# data[].attributes.body
Write a summary of a political reason why you think Rome Fell and include the link below and your name.

-Mr. Watkins

# data[].attributes.body
The Roman Empire expanded too far past the capital of the empire which caused the land to be harder to govern and was part of the reason the empire fell. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PszVWZNWVA -Anna

# data[].attributes.body
Rome was divided into 2 empires and this made the empire harder to rule.
Hunter Sullivan
https://www.historyonthenet.com/what-caused-the-fall-of-the-roman-empire/

# data[].attributes.body
Rome was consistent on their change of emperors but once the power of the emperor was becoming greater it meant that people were not liking too much powerf for one person. Throughout the last years of Rome assassinations were almost happening each term of an emperor. Without a stable leader Rome could become stronger.
https://www.rome.info/history/empire/fall/
Amy Mbugua

# data[].attributes.body
The emperor's bodyguards assassinated them, and then put new ones in their place. This led to many emperors over a short period of time, which in turn caused the roman people to lose faith in their government.
https://www.history.com/news/history-lists/8-reasons-why-rome-fell
Josephine Stevenson

# data[].attributes.body
people overthrow the government but can't govern themselves. simon

# data[].attributes.body
This causes their money economy to decline because less gold is being imported. Then they can't produce as much gold.
https://www.historyonthenet.com/what-caused-the-fall-of-the-roman-empire/

# data[].attributes.body
Two political reasons of why Rome fell was that there were a constant amount of assasanations of emperors and power-thirsty politicians
https://prezi.com/bjopco8-bwg4/political-reasons-for-the-fall-of-the-roman-empire/

# data[].attributes.body
Rome fell because they split into 2 empires which caused it to be harder to handle  and fall apart.
Audrey Martinson
https://www.ancient.eu/Western_Roman_Empire/

# data[].attributes.body
Once Rome's supply of slaves began to fade, they had no more slaves to grow crops when the vandals began to interrupt trade with Rome.

Link: https://www.history.com/news/history-lists/8-reasons-why-rome-fell

- Kamila

# data[].attributes.body
some citizens didn't believe in Christianity but others wanted it to become Romes religion so they started to split off into individual religious groups https://quizlet.com/4390422/reasons-for-the-fall-of-rome-flash-cards/
- abbey

# data[].attributes.body
Rome declared so many wars that it resulted in  them losing the government's money, or basically making it go bankrupt. They needed to stop the wars, and since Rome depended on slaves and there were no more slaves gained, there weren't enough to support Rome, and other treasures began to disappear as well.

-Mahlia

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
1. Invasions by Barbarian tribes

The most straightforward theory for Western Rome's collapse pins the fall on a string of military losses sustained against outside forces. Rome had tangled with Germanic tribes for centuries, but by the 300s "barbarian" groups like the Goths had encroached beyond the Empire's borders. The Romans weathered a Germanic uprising in the late fourth century, but in 410 the Visigoth King Alaric successfully sacked the city of Rome. The Empire spent the next several decades under constant threat before "the Eternal City" was raided again in 455, this time by the Vandals. Finally, in 476, the Germanic leader Odoacer staged a revolt and deposed the Emperor Romulus Augustulus. From then on, no Roman emperor would ever again rule from a post in Italy, leading many to cite 476 as the year the Western Empire suffered its deathblow.

2. Economic troubles and overreliance on slave labor

Even as Rome was under attack from outside forces, it was also crumbling from within thanks to a severe financial crisis. Constant wars and overspending had significantly lightened imperial coffers, and oppressive taxation and inflation had widened the gap between rich and poor. In the hope of avoiding the taxman, many members of the wealthy classes had even fled to the countryside and set up independent fiefdoms. At the same time, the empire was rocked by a labor deficit. Rome's economy depended on slaves to till its fields and work as craftsmen, and its military might had traditionally provided a fresh influx of conquered peoples to put to work. But when expansion ground to a halt in the second century, Rome's supply of slaves and other war treasures began to dry up. A further blow came in the fifth century, when the Vandals claimed North Africa and began disrupting the empire's trade by prowling the Mediterranean as pirates. With its economy faltering and its commercial and agricultural production in decline, the Empire began to lose its grip on Europe.

