Decline of the Roman Empire

Essay by BigDog1112University, Bachelor's December 2003

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Decline of the Roman Empire

Rome wasn't built in a day, it took hundreds of years to expand it's empire. Rome's success was due to the fact of the character of it's people and the quality of their statesmanship (pg. 125). It took hundreds of years for The Roman Empire to collapse. The Roman Empire didn't fall because of any single reason. It fell, because of a chain reaction similar to the domino effect. When the character of it's people began to decay, so did the empire.

When Rome began to decline it's concern wasn't for it's people, many were concern for their individual needs. Governors, tax collectors, and senators began to exploit their positions (pg. 132). The senate only cared for preserving it's powers, while gaining wealth through their political power. They also substituted violence for reason, while killing many who tried to oppose them (pg. 134). This created class tension would lead to civil war, because of poor leadership, and a power hungry ruling class .

Many soldiers and farmers lost their lands through taxation, this struggle between wealthy and small farmer created even more tensions. Through expansion, many conquered slaves were sent to Rome. Thousand of Greek slaves were brought to Rome, bringing their views of culture and society. This effected small farmers, because with the influx of slaves their was little need for small farmers.

Rome received much of it's wealth through conquest. Since there was no empire left to conquer, this would lead to economic problems. Rome could support such a large empire spanning from Spain to the Persian Gulf, with having a upper class with such expensive taste. Rome's huge army had to be maintained to instill security to it's people. Maintenance of public construction, such as cleaning the streets, building and maintaining roads,