Why I Chose The Document About The Roman Army

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.

Rome why did it fall? In year 50 BCE until 200 CE Rome was great it was growing and conquering new lands. But then it took a complete turn and slowly started to fall apart. The Romans army conquered many places, wore armor to protect them, and practiced every day against each other to see who was good. But then there was a downfall Rome’s soldiers got lazy did not want to wear armor at all and they stopped practicing. On document B it says that when the soldiers went to battles and instead of fighting they would try to find a way to hide because the soldiers weren’t used to practicing or had armor on.

As shown in document C, many outsiders were shown to have been invading Rome from all sorts of places. The author of document D described one of the invaders (the huns) as savages, being wild, and having a strong desire for power and land. The Roman army being weak from lack of armor as described in document B, made it easier for the invaders to take over Rome around similar times as shown in document C. This problem contributed to Rome’s fall because the foreign invasions were all happening around the same time as shown by the map on document C. The invaders were like savages, power hungry, and wild as described in document D. The Roman army already being weak as talked about in document B and G, made it easier for the invaders to take

The most important reason for the fall of Rome was that they had military problems because they weren’t using armor, and not enough men to fight battles or wars. Vegetius, a Roman historian, explained, “ Therefore, they first asked the emperor to set aside the breastplates… and then the helmets” (Document B). What led to the fall of Rome was that the armies were getting inactive for wearing armor and were losing a lot of men because they weren’t wearing armor. This also led to the downfall of Rome because a lot of men didn’t get drafted to the army and the Roman armies didn’t have a lot of men to fight wars. Michael Grant, a historian, wrote The Fall of the Roman Empire: A Reappraisal.

An excerpt from an ancient book by the Roman Historian Vegetius states, “The customary armor began to seem heavy since the soldiers rarely ever wore it. Therefore, they first asked the emperor to set aside the breastplates… and then the helmets. So our soldiers fought the Goths without any protection for chest and head and were often beaten by archers” This shows that the laziness of the soldiers lead to weakness and could not win any battles. Also, it is stated, “Thus it happens that troops in battle, exposed to wounds because they have no armor, think about running and not about fighting.” This explains that the soldiers got killed and could not defend Rome because they wore no armor. Military weakness contributed to the fall of Rome because they could not protect the empire because they were lazy and wore no armor. Enemies could have easily one battles against

The Romans were becoming lazy and loosing their work ethic. They were also becoming replaced by the Huns. “ But when, because of negligence and laziness, parade ground drills were abandoned, the customary army began to seem heavy since the soldiers rarely ever wore it.” (Document B) Due to the low effort and laziness of the soldiers, training for battle became limited, and armour was abandoned. This training was essential in order for soldiers to feel adequately prepared during battle. Without proper training, Romans were not successful in battle. In addition, the Romans were not well equipped and protected, because of the exhaustion caused by wearing the heavy armour. The people of Rome were also being invaded and replaced by a group of people called the Huns. “ Although they have the shape … of human beings, they are so wild in their way of life that they have no need of fire or pleasant tasting foods, but eat the roots of uncultivated plants and the half-raw flesh of all sorts of animals” (Document D) The Romans were very sophisticated, unlike the Huns. The Huns were considered animals by many, due to their lack of social skills. As the Romans were being replaced by the Huns, social class and order began to decline. Without the declining social order, the downfall of Rome wouldn’t have come on as

Vegetius, a Roman historian writing about his empire’s military concerns in 450 C.E, wrote that “But when, because of negligence and laziness, parade ground drills were abandoned, the customary armor began to seem heavy since the soldiers rarely ever wore it.” (Concerning Military Matters, Document B). Eventually, the army, with the support of the emperor, abandoned their helmets and breastplates wholly, marching forward against Germanic tribes, like the Goths, unarmed. Now without armor, where past soldiers would have stood & fought-even if it meant their own deaths-soldiers fled away from the enemy. Another historian, writing 1532 years later, Michael Grant argued that the Roman army eventually was reduced to civilians as people were excluded from “regular conscriptions”

Additionally, to invading and migrating to Rome in the process, they gave no mercy what so ever and over swarmed them. Their military hit rock bottom hard and bad when it came to protecting their beloved city and everything with it. The cause of Rome devitalizing was because their people had lost a lot of faith in their own military and

In Document B it is said that in the Roman Empire’s past footsoldiers wore breast plates and helmets for protection. The soldiers began to become lazier and thought that the armor was too heavy for them. Rome fought the Goths without any armor and soldiers were often killed by archers. Rome needed as much protection as possible and with the number of soldiers decreasing drastically such protection was not possible. To have a lasting an empire, the military needs to have soldiers who accustom to harsh labor and who are industrious, Rome did not have this, which led to its decline. Also, an empire needs to have regular conscriptions, which people

Notwithstanding, one of the main reasons Rome fell was the laziness the Roman military fell accustomed to. Roman historian Vegetius, in talking of the military; writes, “Because of negligence and laziness, parade ground drills were abandoned, the customary armor began to seem heavy…” and “[The soldiers] asked the emperor to set aside the breastplates… and the helmets” (Document B). The emperor agreed, consequently sending the soldiers to fight without protection for their chests and heads. This lack of protection allowed for the Roman soldiers to be conquered much easier and faster than they would have if they were wearing the proper armor. The main job of soldiers was to protect their empire and the fact that the soldiers were having trouble doing that was one of the things that left the Roman empire in

When the Empire stopped acquiring new lands, no new bases of wealth were available. The Empire began to be attacked by numerous tribes all over the huge empire (document 6).These attacks were not unified in nature, the entire Empire was open to attack. The loss of control in the army was one of the final pieces that led to the fall of the Roman

One of the threats was, outside invaders. The Roman empire was penetrated by many other empires including, the Huns, the Vandals, the Ostrogoths, Visigoths, and the Angels. Most of these “invaders” came from the east. The savagery of the invaders is told in document D, “The Huns exceed any definition of savagery. They have compact, sturdy limbs, and thick necks… they are so wild in their way of life that they seem to have no need for fire or pleasant tasting foods, but eat the roots of uncultivated pants and the half-raw flesh of all sorts of animals.

They were tired of wearing armor, so they were afraid to fight and got killed easily due to lack of protection. According to Document B, and excerpt from an ancient book Concerning Military Matters by Vegitius, a Roman historian, “But when because of negligence and laziness, parade ground drills were abandoned, the customary armor began to seem heavy since the soldiers rarely ever wore it.” This evidence supports my claim because since the army did not wear army and got hurt easily, they did not do what was best for them just because of laziness. Since the military was lazy and did not practice, foreign invaders saw an opportunity to take over Rome. Rome was disorganized and was not able to defeat invaders.

By reading the criminal Victimization, 2014 article it was a little surprising that there is not a lot of change comparer to what we actually see in the news today. I wasn’t aware that at some point men were more victimized then women. Now a day’s we tent to see more women maybe because we feel the need to share it more freely then men.

Thankfully, due to the Romans writing a lot down, there are many sources (unlike in the "Dark Ages" for example) available to study how the Roman army worked. In this project, the aim is to find out how the training and organization of the