3. The rise of the Eastern Empire

The fate of Western Rome was partially sealed in the late third century, when the Emperor Diocletian divided the Empire into two halves-the Western Empire seated in the city of Milan, and the Eastern Empire in Byzantium, later known as Constantinople. The division made the empire more easily governable in the short term, but over time the two halves drifted apart. East and West failed to adequately work together to combat outside threats, and the two often squabbled over resources and military aid. As the gulf widened, the largely Greek-speaking Eastern Empire grew in wealth while the Latin-speaking West descended into economic crisis. Most importantly, the strength of the Eastern Empire served to divert Barbarian invasions to the West. Emperors like Constantine ensured that the city of Constantinople was fortified and well guarded, but Italy and the city of Rome-which only had symbolic value for many in the East-were left vulnerable. The Western political structure would finally disintegrate in the fifth century, but the Eastern Empire endured in some form for another thousand years before being overwhelmed by the Ottoman Empire in the 1400s.

4. Overexpansion and military overspending

At its height, the Roman Empire stretched from the Atlantic Ocean all the way to the Euphrates River in the Middle East, but its grandeur may have also been its downfall. With such a vast territory to govern, the empire faced an administrative and logistical nightmare. Even with their excellent road systems, the Romans were unable to communicate quickly or effectively enough to manage their holdings. Rome struggled to marshal enough troops and resources to defend its frontiers from local rebellions and outside attacks, and by the second century the Emperor Hadrian was forced to build his famous wall in Britain just to keep the enemy at bay. As more and more funds were funneled into the military upkeep of the empire, technological advancement slowed and Rome's civil infrastructure fell into disrepair.

5. Government corruption and political instability

If Rome's sheer size made it difficult to govern, ineffective and inconsistent leadership only served to magnify the problem. Being the Roman emperor had always been a particularly dangerous job, but during the tumultuous second and third centuries it nearly became a death sentence. Civil war thrust the empire into chaos, and more than 20 men took the throne in the span of only 75 years, usually after the murder of their predecessor. The Praetorian Guard-the emperor's personal bodyguards-assassinated and installed new sovereigns at will, and once even auctioned the spot off to the highest bidder. The political rot also extended to the Roman Senate, which failed to temper the excesses of the emperors due to its own widespread corruption and incompetence. As the situation worsened, civic pride waned and many Roman citizens lost trust in their leadership.

6. The arrival of the Huns and the migration of the Barbarian tribes

The Barbarian attacks on Rome partially stemmed from a mass migration caused by the Huns' invasion of Europe in the late fourth century. When these Eurasian warriors rampaged through northern Europe, they drove many Germanic tribes to the borders of the Roman Empire. The Romans grudgingly allowed members of the Visigoth tribe to cross south of the Danube and into the safety of Roman territory, but they treated them with extreme cruelty. According to the historian Ammianus Marcellinus, Roman officials even forced the starving Goths to trade their children into slavery in exchange for dog meat. In brutalizing the Goths, the Romans created a dangerous enemy within their own borders. When the oppression became too much to bear, the Goths rose up in revolt and eventually routed a Roman army and killed the Eastern Emperor Valens during the Battle of Adrianople in A.D. 378. The shocked Romans negotiated a flimsy peace with the barbarians, but the truce unraveled in 410, when the Goth King Alaric moved west and sacked Rome. With the Western Empire weakened, Germanic tribes like the Vandals and the Saxons were able to surge across its borders and occupy Britain, Spain and North Africa.

