The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

The Decline and Fall of The Roman Empire The Roman Empire was a beautiful place ruled by Augustus. The borders of the empire during the Pax Romana measured 10,000 miles and enclosed an area of more than 3 million square miles, that’s about the size of the United States today. The population of the empire during this period was between 70 and 90 million people. The city of Rome itself was home to about one million people. During the third century (A.D. 200-300), problems confronted the Roman Empire. The decline of the empire continued for almost 300 hundred years. The Roman Empire was brought to its downfall because of the way their Social, Political, and Economic systems were working. Historians say that the Roman Empire began to decline with the rule of Commodus. Facing troubles, Rome needed a strong, dedicated leader. Commodus was vain and irresponsible, and he became a cruel ruler. As I’ve said before, during the third century, many problems came upon the Roman Empire. There was a time of revival, during which the empire was divided into two parts, an eastern half and a western half. The eastern half stayed strong, while on the other hand the western half of the Empire fell to invaders. As the Empire’s prosperity was fading, less and less money came in as taxes, but Roman government still continued to require each tax district to send in a certain amount. To hold political office was once considered to be an honor, now political office was seen as a burden, not a reward. The only groups interested in politics were the armies. In a 50-year period local armies and the Praetorian Guard proclaimed 50 generals emperors of Rome, and 27 briefly won the approval of the Roman senate. The citizens of Rome were giving up on their government. The social issues were that no one took interest into Public affairs. People had a very low confidence in their empire. They had a great disloyalty to their country, and a lack of patriotism. The differences in the social