The Excessive Military Spending The Empire

The romans had became very lazy because of their success in military conquests. Since the romans became lazy there were more outbreaks and crimes happening. This lead to many problems in the money system. Rome became weaker economically because of this. Rome was also weakened by military issues.

Military weakness might have been a reason because when the soldiers fought they wore breastplates and helmets to protect them as much as possible.  They also did drills to keep them in fit and in check.  However when the soldiers stopped doing drills, because of laziness, the soldiers complained stating that the armor was too heavy(Doc B,Vegetius) and so they asked the emperor to set the amor aside therefore they went into battles without any protection(doc B,historian vegetius).  There was also Military weakness around the borders.  As stated above, invaders were able to sneak in when the soldiers left their positions to go fight each other instead of guarding their places and not allowing the invaders to enter through the gaps left.  Another military weakness could have been that when the soldiers left for battle archers could have easily taken them down and while the rest of the roman empire fled instead of fighting(Doc B, Michael Grant). Also since the military became weak it made it easier for the emperor to be assassinated and therefore it would become a battle for the

As the “abundance of slaves led to the growth of latifudia” (Document 3) the great estates took over the agricultural industry. As latifundia took over, more farmers became out of work and in the persuit of finding work they moved into the cities and “added to the unemployment there” (Document 3). But the expansion didn’t stop there. As “the overwhelming majority of the population had been systematically excluded from political responsibilities, they could not… protect themselves… serve in the army… Their economic plight was hopeless” (Document 1). As missionaries fled into the Roman Armies, the citizens were being forced to pay a huge amount of taxes. But with no farmers to grow the food for the soldiers, who would? Expansion brought wealth into the empire, but “when the empire ceased to expand; however economic progress soon ceased” (Document 3). The inflation rate spiked, the rise in prices on everyday necessities decreased the value of money. The Romans were having to trade with exterior partners for items that could not be produced. The flow of money coming in could not match the amount of money going out. The values of the Romans depleted as their economy crumbled.

The Roman Empire was extremely large and difficult to maintain, which made it very weak. According to Doc: 2, “Borders became difficult to secure and the amount of gold needed to maintain roads and perform routine maintenance was never enough.” According to TCI chapter 13, section 1, “The huge size of the empire made it difficult to defend.” The empire’s size caused it to weaken, leaving it open to attack by the many enemies surrounding it.

Conquering three continents, Rome lacked the proper amount of soldiers required to protect the empire. This was due to its “immoderate greatness (Doc 2).” According to Document 2, the size of Rome played a great and inevitable role in the decline of Rome. Regarding the military, a large portion of the soldiers not only lacked discipline and training, but were not actually Romans. As seen in Document 5, “the Roman army was composed entirely of Germans.”

There were frequent civil wars over the succession to the throne. This meant battles in the streets of Rome every few years which discouraged people to stay in Rome. Rival armies battled to have a commander chosen as emperor. Also, Rome had dealt with internal problems before but it had never dealt with so many problems at once. This is exactly what happened during the fall of Rome and the emperor and government didn't have the time or means to fix these issues.

One important reason that caused the Roman empire's downfall, was it's massive size. According to document 2, Rome was too vast to take care of itself properly. Most of the problems were with money and the borders were hard to keep safe. These problems were hard to keep under control, so rome

Another cause was the constant, scattered attacks on Rome from many separate civilizations (doc. 6). One last cause, was the massive debt they had fallen into due to the fact they spent so much money on the army, they had no economical structure in the empire, since they had used all their money on a solitary reason. The United States is similar to them in that case where they have put 611 billion dollars towards the army alone (doc. 7). That is a greater amount than eight of the leading countries combined. Not to mention, the massive size of the empire also

The Roman Empire thrived for many generations until the influence of both people of Rome and those outside Rome. Rome had been an advanced society with stable government, large cities, beautiful architecture, and advanced technology. Unfortunately it did not last forever and the fall affected Western Europe who was greatly influenced by Rome. Western Europe went from a high functioning society to a land of may manors. The causes of Rome's fall varied from invasions, overgrowth, and poor leaders.

     Two problems facing the late Roman Empire was the instability and non unification caused by inner family civil wars. Rome's rapid expansion, after the Punic Wars, resulted in changes that permanently divided the state. Both Aristocrats and Plebeians wanted total control of Rome and tried to destroy each other. Civil war was the the only way to solve problems in politics. Consequently, the power of the military became strong. Control of Rome's armies changed from the government to the generals because the soldiers began to listen to their generals rather than to the Government. On dismissal from military service, the soldiers had no farms to return to, and they

There were several reasons for the fall of rome but internal problems such as military deficiency, political turmoil, and a weakened economy were the predominant forces leading up to the fall. Civil wars were a common occurrence in western Europe and often challenged the imperial throne. “It is worth once again emphasizing that from 217 down to the collapse of Western Empire there were only a handful of periods as long as ten years when a civil war did not break out” (Goldsworthy). Emperors constantly faced threats for the throne and often abandoned war against foreign enemy to deal with a Roman rival or Usurper.

The citizens of Rome needed to pay heavy taxes in order to finance Rome’s armies. The taxes weakened the economy making trades suffer. Farmers couldn’t compete with rich families leading for them to go into the city, hoping for work. Infamous emperors would waste money and crime rates rose, making the streets unsafe.

After 50 thousand deaths, it was clear, Rome was seen, as a declining empire and a sinking world. I think the fall of the Roman Empire was due to Military weakness, weak leadership, and disasters and diseases.

The Roman Empire was a vast territory that expanded to three different continents.They were a place of honor, tradition, and respect. Rome has had several different periods, some of peace, and some of violence or unrest, but those were solved quickly and effectively. However, such a magnificent empire could not hold up under the strains that were slowly causing it to collapse. Rome began to face many problems that together allowed the fall of the Roman Empire. The three main problems that caused Rome to fall were invasions by barbarians, an unstable government, and pure laziness and negligence.

As Rome was facing attacks from the outside there was an even deeper problem happening from within and it was their economy. Rome’s constant war and overspending in building its empire was becoming costly. As their treasury depleted they decided to impose hard taxation to account for the new expense they were generating. Which actually caused many people who were apart of the upper class to move to the countryside to avoid the oppressive taxes(Andrews) . Another economic problem is that inflation began to occur. Marcus Aurelius increased the copper content of the silver coins and then after that there was even more severe inflation on it way(Starr 144-145). A third problem with the economy, also politically, was that there was an ever growing expansion of bureaucracy. The expansion of their government caused more and more officials to have to be paid. Not to mentions cities already were having a hard