7. Christianity and the loss of traditional values

The decline of Rome dovetailed with the spread of Christianity, and some have argued that the rise of a new faith helped contribute to the empire's fall. The Edict of Milan legalized Christianity in 313, and it later became the state religion in 380. These decrees ended centuries of persecution, but they may have also eroded the traditional Roman values system. Christianity displaced the polytheistic Roman religion, which viewed the emperor as having a divine status, and also shifted focus away from the glory of the state and onto a sole deity. Meanwhile, popes and other church leaders took an increased role in political affairs, further complicating governance. The 18th-century historian Edward Gibbon was the most famous proponent of this theory, but his take has since been widely criticized. While the spread of Christianity may have played a small role in curbing Roman civic virtue, most scholars now argue that its influence paled in comparison to military, economic and administrative factors.

8. Weakening of the Roman legions

For most of its history, Rome's military was the envy of the ancient world. But during the decline, the makeup of the once mighty legions began to change. Unable to recruit enough soldiers from the Roman citizenry, emperors like Diocletian and Constantine began hiring foreign mercenaries to prop up their armies. The ranks of the legions eventually swelled with Germanic Goths and other barbarians, so much so that Romans began using the Latin word "barbarus" in place of "soldier." While these Germanic soldiers of fortune proved to be fierce warriors, they also had little or no loyalty to the empire, and their power-hungry officers often turned against their Roman employers. In fact, many of the barbarians who sacked the city of Rome and brought down the Western Empire had earned their military stripes while serving in the Roman legions.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The most straightforward theory for Western Rome's collapse pins the fall on a string of military losses sustained against outside forces. Rome had tangled with Germanic tribes for centuries, but by the 300s "barbarian" groups like the Goths had encroached beyond the Empire's borders.

# data[].attributes.body
Rome was invaded by barbarians
Hunter Sullivan
https://www.historyonthenet.com/what-caused-the-fall-of-the-roman-empire/

# data[].attributes.body
The Empire got divided into two parts and that made it harder for people to be in control.
https://www.historyonthenet.com/what-caused-the-fall-of-the-roman-empire/
-Olivia Duskin

# data[].attributes.body
Some citizens in the Roman Empire wanted to become Christian  and the emperor didn't want the empire to become christian so the empire started to split off into their religious groups and it was harder like this to fight as a big group united as one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PszVWZNWVA -Anna

# data[].attributes.body
The Roman Empire spent a lot of money to make their military better. They had to be defending themselves all the time. The Empire had to start paying people to be in the military. This caused them to have not as much money.
https://www.historyonthenet.com/what-caused-the-fall-of-the-roman-empire/
-Olivia Duskin

# data[].attributes.body
There were many assinations in a short amount of time and this destabalized the government
Hunter Sullivan
https://www.history.com/news/history-lists/8-reasons-why-rome-fell

# data[].attributes.body
When they expanded the empire, they brought in more people. Some of them were barbarians.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PszVWZNWVA

# data[].attributes.body
Rome was continously being ivaded by the mongols. Crashcourse world history. More than 5 videos. Terrence https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=crash+course+world+history+mongols

# data[].attributes.body
Parts of the Roman empire were invaded by barbaric tribes which force people away from theses lands. Eventually a barbarian became the empoeror  and Rome fell.

http://www.ushistory.org/civ/6f.asp

-John Orm

# data[].attributes.body
In the Roman Empire many people wanted to become christian. But the emperor did not like this so split into their own religious groups, which split the empire into two.
Audrey
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PszVWZNWVA

# data[].attributes.body
In the 12 century, Rome started to stop conquering lands because of the invasions happening around that time. This meant that they also stopped getting new slaves. Before, they could get as many slaves as they wanted from freshly conquered land, and use them for farming and other things, but now they couldn't do that

# data[].attributes.body
The Barbarians invaded the Roman Empire beyond the walls and the Romans were not expecting it so they were not ready for battle yet. This occurred in the year 410 people call this "The Sack of Rome".https://www.history.com/news/history-lists/8-reasons-why-rome-fell -Anna

# data[].attributes.body
An Economical Reason of the fall of rome was that there was a shortage of gold and silver so the Romans had to start minting couns with less silver

# data[].attributes.body
The Roman's never had a good stable way to elect new emperors. They would just sell the position to whoever would buy it for the most money.
https://www.historyonthenet.com/what-caused-the-fall-of-the-roman-empire/
-Olivia Duskin

