering from severe inflation, and soldiers at this time were paid a fix rate. This led to a trend of commanders buying their soldiers’ loyalty through bribes. The title of emperor went to whoever had the resources to pay for a powerful enough army. Civil wars fought over succession became even more drawn out as more people would declare themselves emperor. The appointment of emperor by the senate was just a formality at this point. Appointment would not guarantee an individual's rise to the throne, but would provide some
The Roman Empire could not afford to train enough soldiers for their armies, so they began hiring the barbarians they were trying to fend off to fight for them. By the 5th century the defence of Rome was almost entirely left up to the barbarian foederati. Many barbarian groups would hold on to their own culture after being absorbed into Rome, and they had very little allegiance to the Empire. In 410 AD Rome was eventually sacked by the Goths. The barbarians started to exercise control over the western Empire too. Around 470 AD Odoacer a barbarian warlord rose to power as emperor by acting through a puppet ruler. This would happen again as the western Empire continued to deteriorate. (Roberts, Westad