What do you think was the cause of the fall of the Roman Empire ?

Question

Is the USA headed in the same direction ?

China??????? Are you ok ??

There was serious mental illness in that bloodline due to incest.......just look at Caligula !

Answer 1

There are soooo many suggestions and my thought is that it was a combination of all of them
Disease and Plague
Soil depletion
Over-extended borders
Empires exist within a life-cycle, and it's cycle was done
Lack of government spirit and patriotism
Foreign members in the military
Christianity
Sinfulness in Rome
or ...
it never 'fell' it simply moved (to Constantinople)

Answer 2

Red tape, over spending, and corruption at the top.

The same things helped to kill the Chinese Empire and the Ottoman Empire. Oh, and the Soviet Union. Yup, we are headed that way. Unless our government finds a new avenue of public interest (like a massive push toward space), it will go the way of the Dodos.

Answer 3

It was inflation, they were gradually reducing the amount of Gold in there coins. Also, imperialism, trying to impose their view in countries far away.

Here the US is doing the exact same thing, so yes, we will see the fall of the US empire and the rise of China in this century.

Answer 4

Overextended military, high taxes, overextended social services.

It is possible that the US is headed in the same direction.

I also believe that there was a spiritual void that Christianity filled which caused Rome's collapse from within.

Answer 5

"The man who fiddled while Rome burned."
Many historians believe that Emperor Nero (AD 37-AD-68) had single-handedly destroyed the Roman Empire, by excessively building statues and art throughout the empire, thereby driving Rome bankrupt.
He went mad after his wife was killed, by himself.
That's gotta suck.
Enjoy!