Welcome

This is a blog about the fall of the Roman Empire. It was created by four students in Mr. Mooney's History class named Nivea, Lauren, Nick, and Collin. This blog is all created by the students with help from our teacher. It is here to inform you why such a mighty empire fell long ago.

Links

Here is all of the links we have:
http://www.rome.info/history/empire/fall/
http://www.tribunesandtriumphs.org/roman-empire/reason-why-the-roman-empire-fell.htm
http://www.rome.info/history/empire/fall/  (A)
http://www.123helpme.com/view.asp?id=22680 (B)
http://jacksonbbrown.com/ss/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/causes-for-fall-of-rome-jigsaw_main-idea1.pdf (C)
http://www.history.com/news/history-lists/8-reasons-why-rome-fell (D)

 
 

Inferior Technology

Romans made many inventions that benefited people in many ways, such as medicine, roads, bridges, and aqueducts. Unfortunately, Romans depended so much on labor from animals and humans. That delayed them from finding new technology or machines to help efficiently produce goods. Rome became unable to give citizens the produce they needed to survive. Due to inferior technology, growers fell behind on being able to feed the growing population of Rome. Lack of fresh produce helped lead to the fall of the Roman Empire.   By: Ompimia Faustina (Lauren Henson) 

Rise in Christianity

Some historians say that because of Christianity, in made changes in Roman society at the time when pressure from barbarians was growing. They fued that because of Christianity, it made its followers into those who oppose war, or pacifists. This made it extra hard to protects Roman lands from attacks. They also say that the church enthralled many leaders who could deal with the empire`s problems. Finally, they sum up that money was used to build monasteries and churches. The money would have actually been used to preserve the empire.

~ Nivea A. Abuka

Urban Decay

Urban Decay

While rich Romans got to live in a nice apartment with glass windows and colored tiles, poor Romans had to live in crowded smelly apartments up to six floors high. These apartments were dangerous because the higher up, the more rickety stairs one would have to climb. Since most of the Roman population was poor, historians believe that this helped lead to the downfall of Rome rome.info/history/empire/fall/
By: Ompimia Faustina (Lauren Henson) 

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-Pontus

Excessive Military Spending

The relentless attacks from the barbarians took a toll on Rome's army. To help the defense of the empire, the government spent excessive amount of money to help pay the soldiers and their supplies. This meant that other necessities like public housing or preserving Roman roads did not get the proper amount of money from the government. This was not good for an empire that was trying to succeed. Without proper and adequate housing, citizens were becoming resentful. Without proper roads, trade with other territories were discouraged because traveling was harder. After many years of persistent attacks, many frustrated Romans lost the will to fight. The government felt the need to hire soldiers from foreign countries and jobless mobs in the city (A). These hired soldiers did not have the personal connection with Rome, so they did not feel the need to have to go all out. These soldiers could be unreliable and would not fight as hard as a Roman soldier. Another downside to having hired soldiers was that the government had to collect more money to pay them. To do this, they raised the taxes, making the poor, poorer. Most of the population was already and that could potentially lead to angry citizens. Overspending on the military had a part in the fall of Rome because the citizens had to pay more taxes and were being neglected.


                                                                                         -Kaeso Hirtius Pulcher (Nicholas Tien)

Barbarian Invasions

Barbarian invasions were an important element in the fall of Rome. In 370 CE, the Huns invaded the Roman empire from the East and by 451 CE, they invaded Germany. This gives us reasons to believe that the Huns settled for a time because it took them a while to get from the East to Germany. In 401 CE, the Vandals crossed the River Danube which meant that they officially crossed into Roman land. By 409 CE, the Vandals neared Spain and 20 years later they were in Africa. By 439 CE, they conquered the mighty city of Carthage. The Vandals conquered and vandalized many former Roman land showing that the Vandals were conquerors.  The Ostrogoths and the Visigoths both advanced into Roman land and attacked Rome from the east. The Goths appeared to have avoided the Huns on their expedition. The invasions caused a sense of insecurity to the people of Rome. With each city being seized and conquered, the barbarians made Rome weaker and weaker leading to the fall of Rome.





                                                                                             -Kaeso Hirtius Pulcher (Nicholas Tien)

Public Health

Public health problems had an impact on Rome and how long its people lasted. The public health problem was mainly due to lead poisoning. The pipes that brought their water to them was made out of lead. Also, their utensils, spoons or forks, was made out of lead. This meant that most of the population was exposed to lead everyday and had a higher chance of dying. The lead utensils were expensive so only the rich would be directly exposed. Still, most of the pipes were made out of lead so even the poor could die from lead poisoning. Many people died from public health problems so it can be considered a major effect on Rome and its people.

-Manius Nobilior

Unemployment

Unemployment led to the fall of the Roman Empire. Unemployment means that most of Rome's citizens did not have jobs. Most of the unemployed people were farmers who had to pay their workers. They had to mark up the price on their products more than farmers who had slaves and did not have to pay their workers. People like to pay less for goods so they bought the cheaper products. The paid worker's farmer's crops were not bought and soon enough, they were loosing money. They eventually had to sell or loose their farms. Unemployed workers fled to the city in search of work. What they found was 100, 000 other farmers in search of work. The empire had to ship in grain for them and many other farmers in other cities also. Eventually there were so many people that were unemployed that it had a major effect on Rome.

-Manius Nobilior

Decline in Morals and Values

Historians  believe  that  the  decline  in  morals  and  values  connected  to  why  the  fall  of  the  Roman  Empire  happened .  Crimes  of  violence  made  the  Empire`s  largest  cities  horribly  dangerous. Emperors,  for  example,  Nero  and  Caligula, became  despised  by  most   for  wasting  their  money  on  parties  where  many  people  got  sick. But  the  main  reason,  was the  increased  passion  for  ruthlessness. The  most  attracted  thing, was  to  go   watch gladiators  abusing  and  killing  animals  and  people. Wether  you  were  poor  or  rich ,  you   could  watch.  Even  the  emperor  would  watch  for  himself. They  would watch people suffer .

~ Nivea A. Abuka

Inflation

Inflation

The death of Marcus Aurelius led to bad times within the Roman Empire. One of these problems was the problem of inflation. Since precious metals were running scarce, Romans started mixing the valuable metals with cheap, common ones. This lowered the value of money causing prices to go sky-rocketing high, that poor citizens couldn't afford.   
By: Ompimia Faustina (Lauren Henson)

Political Corruption

Political corruption was a big contributor to the fall of Rome. Rome always had a problem with electing new emperors. As powerful as Rome was, they never had an effective way of choosing a new ruler. This meant that many people were not happy with the new emperors and many people resorted to violence. The most common way that emperors died between the years of 235 and 285 CE was by assassination. Only three emperors died of  natural causes and fifteen were assassinated. The assassination led to many changes in the Roman leadership which suggests that the Roman government was insecure and did not have support from the people of Rome or the Roman officials. The constant assassinations of  emperors sent the message to Rome's enemies that Rome was unstable and was turning into an easy target. The civil war within made Rome easily conquerable. When emperors were chosen, they usually neglected to think about the good of the people and only used their power for selfish reasons. The emperors were self centered and the government was not well balanced. The unhealthy government could not gain the support from the people of Rome and it made Rome's enemies lose respect for Rome's power.


                                                                                             -Kaeso Hirtius Pulcher (Nicholas Tien)