Why did rome fall? and..?

Question

I've been really into the movie 300 lately, which has sparked a lot of intrest in Greece and the Roman empire. For the life of me I cannot find out why the Roman empire died so quickly.Another thing... It reminded me, recently apoun riding the spaceship earth ride at EPCOT, they showed Rome in it's glory, then in ashes...no explanation. What the heck happened??

For the history buffs.. what signifigant truth ( well besides what wiki says about leonidas' 300 men) does the movie 300 have to the actual events?

Answer 1

Rome was the mightiest civilization the world had ever known. No other civilization before or since has ever commanded such a huge portion of humanity. At its height, a full 1/3 of the population of the Earth lived and died under the Caesars. But a mere 200 years after it stood at the top of the world, it was a skeleton, a vanished memory.

The turning point of the Roman Empire was the reign of Commodus. Commodus inherinted from his father, Marcus Aurelius, what I can only describe as the first "modern" economy. Places like Spain, Greece, and Africa had not seen wars in centuries. Piracy in the mediteranean had been eliminated. The Roman system of roads was a vast interconnected network, patroled by Legionaries by the decree of Caesar Augustus, allowing for extreme mobility within the Empire. The Empire was a market economy, with resources from all over the empire flowing from one corner to another, virtually uninterupted.

However, there were cracks in the system, cracks that Rome failed to deal with, which eventually blossomed into full on fissures.

Slavery - Roman elite had a habit of using slaves to bolster their productivity, and keep their prices artificially low, which forced many Roman plebes out of business. Furthermore, slaves were given menial work that otherwise would have gone to pay drawing citizens. Slavery basically was a useful means to stay on top, and while Romans made a habit of freeing their slaves (some freed slaves became remarkably wealthy), it was never enough to stop this social problem. At one point in time, there was a movement to end slavery, but neither the Republic, Empire, nor Christianity spearheaded any serious attempt at emancipation.

The Emperors - It is of extreme importance to remember that Rome never considered itself an empire, or a kingdom. The word emperor comes from the latin word "imperator" which was simply "commander in chief." from Augustus in 30 BC till Diocletian in the late 300's, the emperor was called princep, or "First citizen." And although his power was absolute, the fact that it was an unofficial position meant that in addition to there being no limit to his power, there was also no set in stone system of succession. Few Emperors, even in the peaceful Pax Romana, were the firstborn son of the previous emperor. This system worked fine as long as people recognized who the emperor was, and the emperor himself was modest with his powers...

Money Debasement - This had been happening since Nero. Romans had a very robust system of currency: the Gold piece (Aureus), the silver piece (Denarius), and the bronze piece (sestertius). But gradually, these coins were being undercut, as the state replaced the silver content with lead, and started reducing the size of the coins. This was undercutting the market economy of the Empire.

Anyway, getting back to the fall...

In the 3rd century, The Severan dynasty fell after the young Severus Alexander was murdered, igniting what is now called the Crisis of the third century. No stable imperial dynasty could be instituted, as most emperors had reigns that typically lasted less than a year. Law broke down as various usurpers, backed by their armies, vied for the throne. During this period, hyperinflation occured. As more and more capital was being diverted to the civil wars, the value of the coinage basically ceased to exist, with Denarius basically becoming worthless hunks of lead. You might have heard what hyperinflation did to Germany in the 1930s, imagine what it did to the Roman Empire. The once white-hot market economy broke down, as the wealth in the cities dried up. Many people abandoned their trades and migrated to the country side to become subsistence farmers. But remember what I said about slavery? at this time, practically all of the farmland was owned by wealthy nobility. Citizens selled themselves into servitude of these wealthy families in order to feed themselves. The cities faced critical shortages of manpower. quality of work, the arts, and the infrastructure, all broke down.

It seemed that the Empire would fall in the third century, were it not for a series of able Emperors who, if not able to recapture the glory of the Pax Romana, were at least able to restore some semblance of order. The Emperors Valerian and Aurelian were able to militarily reunited the Empire, which had fragmented into separate states.

