The Roman Empire Crumbles!!!

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The Roman Empire Crumbles!!!
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The Fall of Rome

• 180 AD
• Invasions
• Inflation
• Civil Wars
• Food Shortages
• Trade stops
• New Style of Warfare

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Political and Military Causes

• During the PAX - Not everyone has to fight
• Govt. hires Mercenaries soldiers who fight for
  money
• Non-citizens (mostly German)
• No inherent loyalty to Rome
• Civil Wars erupt as generals try to overthrow
  government to seize power
• 28 emperors from 192-284, most killed by own men

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Economic Problems

• decline in food product production due to war
  (merchants and artisans go out of business)
• Govt. raises taxes on landowners
• Landowners raise rents to landless farmers
• Farmers leave to work in cities
• This plus warfare increases food shortage and
  causes INFLATION

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Inflation sharp rise in prices while the value
of money drops

• Govt. melts down coins, add cheap metal and mint
  more coins to pay army
• is worth less
• Prices on goods rise to make up for the decrease
  in coins value
• Fewer Goods and crops are being produced ? rising
  prices

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Social Causes

• Romans relied on outsiders to produce / work for
  them
• Decline in interest in public affairs (no voice
  in government)
• Low confidence in the empire
• Disloyalty and lack of patriotism
• Decline in population- disease famine

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Invasion

• 4th century The Huns (Asia) attack Germanic
  tribes
• These tribes move into Roman territory rather
  than fight the Huns - led by Attila
• Huns have stirrups ? greater momentum of force on
  horseback
• German tribes would rather fight Romans
• Visigoths
• Ostragoths
• Vandals
• Franks
• Angles
• Saxons
• Many Germans in the Roman army are reluctant
  to fight their tribes.

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Are there any similarities?today?
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• Attempts at reform
• Emperor Constantine becomes ruler in 300s AD
• Capital at Byzantium (Constantinople) modern
  day Turkey (more easily defended)
• Declares jobs hereditary
• Legal for landowners to chain farmers to the land
  if necessary

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• Armies are not effectively protecting Roman lands
• Wealthy landowners retreat to estates and hire
  private armies for protection
• Some poor seek land and protection from
  landowners ? serfdom
• The Western Part of the Empire is abandoned by
  the Emperors after the late 400s AD

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The Byzantine Empire
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• Using the documents find the TYPE of cause
• Political (internal)
• Invasion (political but external)
• Economic
• Social

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• Document 1 very few inhabitants in the empire
  believed the old civilization was worth saving
  most people were excluded from any role in
  government. ..they could not fight in the
  armytheir economic situation was hopeless. Many
  people became serfs, with no freedom to leave the
  manor.
• - The Course of Civilization by Strayer, Gatzke
  and Harbison

Document 2 Rome was weakened because it became
too large to defend.the introduction of
Christianity had some influence on the weakening
of the empire as well. The clergy preached the
doctrine of patience and the last remains of
military spirit were buried in Christian
virtues - The Decline and Fall of the Roman
Empire by Edward Gibbon
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• Document 3 While the empire was expanding,
  Romes prosperity was fed by the conquest of new
  markets in the barbarian lands. When the empire
  stopped expanding however the economy slowed down
  into recession, then depressionThe abundance of
  slaves led to the growth of large estates that
  dominated agriculturesmall farmers couldnt
  compete with the large slave-owning estates and
  so drifted to the cities looking for work. Even
  in the cities however, the abundance of slave
  labor kept unemployment high and wages
  low.
• - Uses of the Past by Herbert J. Muller

Document 4 Some of the money from Romes treasury
was used to pay the army and the government
officials of the Empire . . . the result was
strangling taxation of the people. Many people
who were otherwise productive citizens lost heart
and faith in their government and the
economy.tenants fled from the farm lands they
rented and workers fled from their occupations. .
. . - The New Deal in Old Rome by Henry
Haskell
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• Document 5 Rome, like all great empires was not
  overthrown by external enemies but undermined by
  internal decay. . . The military crisis was the
  result of fewer Romans and more foreigners
  filling the ranks of the army. Near the end the
  army was comprised almost entirely of Germans.
• - Romans without Laurels by Indro Montanelli

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The Legacy of Rome

• In other words what parts of our culture and
  history can we credit the Romans for?

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Roman Catholicism

• Constantine made Christianity legal with the
  Edict of Milan (313 AD)
• Theodosius outlawed all other religions ( AD)
• The Bishop of Rome became the most powerful
  leader in the Western Empire when the Emperors
  moved the capital to the east
• Bishop of Rome ? Pope (Peter the apostle was
  the first)
• The church became the most dominant power
  structure of the Middle ages and the authority
  over the Church the Pope became more powerful
  than kings and ruled Europe in a sense

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Latin

• Anywhere the Romans conquered, Latin influenced
  the local language
• Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, French, Romanian,
  Romance languages
• Latin was a common language through which people
  of different nationalities could communicate?
  language of the Church and of scholars

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Roads

• All roads lead to Rome
• The Romans set up a network that connected most
  of Western Europe
• These roads would be repaired and reused during
  the Crusades

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Law

• In the 1400s Europeans began studying ancient
  Roman law and adopting many of their principles
  of justice
• Equality under the law
• Innocent until proven guilty
• Only actions can be crimes, not thoughts or words
  (some exceptions incitement)
• Led to a modernized law code based on Juries and
  the rights of the accused

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Art

• The Romans continued and added to the the
  classical style begun by the Greeks
• This style is rediscovered by artists in the 14th
  16th century (Renaissance)

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Frescoe

• Document 4
• Some of the money from Romes treasury was used
  to pay the army and the government officials of
  the Empire . . . the result was strangling
  taxation of the people. Many people who were
  otherwise productive citizens lost heart and
  faith in their government and the
  economy.tenants fled from the farm lands they
  rented and workers fled from their occupations. .
  . .
• The New Deal in Old Rome by Henry Haskell

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The Roman Arch Dome (Architecture the
Creation of Arches)