Fall of the Roman Empire

Ancient Rome was possibly the greatest civilization to ever grace the world with its presence. Histories still look at it today in amazement and wonder. Rome showed the world that it was possible to expand quickly and have a sustainable government; which we still use today. Rome also created beliefs and inventions that helped them to become more orderly and civilized than any empire thus far. But if we are to realize all of this about Rome we must also realize that the Roman Empire faced hardships along the way. In the fifth century A.D. something happened to Rome that it is now known as the “fall” and Roman culture was history.

            Rome was not a perfect civilization, however. The rule of Rome was centered greatly in the hands of a single emperor who had the choice of who was his successor. The bureaucracy of Rome was growing more and more debased and spoiled. In turn, the commoners became dissatisfied with the way Rome was being handled. The immensity of the empire also made Rome hard to rule and the militaries were under pressure. The conquest of Rome ceased in the second century A.D. and the workforce -slaves- and also spoils of war had ended. There was no possible way to sustain the entirety of the Roman Empire. Things only went downhill from there including increased taxes and a plague that could have depleted twenty percent of the Roman population. Late in the third century Rome is split into two parts, East and West. This was an attempt to make the massive empire easier to control and rule. In 323 A.D. the emperor of Rome was Constantine. He established the capital in the eastern side of the empire at Byzantium, which he renamed Constantinople. The Eastern and Western sides of the empire became separate from each other over the next century. The Eastern side of the empire better resources than the Western Empire and that is a very apparent reason for Rome’s fall. (http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/fallofrome/a/Dorrington.htm).   

            The emperor at the time of the fall was Romulus Augustus. Romulus was named emperor of the western empire by his father, Orestes. Orestes, however, still planned to keep power in his own hands and this is noted by an Italian chronicler: “Orestes, appropriating the primacy and every power to himself, made his son Augustulus emperor at Ravenna; he himself undertook all the supervision of external affairs” (http://www.roman-emperors.org/auggiero.htm). Troubles arose pertaining to the barbarian troops under Orestes’s command. He attempted to pay them but there were problems with that too. The name “Romulus Augustus could not be easily fit onto each coin so a select few were made for select regions. Even more problems began to crop up in Rome. In 476 A.D. soldiers from Heruli, Scirii, and Gaul demanded extra land which Orestes refused to grant to them. These barbarians looked towards Odovacar, a chieftain of the barbarians. His request was that he be made king in exchange for his services. The soldiers and Odovacar advanced against Orestes on August 23^rd.

            Throughout the proceeding centuries Rome went to war with the Visigoths. The Visigoths proved to be worthy adversaries of Rome and began wiping out many of its larger armies. The western empire, unaided by the power the eastern empire had control of, fell relatively easily to the Visigoths. At this time the eastern empire was ruled by Zeno. He and Odovacar dominated both sides of Rome. All was lost. The Ostrogothic Kingdom was established in Italy and Rome was now a shadow of its formal self. From its peak the only direction Rome could go was down and it fell harder than any other civilization known to man. 

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