Emperor Diocletian completely reworked the system, and turned Rome into something alien. He imported the Persian system of government. Remember Xerxes from "300"? That was like Diocletian's hero. No longer were emperors called first citizen. Their official title became "Dominus" which is Latin for "lord". People now were forbidden from looking at him, and before addressing him, had to kiss the hem of his robe. Part of Diocletians reforms was to try and salvage the Roman economy. Unfortunately, his plan was tyrannical, and rather than save the economy, he destroyed it forever. He issued price controls on all good across the Empire. This lead to massive shortages of goods, especially in cities, and the people led vast exodus's out of the cities. To counter this, Diocletian passed a law tying a person to his job. But the unrest caused by the complete collectivisation of the economy was so great that after Diocletian died, the edict on price controls was abandoned. But the damage was done.

The state had become a huge, swollen, top-heavy enterprise, that controlled every aspect of Roman life. This lead to huge state expenses, which the Empire tried to allieviate by issuing crushing taxes on the population. The hardest hit was the Roman middle class, which essentially disintegrated. And with it, most of the state's tax revenues.

At its height, the city of Rome had nearly 3 million residents. Late in the empire, this number was around 20,000.

With an empire that was, for all intents and purposes, broke, there was little money left with which to pay the Legions. This resulted in two things happening to the army.

First, the Army became virtually completely dependent on its harboring city for supplies and sustenance. The modern city of Cologne was actually the Roman fort Colonia Agrippina, which over time swelled into a city. Armies became static, and extremely resistant to movement, knowing they would have been leaving their families and homes unprotected on an unforgiving frontier. As the central authority broke down, so did the quality of the army. Supplies were shoddy, and often legions went into battle without armor and rudimentary weapons. Furthermore, Armies became more loyal to their towns and regional commanders than they did to the Empire, which was the frequent source of usurpers to the throne. For example, when Rome was sacked in 410 by the Goths, it was done so by a Roman army, which defected to the Goths after the German Stilicho, generalissimo of the Western Roman Army. was murdered.

Secondly, without the motivated and well supplied legions that Caesar or Trajan went to war with, The Romans turned to German federated tribes, which were called foederati. In exchange for land within the empire, each tribe was required to supply the army with a certain number of recruits. Though ostensibly part of the empire, these federated tribes were autonomous states, basically defending areas that the Romans themselves couldn't. By the year 400, it is thought that there was probably not a single Italian in the entire army, with troops being Gallic or German, and generals being German or Sarmatian. These foreigners were only kept in check by a powerful generalissimo. Flavius Aetius commanded the loyalty of the legions, but when he was assasinated by a jealous emperor in 455, virtually the entire army defected, and left the Western Roman Empire without an army. From here, the various germanic confederations, which were enormous in size due to years of Roman capital flow into their coffers (as Rome bribed and paid extortions and hired mercenaries) flooded into the feeble empire, which was too politically ossified to mobilize, and too economically pathetic to react. The Empire's actual crumbling, though a result of centuries of prior deprevation, was a remarkably quick event, as the Frankish confederation established themselves in Gaul, The Visigoths in Spain, Vandals in Africa, and Ostrogoths in Italy. By that time, The landscape was dotted with farms, where the poor were legally tied to the land and their masters, which was the creation of feudalism. 476 for most in the country was just another quiet year's work. But in the cities, the fall of the Empire was a calamity of unprecendented proportions. Archeology confirms that there were mass movements of refugees, fleeing from the frequent and brutal wars, which unmercilessly pounded the cities into ruins.

And thus did Rome fade into history.

Answer 2

The History of The Roman Empire is so over simplified by the term "The Fall of Rome". It didn't just fall to any invading group, it took centuries.

