Decline of Rome

Truman Isaacs, Peter Black, Lauren Callahan

Technology-

Architecture-
 Buildings were collapsing
 Fires

Political-

Government-

 Not stable and corrupt

 Less patriotic
 Incompetent
 Emperors were assassinated (186 AD next 100 years
25 of 37 emperors were assassinated)
 No organized way of picking next emperor
 Didn’t help with inflation
 Praetorian guard came to charge or became the next
emperor in a “highest bidder” way

Economics-

Disorganization-

 1/3 of population was unemployed

 Tax increase
 Severe inflation
 Food shortages
 Weak emperors

Military-

Disloyalty-
  Mercenaries
 Not paid well
 Loyal to generals only (praetorian guard)
 Fall of western roman empire was closely followed by
the sack of Rome itself

Geography-

 Germans were being pushed away by the Huns and had

not where to go to but into roman territory which lead
to the Germanic invasions

Social-

Money flow-

 The middle class roman was eliminated

 The gap between the poor and rich was at its peak
 Latifundia- was rich plantations where there was one
rich family and slaves, this lead to the bankruptcy of the
normal farmers

Religion-

Christianity-

 Very open religion (more foreigners accepted)

 Pacifist- made some people against resisting Germanic
invasion
 Money used to build churches and ceremony’s instead
of helping with the poor

Empire-

 Roman empire was too big to support itself

 Communication was slow
 Decline was slow and steady and so nobody was doing
anything about it