Weekly #7 (Did Rome Fall?)

After Theodosius died, he left the Roman Empire to his two sons.  Honorius took the West, and Arcadius took the East.  Neither of them were good emperors, but the split began the fall of Rome.  With Barbarians pressing from all sides, Eastern and Western Rome were in trouble.  Conflicts over Catholicism also led to Rome's end.  In395, Rome began to decline with the death of Theodosius, Rome split in two, and eventually fell because of poor leadership, Christianity, and Barbarians.

The first two leaders to really start the fall of Rome were Honorius and Arcadius.  "It didn't take long for the Germans and Goths to realize that the new young emperors were weak and so this was a good time to attack. Roman generals also saw this weakness and revolted," (Fall of Rome).  Rome was being attacked from the inside and out.  Constantine III was attacking Spain, but he was eventually killed.  The Visigoths were attacking Italy because Honorius refused to give them gold.  The Visigoths took over Rome and sacked the city.  Because of the weakness in leadership, the Visigoths took control of Rome, and Rome began the long decent to its fall.

Christianity also played an important role in the fall of Rome.  "A large portion of public and private wealth was consecrated to the specious demands of charity and devotion; and the soldiers' pay was lavished on the useless multitudes of both sexes, who could only plead the merits of abstinence and chastity," (Gibbon).  The army became weak from the loss of payment, and they could not afford to pay for advancing the technology of their weapons.  Rome soon lost tons of money to the Catholic Church's donation bin.  Constantine's legalizing of Christianity only helped Rome fall faster.  Now that Christians weren't being persecuted, people were much more willing to convert.  The Catholic Church was gaining more and more money, which only caused the government become poor.

Barbarians, a group of people that the Romans would soon wish they had never encountered.  "Cold, poverty, and a life of danger and fatigue, fortify the strength and courage of Barbarians," (Gibbon).  Barbarians live peacefully among many different groups around the world, but Rome was very weak.  When the Western Empire split into pieces, the barbarians quickly took control.  The new pieces never became as strong as the Western Empire was, but they did flourish and develop over time.  Without the barbarians, who knows what would have happened to the Western Empire, but the Barbarians definitely helped speed up the fall of Rome.

Thanks to the Barbarians, Christianity, and poor leadership, Rome became weak and fell.  Christianity had more money in their donation bin than the Roman government had.  The Western Empire broke apart and the Barbarians were happy to take control.  The leadership was not strong enough to hold the empire together.  Rome was once one of the biggest powers in the world, now it is broken and will never fully recover.  The fall or Rome will forever be remembered as an important part of history.

Works Cited

Fall of Rome - History for Kids!. (n.d.). Kidipede - History for Kids - Homework Help for Middle School. Retrieved April 12, 2011, from http://www.historyforkids.org/learn

Gibbon, E. (n.d.). Medieval Sourcebook: Gibbon: The Fall of the Roman Empire .FORDHAM.EDU. Retrieved April 12, 2011, from http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/gibbon-fall.html