Although the actual invasion of the city of Rome occurred
when the leader of the Visigoths, Alaric, conquered the city in A.D. 410, there
were many events preceding Rome’s fall and historians mark the date A.D. 476 as
the actual fall of Rome. This attack was not the first. Rome had been attacked
by many invaders over 300 years after the Pax Romana ended and Romans referred
to these invaders from beyond Rome as barbarians. The Romans looked down on the Barbarians
because they did not share the government systems and values.
By the A.D. 200s, internal problems allowed invaders to
reach the center of Rome, and Diocletian and other emperors spent their efforts
trying to protect the borders by increasing the size of the Roman armies and
sometimes, buying off invaders with land exchanges. Slowly these people were becoming part of the
Roman Empire and the borders were fading.
Bu the early A.D. 400s the barbarians had invaded Gaul, Britain, Spain
and North Africa and the emperors were losing their power and barbarian chiefs
had control of most of the western empire.
Historians say that the final fall happened in A.D. 476 when
Odoacer forced the last Roman emperor out of the western empire. The eastern
portion of the empire stood for one thousand more years. The fall of Rome corresponded with the growth
of Christianity.
In addition to the problems with the Roman armies, weak
leadership, and constant invasions which weakened the empire there were many
other factors contributing to Rome’s fall.
First was geography. Rome’s shape
(like a donut) around the Mediterranean made it difficult to protect and easy
to invade. Protecting the western
borders took money and soldiers away from Rome.
Another factor was the economy.
Rome could not afford to continue to import luxury items, and pay for
social programs, and growth in government and military. A high mortality rate meant there were less
citizens and soldiers to support Rome’s needs.
Finally, Rome’s upper class had little interest in finding ways to
improve technology and machines to help with labor, so fewer workers had to try
and meet the demands of the armies. All
of these together, these factors lead to the military
defeat and final collapse of the Roman Empire.
