First, they developed a way of fighting called the legion. The legion was a dense formation of soldiers in lines. It was looser than the Macedonian phalanx of Alexander the Great. Second, they trained soldiers in such a way that the soldiers should be more afraid of their officers than of the enemy. Finally, they trained soldiers to believe that they were the greatest in the world. That way of training and fighting led the Romans to conquer a vast territory.
Next, they developed a code of laws that other places wanted to share. There were the "Social Wars," in which Rome fought with formerly allied cities in Italy. (Socium means ally in Latin.) The other cities wanted to be governed by Roman law. First Rome conquered the allied cities, then granted them "Latin rights," the right to be ruled by Roman law.
The Romans conquered from Britain in the west to the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in the east; from the Rhine and Danube in the north to the Sahara desert in the north of Africa.
The agreement was that the government levied high taxes. But the taxes went for the army. The army protected the land owners. So long as the empire could keep up an army to repel barbarian attacks from the north and Persian attacks from the east, the landowners gladly paid.
Beginning in AD 376, a sequence of events played out in which the Roman empire began not to have the money to keep up the army. Barbarians crossed the Rhine and Danube, occupied territories that would have paid taxes to the empire.
After AD 476, people in Italy and western Europe realized that the protection of Roman armies was gone, and that they would have to make arrangements with kings of the barbarian peoples themselves.
2007-10-16 12:31:29
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answer #1
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answered by steve_geo1 7
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Several reasons really. Roman discipline and endurance was extremely high. They could beat back or slaughter virtually any force. Also, they had millions of people, so their army was massive in size and could defend an empire of that size. Their weapons and armor were usually more sophisticated than their enemies, therefore giving them a large advantage. They had vast economic resources to fund the amount of men defending the empire. The reason why they fell wasn't simply because they couldn't defend their borders, it was also because of corruption and economic decline as well as decline in army recruitment. The last cause is very insignificant in the long scale, but it is a factor to consider. Have a great day.
2007-10-16 12:35:20
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answer #2
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answered by milthistagent 3
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Rome conquering others became into extra to do with physique of recommendations, no longer area. They accelerated because of the fact every person ought to become a Roman as long because of the fact the observed Roman customs, that have been almost all stolen from the excellent roundabout. They have been protecting themselves almost all their historic previous, and Rome became into continuously sacked so no longer a good shielding line.
2016-12-14 19:43:35
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answer #3
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answered by Anonymous
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they had a great army, but they weren't successful in holding the territories. Roman Empire split into East and West, and, althought they weren't directly feudintg, they were still two separate states, which was the beginning of the end for ROman Empire
2007-10-16 11:50:29
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answer #4
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answered by krasnoglaz 3
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