Fall of the Roman EmpireEssay Preview: Fall of the Roman EmpireReport this essayThe Roman Empire flourished from 753 B.C.E until its collapse around 479 C.E (The Fall of the Roman Empire, 1). The reach of the Roman Empire stretched far beyond the borders and there are still parts of the society alive today. With the collapse of such a powerful and influential government there are many questions as to what caused the decline and collapse. There are several contributing factors when discussing the collapse of the Roman Empire. Some argue the reasoning for the decline is tied into the increasing popularity of Christianity as the official religion (The Fall of the Roman Empire, 1) while others argue the reason is due to the expansion of the barbarian forces deeper into Roman territory (Edgcombe,R, 1). There could be arguments made for both theories but it was a combination of poor leadership and turning from what Rome had stood for that helped with the decline.
The bigger a society becomes, the more it takes to control that society and maintain the style of living that is enjoyed by its citizens. During the golden age of the Roman Empire (98 – 180 B.C.E) Rome expanded and under the leadership of the 5 good emperors and the empire continued to thrive. But once Commodus took the throne from his father Marcus Aurelius the golden age had come to an end (Illustrated History of the Roman Empire). The Roman Empire went through a tumultuous period of emperors mismanaging finances, and being betrayed by their own guards for the highest bidder to take office (Ancient Rome, 2). This created an unstable government which was made even more unstable when the empire was split in half in order to manage it better. In 286 B.C.E Diocletian formally divided the empire into an East and West. Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus ruled the Eastern Empire with his seat stationed at Nicomedia while he appointed Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maximianus ruler of the Western Empire (Illustrated History of the Roman Empire). The empire was divided even further with each half being split up and deputy emperors were appointed underneath Diocleatian and Maximian as the senior emperors. This system worked until the appointed rulers started to die off. When Constantius died during his reign as a deputy emperor his son was named his successor by the army. After this Maxentius, who was the son of Maximian the ruler of the Western Empire, declared himself the emperor and faced opposition (Illustrated History of the Roman Empire). After years of fighting Constantine finally defeated all opposition to the throne and took control as the single emperor over the entire Roman Empire.
The reasoning Christianity is blamed by some for the decline of the Roman Empire can be attributed to the fact that the religion was gaining notoriety while the empire was beginning its descent. The timing of the rise of Christianity and being blamed for the problems in the empire is raised by St. Augustine when he wrote The City of God (Herff, 5). Under the old Roman religion of multiple gods it was widely accepted that the gods must be pleased and if the gods are kept pleased then Rome and its people will flourish and be kept safe. If the gods are not pleased they will let the people know by allowing bad things to happen (Herff, 6). This line of thinking was used to make sense of things
The Romans in the Age of the Crusades
Before the rise of Christianity one of the main pillars of religious freedom in all of Europe, the Holy Roman Empire. The Roman Empire was established by Constantine the First Emperor, although it is no doubt very hard to read, and especially easy to read after the fact (Herff, 9-10). It was a Christian Empire for many years and began building up its empire and the surrounding religious territory. One of the first things its priests sent the populace was anointed in their faith and these priests were known as ‘the saints’ who were required to pray for the good of the city and help God and the poor (Herff, 11). The Holy Roman Empire also used religion as an effective way to spread a religion. As the empire was developing in the 19th century Christianity was gradually gaining some popularity in many of its parts of Asia and in Europe until the 18th century, a time when Islam was adopted by Christians, especially in Africa.
Islamic Religion, by the way
The Islamic religion of Islam, or Islam or Islam, was developed under the influence of Islamism and the teachings it brought from the original. Many Muslim countries were also at war with Islam while fighting and losing the power of their empires over many countries where Islamism came to dominate. Some Islamic countries considered themselves as “free” but were subjected to a lot of oppression. The result was the formation of the Muslim Caliphate (a religious dictatorship for a small geographical area within a state) where Islam was not the dominant religion and Islamism and the Islamism of a Muslim were in competition to each other and the people of other countries that were conquered and governed like Muslims and they were not allowed to challenge the Islam based ruling state. In fact, they were ruled by the ruler who was from the Muslim family and was no better than any other ruler and they had been for centuries (Herff, 13).
The fact this period was the period for the emergence of Islamism in the 19th century is remarkable and many Muslim states took part in this period to achieve the ends they had feared (Herff, 14), or at least to start over (Herff, 15). After the first years of freedom the religious people began to be persecuted and they would be attacked by the Muslim state or by state militia. However the Muslim states did not seem bothered with the persecution or their claims to be Muslims (Herff, 16-18). Islamism was a strong and steady religion and the Muslims had been ruled and governed and controlled much better than the Romans and the Romans were under the influence of a non monotheistic world religions and the Roman Empire did not seem at all bothered with persecution for their religion (Her