Why did population decrease cause Rome to fall??

Answer 1

Rome did not fall from a Population Decrease; Rome fell from a war that they lost and thats that, I guess Population decrease happens from people killing other people, but it was war not like people losing their population increase.

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Answer 2

Population decrease alone did not cause the fall of Rome, it was a factor but not the sole cause.

The main problem faced by the Roman Empire was its size. The empire simply got too big for it to be realistically defendable. Its borders stretched thoroughout Europe, Asia and Africa. The Roman Army maintained the borders but constant incursions from the Barbarians hoards and never ending skirmishes and bouts of guerilla warfare took there toll. With practically all major conflicts taking place on the borders of the Empire, the main military might of Rome was dispatched to monitor and maintain their security. This meant that the majority of the forces at Rome's disposal weren't concentrated in anyone place, instead they were spread high and wide across Europe and Asia. It also meant that once the boundaries had been compromised it would be incredibly easy to get to Rome. Once at Rome they would encounter little resistance as the army was stationed hundreds of miles away trying to stop people getting over the border.

So why didn't Rome just make the Empire smaller? Well arrogance is one reason, they believed their armies and themselves to be far superior to any other. They whole-heartedly believed in the glory of Rome and that they were bringing civilisation to the uncivilised masses of mainland europe. There was also the risk that they would lose face. A bad military campaign wouldn't do the emperor any good.

Constantine had tried to counteract this problem by creating the tetrarchy, he split the empire in to two administrative centres, one in Rome, the other in Constantinople (now Istanbul). But this was simply not enough. You have to bear in mind that whilst the Romans were pioneers of many technologies they had no fast means of communications, generals in the field could not get a message to Rome and receive a response inside a month, and by the time it came it could be all over bar the shouting.

But there were other factors at play. There had been horrific bouts of disease and in particular plague which had swept through the empire and dwindled the population. Studies of tree rings have shown that in the years before the fall of Rome, Europe suffered incredibly bad harvests and this would result in famine and starvation for thousands. There was of course rumours that they higher tiers of Roman Society were suffering impotence through led poisoning from the goblets from which they drank their wine.

So there are a whole myriad of reasons to why Rome fell, and population decrease can be seen as just one of them.

Answer 3

In many respects, the Roman Empire outgrew itself. So many Romans were spread so thin around the empire that the armies defending Rome itself were often made up of irregulars and the dregs of society. This made it easy for many invaders, including some Germanic tribes, to attack and sack Rome, which happened multiple times. Of course, this encouraged people to leave Rome and seek a haven, mostly in the Eastern Empire. There were also several pretty serious disease epidemics which also drove people away.

Answer 4

Lead pipes made everyone sick. I'm serious. That is cited as one of the reasons for Rome's downfall. I don't personally think so though, I think it was for many other reasons and that just contributed. Read Gibbon's Theory. I just picked up a book the other day at BarnesandNoble -only fifteen dollars- called...if I can find it....(I have hundreds and hundreds of books scattered on the floor of my room) here we go...The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. GOOD book. It is abridged, but I find that to often be a good thing. Read this...if you have the time, its...almost 1300 pages long.

Answer 5

because Rome was being attacked by the German tribes all the time plus Western empire was broke so many of them moved to the Eastern empire