Rome was the civilization that all people of the world looked to for what ever reason at it's time. The original Roman Empire lasted about 1000 years. A split from within the political framework of the empire split it into two causing a major powershift away from Rome that lead to the Byzantine Empire. Later after years without political power the Holy Roman Empire was set up to rebuild the power base of the Western Empire. The latter ended only 200 years ago. As you can see, the empire took quite a while to fall.

As for 300 it is actualy based on a graphic novel or comic book that is loosly based on the historic lives of the Sparten Greeks, however the main themes and much of the historic facts were dramatised to a fantastic level to match the mythology of it's time.

Answer 3

It didn't happen quickly at all. Rome was founded in 753 BC and didnt collapse until 476 AD.

From the 200's AD on, the Roman frontier became increasingly penetrated by barbarian tribes who bled Rome of money and manpower. As time went on, the Roman treasury emptied out and there weren't any strong leaders to rally the people. The empire split between West and East (Byzantine Empire), and the West grew weaker and weaker until it collapsed. The Eastern Empire lasted until 1453 though.

As for the movie 300, it was relatively true to the story except for several inconsistencies. For one, there were no aliens or giant rhinos at the battle. Also, Sparta wasn't a democracy. However, the Spartans were sick warriors and they did inflict massive casualties on the Persians.

Answer 4

Once Octavian named Tiberius as his heir, it was clear to everyone that even the hope of a restored Republic was dead. Most likely, by the time Augustus died, no one was old enough to know a time before an Emperor ruled Rome. The Roman Republic had been changed into a despotic regime, which, underneath a competent and strong Emperor, could achieve military supremacy, economic prosperity, and a genuine peace, but under a weak or incompetent one saw its glory tarnished by cruelty, military defeats, revolts, and civil war. The Roman Empire was eventually divided between the Western Roman Empire which fell in 476 AD and the Eastern Roman Empire (also called the Byzantine Empire) which lasted until the fall of Constantinople in 1453.

Answer 5

Epcott center is not a good place to learn history, It was not Dramatic, violent of in fact an event that has a set date or even year... It did not happen over night, not at all, in fact it took nearly 400 years, for it not to be called Rome anymore, and move it's capital from Rome.. Rome at it's peak was the lone super power, and involved in every nation then known in the so called civilized world, it was the center of all government (all roads lead to Rome). and was continually involved in minor wars, and it was these little tribes and fringe groups that constantly picked away at the roman outposts, and every so often marched into Rome and sacked it (I think 4 times is the official count). the Government mas in constant argument, and th military often took control, much internal blood shed for power, to many lands to control and a steady decline of social morals lead to the slow death of Rome. A great book was written in the 1960s called the rise and Fall of the Roman Empire, and it is the bench mark for understanding what happened, it was not sudden in any ways, the borders shrank slowly, they had used mercenaries not loyal to Rome, and foreigners where the majority in the Military, there Army was no longer the highly trained and skilled units they had been, and the in fighting of politics did more to gum up the works and topple the government. there was no actual final date, it turned in to the Ottoman Empire, and the Seat of Government was moved from rome to Constantinople, and that Empire did not end until WWI.

Answer 6

The simple answer? It tripped.

There is an interesting answer at Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decline_of_the_Roman_Empire,
but this article says that as recently as 1984 there were 210 theories as to why the Roman Empire fell. The article goes on to outline and discuss 16 of them, but goes on to say that the reason there are so many theories is the lack of solid information or written evidence from the 4th and 5th centuries, when the most significant changes occurred.

Answer 7

They Roman empire did not fall quickly at all. It lasted about as long as most long-lasting empires last. What empire(s) do you have in mind that lasted longer?

The movie 300 holds no significant relationship to actual events, other than the name of the Persian king and the Spartan king.

Answer 8

there was supposed to be a second king of Sparta (there were always two), no elephants or rhino's, no ninja-like elite troops (the immortals used spears and bows),....

but the combat tactics seemed pretty accurate.