What happened to the Romans?

Question

Probably being a bit dumb here...but what happened to the Roman Empire. They seemed to take over the world and then disappear???

Answer 1

The great Roman Empire did not just go in one day or a short time. It's decline and fall was gradual and gigantic. This is what happened to it:
THE PLAGUE (REIGN OF MARCUS AURELIUS 161-179 A.D.)
When a Roman soldier looting a city in Mesopotamia in the Parthian campaign saw a jar, he thought it contained something valueable. He broke it open and got sick. He had caught the plague. Eventually one third of the empire died from this plague. It weakened the empire.
THE REIGN OF COMMODUS(179-191 A.D.)
This emperor had such neglect of the administration(although he did increase the armed forces' pay) and extravagance that he weakened the empire further. After him they began to bid for the throne.
THE CIVIL WARS(191-283 A.D)
There was a period of about 100 years when there was on and off civil wars. There was SEPTIMIUS SERVERUS against PRECISIUS NIGER and ALBANUS, there was CARACULLA against GETA and there was AURELIAN against TERENTIUS and ZENOBIA of Palmyra who was supposed to be an ally. There was also trouble with the newly emerging SASSINIAD PERSIAN EMPIRE which sucseeded Parthia, especially with SAPPHOR I who captured the emperor VALENTINIAN whom he used as a footstool. This brought chaos and weakness to the empire.
THE REIGN OF DIOCLETIAN(284-305 A.D.)
This emperor tried to set things right. But he failed. He held it back for a time but his reforms ended up damaging the empire. His division of the empire into four admistative districts (two ruled by a senior partner-an AUGUSTI and two ruled by a junior partner a CAESAR) to end the civil wars by having a path of sucsession weakened the unity and politic of the empire. His high taxation weakened it economically. His prices and wages edicts and debasement of the coinage weakened it socially-people began not to have faith in it. His reforms of the army bastardised the legions and weakened the military. He ended up retireing in fear of Constantine.
THE REIGN OF CONSTANTINE(306-337)
This emperor introduced christianity to the empire. After a while people began to look to another world rather than solving their problems in this one. They joined the clergy and monasteries rather than the legions. They changed their attitude from practical concerns including war to piety. The legions began to have difficulty in maintaining their numbers-in finding recruits, especially suitable recruits. Constantine continued further the so called reforms of Diocletian and thus turned the legions from the deadly lethal force that they had been to glorified medieval field and garrison armies. This so bastardised the legions that a turn of the fifth century writer VEGITUS lamented with the words that no longer did the legions fight in armour-our legions stand naked and defenceless before the barbarian.
THE INFLUX OF GOTHS.
During the third and fourth centuries the GOTHS began to come down from the north via the Black Sea(THE EUXINE). They were being pressured eventually by the Huns and in the fourth century there was trouble. In 375(or 378 according to some history books) the Emperor VALENS was defeated at ANDRINOPAL by the Gothic leader FRITTEGERN. This weakened the empire although very soon a new emperor restored the balance.
THEODOSIUS I (381-395 A.D)
This emperor restored the balance but he also fought with MAXIMUS and EUGENUS in civil war, was a fanatical christian and in 395 A.D. he divided the empire permanently between his two sons. ARCADIUS who got the east and HONORIUS who got the west. This made two powerful empires, although very closely allied, out of one collossus.
THE FREEZING OVER OF THE RHINE(407 A.D.)
The Rhine had kept the Germanic tribes at arms lenght. In 407 A.D. the Rhine froze over. The Germanic tribes swarmed over looking for land, work and opportunities. There were millions of them. The emperors employed them as soldiers under their chiefs who were given Roman titles. They were paid in money, goods and land. This was done to alliviate the manpower shortage and to come to some arrangement with the barbarians.
A very dangerous policy indeed. In 410 A.D. the Visigoths under Alaric sacked Rome. In 456 A.D. the Vandals under GENSERIC sacked Rome.
IMPERIAL CORRUPTION AND THE CRUNCH(476 A.D.)
Eventually the Roman Empire became almost completely defended by these barbarian armies. In 451 A.D. a Roman patrician, ATTIUS(commonly known as the last of the Romans) defeated ATTILA THE HUN AT CHALONS and saved the empire. He was subsequently murdered by the western emperor VALENTINIAN III. In 476 the Roman field army of Ostogoths, Heruli and others under ODAECCER were cheated of their pay by the imperial officials. They marched down and deposed of the last emperor of the west: FLAVIUS ROMULUS AUGUSTULUS. This was the official fall of Rome and the end of ancient history.

