Analytical Essay free essay sample

During those 100 years, Rome would be plagued with economic turmoil, inner betrayal, social issues, and a diminishing military. When Marcus Aurelius died in A. D. 180, the Empire was politically stable economically prosperous, and militarily secure, (Perry, 2009). The class presentation stated that after the Pax Romana was ended, the deterioration of Rome’s army was the start of the fall of Rome. This allowed for the Germanic tribes to conduct invasions on Rome. The presentation informs us that through these consistent invasions, Rome’s economy begun to dwindle and the government could not support a military that was needed to defend its Empire. The bad part of this was that Rome allowed the Germanic tribes to exist within their territories, but they did not account for the strength of these tribes. According to Perry (2009), during the third century there was a marked deterioration in the quality of Roman soldiers. In A. D 410, Vistagoths pushed through the western part of the empire and a new Emperor was seated. We will write a custom essay sample on Analytical Essay or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Because the Western Empire was controlled by Barbarians, the Eastern Empire decided not to try and retake the city. Williams and Friell, (1994), pointed out how the Roman Empire should disregard to the ethnic origins and did not allow them to participate within the Roman political system. The uprising of the Barbarian people was caused by the lack of respect that was given to them by the Roman Empire. These Barbarian attacks left the border regions depopulated and poor when expenditures for the military drained the Western Empire’s resources (Perry, 2009). Perry (2009) also states that the decline in population affected the Empire in three ways. The first was, at the same time the population was declining, the cost of running an Empire was increasing. This caused a heavy burden on the tax payers. The second reason was the decline in agricultural workers. Agriculture was the most important economic producer for the Empire. The third reason is it reduced the manpower available for the army forcing emperors to permit the establishment of Germanic colonies within the Empire’s boarders to serve as feeders for the army. This situation led to the barbarization of the army (Perry, 2009). Hefty tax burdens had to be implemented to make up for the loss revenue, therefore causing the middle class to disappear. With the middle class being wiped away, it left no workers to invent new ideas and products for economic development. The slave population that made up one third of the population had no desire to participate in any new technology or development that would help the Roman Empire. There were two important social issues that caused the fall of the Roman Empire. One was a decline in population and the other was spiritual. A declining population of Roman citizens caused a large impact on the fall of Rome. During the reign of Marcus Aurelius, the bubonic plague struck the empire and lasted for fifteen years (Perry, 2009). Another plaque struck the Empire during the reign of Marcus Aurelius son Commodus. There were a few other incidents during the third century were more plaques had caused a large decrease in the Empires population. Due to these plagues and the bad economic conditions, families became discouraged about the future of Rome and decided not to have children. Rome could not compensate for the large decrease in population. Perhaps the most dangerous sign for the future was the spiritual paralysis that crept over the ordered world of Pax Romana (Perry, 2009). Citizens lost hope and started to place their hope in life after death. Much of the upper class drifted away from spiritual practices, but that was not the case for the masses of peasants and slaves. The spread of mystery religions grew during the Hellenistic era. Slaves, soldiers, and merchants brought many religious cults westward from Persia, Babylon, Syria, Egypt, and Asia Minor (Perry, 2009). The people of Rome paced their hope in mystical Gods to overcome the lack of hope in their lives. These mystical Gods gave the people of Rome a sense of belonging and most importantly a road to immortality. Political issues were another factor in the fall of Rome. As the Roman Empire spread down to the Persian Gulf, Rome still continued to operate their government as if they were a small city. The Roman Empire was designed to govern a city-state and not a large empire. Transportation issues plagued the government. They could not maintain the vast areas of their empire to provide food and supplies to their military. This caused the soldiers to become disloyal and their generals to form their own armies. These armies would take over small areas and establish their own empire. An empire with no control of their own army was destined to fall. Most of the funding for Rome came from taking over other countries. Before the fall, Rome had basically taken all the land that they could. This stopped a large portion of funding for the government. The power driven Emperor’s actually drove their own Empire into existence by conquering all the land around them. The government of the United States has used certain forms of the Roman political system. Of those ideas, the most important one is learner from the mistakes of Rome regarding their citizens. When citizens feel they are not be heard by their government, they pull away from the system. They seclude themselves and form their own defense to protect their jobs, homes, families, and money. The American government needs to apply a stronger military force that has the capabilities to secure their borders. Low morale is the fastest way for a military force to become divided. America needs to take every means in protecting the morale of their military; unlike the opposite of the Roman military. The immigration of immigrants as your nation grows is important and it did help the growth of Rome. The problem was that a system was not in place to maintain a watchful eye over them. That is why in this day and age, the United States needs a strong and solid immigration program. The title of this essay was â€Å"The decline and fall of Rome. † After studying this topic a person has to wonder if Rome actual feel or if it evolved like many countries after them have. A good example to look at is Japan. Ruled by many Emperors throughout history, Japan has evolved into a powerful country. They thought they could move across the world and conquer more land, but the results were devastating. Almost 2.5 million citizens and soldiers were killed due to their government’s greed. Just like Rome, they suffered enormous population lost that crippled their country. The country did fall to the United States, but one could also say they evolved too. Works Cited Perry, Marvin. Western Civilization: Ideas, Politics, and Society. Volume 1: 1789. Tenth Edition. Boston, MA. 2009 Roman E mpire. Liberty University Online Blackboard. Liberty University. Williams, Stephen amp; Friell, Gerald, Friends, Romans or Countrymen? Barbarians in the Empire. ProQuest. History Today, 25 June 2012: 34. Print.