The Long Decline Analysis
Rome’s empire has been one of the most durable empires ever seen in history. Rome had fairness, good political and governmental systems, and peace. This period of Rome was called the Pax Romana, and it started because of Augustus Caesar. This lasted for about 206 years, years without wars, economic stability, lot of trade and it was a golden age for Romans. After Marcus Aurelius died, he left lots of unconformities that concluded the “golden age”. His death was followed by much political violence, economic turmoil, social decay, and legion attacks. Christianity was one of the other major and minor factors that followed the fall of Rome. All of these statements lead to the question, did Rome really fall?
As mentioned before, political violence and turmoil caused Rome to weaken, such as corruption since many politicians and emperors were killed. The government became unfriendly to citizens, which was the cause of various civil wars. During Diocletian's time as emperor, he declared Rome unmanageable for him alone, so he divided it into two parts, the eastern and western Roman Empires. He managed the wealthier part of Rome, the eastern; and named Maximian to rule the western part. Later, Constantine substituted the rule and made Rome a much more durable empire calling the eastern part of it Constantinople, named after him. Constantine made the empire last for a century by solving all of the Roman problems including tolerating Christianity. The reforms that the emperors did, made an impact in Rome’s way to decline but couldn’t stop it. Rome soon faced various invasions made by European countries.
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Economic problems affected the government and the city because Rome stopped its expansion. Rome spent unwisely on its gold and brought more and more problems such as the decrease in its currency. As Rome misspent money, the army and legions got furious and quit. This action lead Rome to hire mercenaries since the Roman legions were weak, and had a poor experience. Mercenaries weren’t a good or a bad force, they would be loyal to money, so Rome could be betrayed at any instant for a couple of coins. Slaves worked for farmers, but others couldn’t afford farm workers so they left their land. Rome has lost its power and its force, they weren’t unreachable or invincible. Germanic and European legions such as the Huns and Barbarian armies and tribes started invading Rome which soon would be at its lowest point in history.
Christianity was an important cause for the ¨fall of Rome ¨ since people’s beliefs and values were a big conflict between people in a Christian community and those who held to pagan beliefs. After Constantine stopped the persecution of Christians, Christianity was declared the eastern part of the Roman empire its official religion. The Christian persecution was extremely massive, it left so much destruction of the most important records of art and culture of Rome. Constantine tolerated Christianity because of its influential status towards Rome people and its growth during the years. Churches were boosted during the supposed fall of Rome, and lots and lots of Christian churches and temples were built. The toleration of Christianity happened during the age of ¨New Rome ¨ by Constantine. This was one of the greatest reforms that played a major role in the fall of Rome. Romans were empowering their empire with the help of Constantine but it didn’t last so much.
Besides political, economic, and military causes for the weakening of Rome, social decay affected Rome a lot. Rome's need for a better economy led politicians to be corrupt, they lost their honesty, credibility, and trustworthiness. The bad, undisciplined armies forced Rome to hire hitmen, they failed to their promise of patriotism. All of their classes became a disorder, the upper class became extremely costly and didn’t provide self-reliance. The middle classes such as farmers abandoned their land as mentioned before due to economic struggles. Slaves were obtained by farmers who could buy them for a cheap price and make them work for them. The eastern part of Rome got better while the western side got worse of its own decisions that made Rome poor. The western side of Rome started to collapse little by little till it declined.
In conclusion, did Rome really decline? It didn’t fall or decline completely. Rome suffered from lots of struggles for many years from invasions all the way up to opinions. Rome has yet been one of the most important empires ever known up till today. The answer to the question up here is no, Rome didn’t fall. Its most studied and analyzed theory about its path to becoming a weak empire is invasions, but there is so much yet to cover. The eastern side lives as the Byzantine Empire with Constantinople as its capital city. The western side did fall, but it was the only part of Rome that did decline due to its waste of resources and various wars. Rome is still perduring today as a city in Italy, it has yet been a huge event that marked Europe's history and the world.
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