There was the eastern empire under ZENO but for all practical purposes Rome was no more. The eastern empire was soon to become the Byzantine Empire. On the Danube was stationed the last unit of the old Roman army. An Auxilury Cohort called the XVth BATAVIAN. For months and months they had not recieved their pay. They sent a deputation to Rome to enquire about it. The deputation never returned. Gradually the unit just drifted away-and with them THE ROMAN ARMY.

The Roman Empire had many courses of it's fall. A plague, imperial neglect and extravagance, a century of civil war, loss of population, weakening of the political structure by division, economic destruction by high taxes, unrealistic edicts, debasement of coinage and beaurocracy, the freezing over of the Rhine and the swarming of millions upon millions of supplanters, imperial corruption and the betrayal of their last field army. Rome had a host of causes for it's fall. But two stand out. One, that it had gotten so corrupt and inept that the barbarians treated the people better-NO ONE BELIEVED IN IT ANYMORE. Two, that it had become so conservative-so inert that it's time had come. NO EMPIRE CAN STAND WHEN HISTORY SAYS: TIME TO GO.

And what happened to the Romans themselves? They had been accepting migrants, especially from the levant, for centuries. They also accepted migrants from the northern lands. When the local population dwindled after Marcus Aurelius it's place was taken, by interbreeding, by others. The people who are there now are a mixture of original italians and latins, romans, middle easterners, europeans, germanic tribes and the result of the passage of armies throuhout the ages. Rome had so many sucsessors, like no other empire before or since. The host of sucsessors and causes that felled this giant of giants-this collossus in world history attests to the fact that Rome is called- THE ULTIMATE EMPIRE.

And what of the East? What of the Byzantines? They kept the east at bay for those vital thousand years. And when their end came, it came magnificantly. On Thursday the 29th of May 1453, Constantinopal, their capital fell to the Ottoman(Othomalian) Empire under Mohommed II (The Conquerer). When the last emperor CONSTANTINE XI (Dragonis) saw that all was lost, he threw of his robe, crown and imperial insigniture-took sword in hand and jumped into the fray. He was never seen again. The Byzantines had always regarded themselves as Roman. They had called themselves Romans. They issued docoments as Romans. When they finally fell, they fell like Romans-WITH THE EMPEROR AT THEIR HEAD. Hope this helps.

Answer 2

What Happened To The Romans

Answer 3

The Roman Empire imploded really. It was irrevocably split by inward feuds between people fighting for the Emporership. This meant that the empire was split into the East and the West. The Western Empire fell to Germanic tribes, the Eastern Empire never really dissapeared. Its base became Constantinople and it thrived for over a thousand years in the area around modern day Turkey

Answer 4

The Emperor Constantine the First declared Christianity the official religion of the empire and launched a wave of persecutions of non-Christians within its borders that lasted for almost twice as long as any persecution of Christianity before then. Constantine, who probably actually was a Mithra worshipper (as that was a popular religion among the Roman army soldiers and officers) claimed to have a vision of the ChiRho in the sky during which he was told that he would win the coming battle (which would end up also placing him on the throne) if he put that sign on the sheilds of his men. This was also probably due to the influence of his mother Helena who is described as being a devout Christian (Please remember that Christianity was often tolerated throughout the Empire prior to its "official" status and there were not uniform persecutions of that religion either geographically or chronologically -- UNLIKE later persecutions of Pagans)

Answer 5

Rome is without doubt one the absolute most wonderful towns in the world; annually millions of tourists originate from around the globe to admire the treasures and projects of Roman artwork and structure and to be one you should begin with Hotelbye . One of the very most popular of Rome's several squares is Piazza Navona. This place preserves the shape of the Stadium of Domitian that when stood here. Piazza Navona was builted by Emperor Domitian in 86 AD and has three superb fountains.

