The Fall of the Roman Empire

THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE: Some (Sometimes Silly) Explanations [Strategy and Tactics Magazine #39 (1973), p. 21 (characterizations added)] original version by Albert A. Nofi, designer of Imperium Romanum • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • PLAGUES reduced the population, and the fertility of the survivors. [Medical archaeology] LEAD PIPES and utensils poisoned the aristocracy, lowering their birthrate and intelligence level of this most important class (S. Colum Gilfillan) [Eugenics] The admission of INFERIOR RACES to the citizenship lowered the vigor of the Pure Roman Stock. [Racism] CHRISTIANITY made people less concerned with this world. (Edward Gibbon) [Religious Bigotry, Enlightenment] Augustus‘ jury-rigged apparatus of state was unable to cope with certain types of crisis. [Systems Analysis] CIVIL WARS sapped the strength of the Empire. [The Military Theory] The People praciticed BIRTH CONTROL without restraint, thus causing a loss of population. [Medical/Religious] Failure to establish a workable CONSTITUTION. [Legal/Systems Analysis] "Bread and Circuses": the people became LAZY. [The Welfare Argument] The ARMY got out of hand due to lowering of standards of discipline [Military Theory, Part II; moral] God turned his favor from Rome because of its sins [Religious Explanation, Old Testament, St. Augustine; Moral] The State collapsed under the weight of its bureaucracy. [Systems Analysis] The BARBARIANS became civilized enough to contend with the Romans on an equal footing. [Racism] Abandonment of the old religion, which had given moral strength to the Roman People [Religious] Widespread HOMOSEXUALITY among the upper classes led to a decline in the birth rate among aristocrats, thereby reducing the available pool of leadership manpower. [Sexism, Aristocratic Political View of Eugenics] ORGIES and VENEREAL DISEASE and other entertainments sapped the vigor of the Roman People. [Moral, Medical, Welfare Argument] • • • • • • • • • • LIBERAL-THINKING EMPERORS attempted to spend too much on the poor in their efforts to lift them up, thus draining the financial resources of the Empire [Political-Republican; Financial] The flow of gold to the Orient to pay for luxury goods eventually dealt a death blow to the Roman economy. [Economic] The existence of slavery and an impoverished citizen mass created a large internal proletariat which would eventually prove disloyal to the empire [Marxism]. The Aristocracy permitted too many of the lower classes to participate in affairs of state, thereby diluting the value of experience and brains which the Aristocracy possessed. [Eugenics: pro-Aristocratic] As the State became more despotic, the average citizen, and even members of the Upper Classes, became less interested in it, thereby causing a LOSS OF CONFIDENCE and support. [Psychological Argument, Aristocratic subspecies] Abandonment of the old, good Roman institutions and virtues which had helped to bring Rome to greatness [Fear of Change; Moral] Too many of the old institutions were left with a measure of power, which tended to disrupt the machinery of Empire [Progress vs. Obstructionism] Easy living made the Romans soft, permitting the Barbarians to overrun them with ease. [Moral, Racism] Slavery impoverished the Citizenry. [Economic, Class-based] The bulk of the inhabitants of the Empire failed to share in the incredible prosperity, remaining impoverished and restive. [anti-trickle-down Economics; Marxist?] Reading: • • • • • • • • -Michael Grant, The Fall of the Roman Empire: A Reappraisal (1976) -Mortimer Chambers (ed.), The Fall of Rome: Can it be explained? (NY: Holt, Reinhart Winston 1963). -Donald Kagan (ed.), The End of the Roman Empire: Decline or Transformation? 2nd ed. (D. C. Heath 1978). -Ramsay MacMullen, Corruption and the Decline of Rome (New Haven: Yale 1988). -Ramsay MacMullen, Roman Government‘s Response to Crisis, A.D. 235-337 (New Haven: Yale, 1976). -Alexander von Demandt, Der Fall Roms. Die Auflösung des römischen Reiches im Urteil der Nachwelt (Munich 1984). -A.H.M. Jones, The Decline of the Ancient World (London 1966). -Walter Kaegi, Byzantium and the Decline of Rome (Princeton 1968). • • • -Arther Ferrill, The Fall of the Roman Empire: The Military Explanation (London: Thames & Hudson 1986). -Peter Heather, The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians (Oxford University Press 2006). -Bryan Ward-Perkins, The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilization (Oxford University Press 2005).