Essay, Research Paper: Fall Of The Roman Empire

Rome was not built in a day, nor did it fall in a day. Many factors contributed to the fall of the Roman Empire. The most important factors were that the cities consumed without producing and that disease ravaged the Roman world. The Roman cities never became commercial cities like the cities of the Greek Empire. After the Punic Wars, the plebian farmers flocked to the cities looking for food. Their farms had been demolished and there was no food left for them and their families to eat. Rome gave them the food they were looking for. The cities never became a place to find work; they were only places to find food. People were no longer expected to earn their food. Rome gave them handouts. After the Punic Wars, the farmers came to the cities only knowing how to farm and fight wars. Their farms were destroyed. Some were able to fight for the professional army, but others were left with nothing to do. These first families had no skills to pass down to their descendants. A couple of generations passed and there were no more people that knew how to farm much less anything else. Rome made this worse by not educating the masses that first came to the cities after the Punic Wars. This practice continued, and eventually the cities were places to find bread and circuses. The poor were given food and entertainment. They were entertained so they would not riot and cause problems for the Roman government. Large coliseums were used to hold the gladiatorial games. These games gave the people the bloody entertainment they wanted. The games became more and more gory. Rome had to do this to keep the poor happy and content. Even at Rome s beginning in the third century B.C., the cities were not producers. They were unable to overcome this and become producers. By the end of the Roman Empire, the economy could not continue to develop and eventually collapsed. Rome was using all the grain to feed the people and could not afford to pay the barbarians to leave Rome alone and stop attacking. Rome was forced to put higher taxes on the provinces. The farmers in the provinces could not handle the added taxes and went broke. The nobles took over the land of the farmers. The nobles used slaves to work their fields so the farmers had no where left to farm productively. They went to the cities looking for food. This meant less people to pay taxes in the provinces and taxes had to be raised again. This was a vicious cycle that broke the Empire apart. The earliest Romans used a barter system. Goods were traded for goods. At its peak, the Romans were using cash. But, at the end of its reign, Rome had reverted back to the barter system. This caused problems for the Empire. It was nearly impossible to collect the taxes. It was also hard to pay the barbarians in grain because it was something they had access to. The barbarians wanted cash and Rome had none to pay them with.
Disease was rampant throughout the Empire. Malaria, Small Pox and various venereal diseases were carried form one end of the Empire to the other by travelers. The soldiers carried many of these diseases. All of Rome was weakened by these diseases. Farmers could not farm and soldiers could not fight. The barbarians were able to easily overcome the fatigued and small Roman armies. Infection also devastated the people living in the provinces. The diseases killed many so people that families were unable to keep the farms producing. They were forced to go to the cities and find food. There were fewer people to pay taxes, serve in the army and farm the land. The cities were so densely populated that illness spread very quickly. Everyone was so close and contact was unavoidable. Water became contaminated and sickness was inevitable. The cities became infested with disease and even if they were producing, they would no longer have been able to do so. With the shrinking of the armies and provincial population, Rome was no longer able to defend all of its borders. Barbarians were attacking from all sides. Roman soldiers could not contain all the problems. The soldiers were so weak that the Empire was forced to go to foreigners to fight in its army. People from Germanic tribes were used to man the Roman army. These people did not care about the future of Rome and were not motivated to help. These Germanic tribes were let into the Empire, and then they often revolted. Rome was broken apart from the inside by the foreign armies hired to protect the Empire. The Roman Empire became to vast to both defend and manage. The Emperors could not control all that went on in the Empire. It was difficult for the Emperors to know what was going on away from their home and they were unable to rule all of the Roman Empire. The border was always being attacked and soon, Rome could no longer defend its extensive territory. Disease and non-producing cities destroyed the Roman Empire. Rome was able to power vast amounts of land, but it did not have the power to overcome disease and parasitic cities. It was a world power, but it collapsed through interior disintegration.