Answer 6

Not quite disappeared. They left us the Catholic Church, otherwise called the "Roman Catholic Church."

The Roman Army was finally defeated sometime during the first Crusades or thereabouts in the Eastern Roman Empire - sometime in the 11th or 12th Century AD.

The Roman Army is the longest running army in history. It is the army most studied in military colleges, especially at West Point - so I understand.

What else is left of the Romans, apart from a few ruins? Well, they left us the rule of law, which in spite of everything, we somehow managed to keep hold of. Enlish law for example is a mix of Roman as well as Anglo Saxon law.

There are still many hundreds of miles of Roman roads here in England. There's one about two miles from where I am sitting now. London is full of them and if you visit London and go to Oxford Street, that's right, the one with all the shops; you'll be standing on a Roman road which runs from Londinium [Roman city of London] to, you've guessed it, Oxford.

The last surviving piece of the Roman Empire in Western Europe finally came to an end in c6th Century AD in Spain. When the Saxons arrived in England in c500AD thousands of us Britons fled via Wales and Cornwall to Britanny and on into Spain.

Arther Pendragon was the last Roman General in England. Pendragon means Legion's Head or General.
Pen = head, Dragon = a legio of the late Roman period.

Answer 7

The Roman Empire didn't really cease to exist, as with many things in History for the ssake of Historians, periods are classified. Things named one thing in one era merely continue slightly altered but under a different name in the next, essentially remianing the same. There is no historical ending merely changing and evolving.

However the Roman empire split into East and West and was carried on for hundreds of years as the Holy Roman Empire, previously refered to Geographically as Lotharingia or the middle Kingdom a tract of Land between modern france and Germany, which included control of Italy and so the Pope hence the Holy attached to Roman Empire as Emperoros were installed nominally by Pope's as the secular arm of the Church's spiritual power. Hower Lotharingia following the death of Charlemagne (many consider the last true western Emperor), was fought over and often came under the rule of either the King of West Frankia (Germany/ Austria) or East Frankia (France). These Kings were originally descendants of Charlemagne and the era upa the tenth century referred to as Carolingian Europe. The Holy Roman Empire pretty much existed in name at least until the 19th Century although by this time it had was limited to purely Germany.

Also the eastern Empire continured as Byzantium for many years not quite outlasting its western counter-part for a thousand years merely co-existing concurrently. AS a result of the continued rivalry between East and West the Christian Church of Europe split in the mid 11th Century along lines very simialr to those of the "old" empires.

Answer 8

Why did Rome fall? It remains one of the greatest historical questions.

Many scholars maintain that rather than a simplistic "fall", the changes can more accurately be described as a complex transformation

There are loads of 'theories' about the fall of the Roman Empire, why not have a read through some at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decline_of_the_Roman_Empire#Theories_about_the_decline_and_fall_of_the_Roman_Empire

Answer 9

Disappearing of Roman Empire lasted for 1000 years. Byzantine, the Eastern Roman Empire lasted almost exactly 1000 years after the Western part fell (which lasted again 1000 years). Byzantines called themselves Romans, also their rulers kept Roman titles.
Holding their fortress for so long with so many enemies...

Answer 10

They expanded too far - they were unable to control / supress uprising and the constant attacks from Huns and Goths drained resources

Politicaly - the empire became victim to internal divides and political uprisings which tore the political power of rome apart

Religously - Christians were becoming more powerful and so the religions of rome were dwindling and causing a few religous turmoil battles.

basicly - too big - badly ran - overly confident - too suppresive

Answer 11

the Roman empire dissolved but the descendants have followed on down through the ages and are with us now scattered all around the world