# data[].attributes.body
Rome was invaded by the Barbarians and Mongols. This made the empire fall.
Audrey
http://www.ushistory.org/civ/6f.asp

# data[].attributes.body
Rome had some great rulers but some of them were part of the reason why Rome fell

# data[].attributes.body
The Romans depended on slaves. When they stopped expanding the number of slaves started to decrease. "

supply of slaves and other war treasures began to dry up

https://www.history.com/news/history-lists/8-reasons-why-rome-fell

# data[].attributes.body
Rome was split in half because of governing reasons

# data[].attributes.body
Many of the rulers had different beliefs with the military, and the citizens didn't enjoy their choices. When the barbarians attacked, most sided with them and did not wish to be apart of Rome.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Why did Ancient Rome fall?

A whole variety of reasons can be suggested to explain the fall of the Roman Empire in the west: disease, invasion, civil war, social unrest, inflation, economic collapse. In fact all were contributory factors, although key to the collapse of Roman authority was the prolonged period of imperial in-fighting during the 3rd and 4th century.

Conflict between multiple emperors severely weakened the military, eroded the economy and put a huge strain upon local populations. When Germanic migrants arrived, many western landowners threw their support behind the new 'barbarian' elite rather than continuing to back the emperor.

Reduced income from the provinces meant that Rome could no longer pay or feed its military and civil administration, making the imperial system of government redundant. The western half of the Roman empire mutated into a variety of discrete kingdoms while the east, which largely avoided both the in-fighting and barbarian migrations, survived until the 15th century.
Dr Miles Russell is a senior lecturer in prehistoric and Roman archaeology, with more than 25 years experience of archaeological fieldwork and publication.
For more burning historical Q&As on the Tudors, ancient Rome, the First World War and ancient Egypt, click here.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A whole variety of reasons can be suggested to explain the fall of the Roman Empire in the west: disease, invasion, civil war, social unrest, inflation, economic collapse. In fact all were contributory factors, although key to the collapse of Roman authority was the prolonged period of imperial in-fighting during the 3rd and 4th century.

# data[].attributes.body
In the years of the 300s, Rome started to be invaded by barbarians. This is when they started to fall.
https://www.history.com/news/history-lists/8-reasons-why-rome-fell
Josephine Stevenson

# data[].attributes.body
slaves took jobs that no one wanted but they were jobs that people needed . - abbey

# data[].attributes.body
Rome was built on low ground which made it vulnerable to outside attacks.
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091101152436AA1QMoj

# data[].attributes.body
When Constantinople desired wealth similar to the other half of the empire and disagreed with military aid & resources, which later caused the empire to become vulnerable.

Link: https://www.history.com/news/history-lists/8-reasons-why-rome-fell

-Kamila

# data[].attributes.body
Romes economy depended on slaves to work in the fields and as craft man. When the military stopped conquering people, there were no more slaves to buy to put to work. Romes economy stopped producing as much goods as it was
-Lauren Hendrickson

# data[].attributes.body
The roman empire was split in two leading to manny economical problems.

http://www.ushistory.org/civ/6f.asp

-John Orm

# data[].attributes.body
Rome had made many other tribes mad. When the military was starting to loose power and strength, tribes saw the opportunity to take down the empire.
-Lauren Hendrickson
https://www.history.com/news/history-lists/8-reasons-why-rome-fell

# data[].attributes.body
they were invaded by barbarians
https://www.history.com/news/history-lists/8-reasons-why-rome-fell
- A

# data[].attributes.body
When Rome declined the spread of Christianity, many people became furious.
-Lauren Hendrickson
https://www.history.com/news/history-lists/8-reasons-why-rome-fell

# data[].attributes.body
When the huns arrived, they caused a mass migration for Rome.

Link: https://www.history.com/news/history-lists/8-reasons-why-rome-fell

-Kamila

# data[].attributes.body
Many rulers did not agery on how to defend the country witch lead to the fall to barbarians.