Transcript causes of the roman collapse

CAUSES OF THE ROMAN
COLLAPSE
 Marcus Aurelius (180
AD) ended Pax
Romana.
 Next wave of
emperors….completely
incapable of ruling
Rome.
ROME’S ECONOMY FAILS
 Hostile tribes outside boundaries and pirates on
Mediterranean Sea disrupted trade!
 Reached limit of expansion, could not get new
resources (gold and silver)
 Desperate for revenue, taxes are raised and coins
minted not worth their face value
 INFLATION: drop of value of $ and increase in prices
 Agriculture: harvest suffer due to overworked land and
war
 Food shortages and disease spread.
MILITARY AND POLITICAL
TURMOIL
 Soldiers less disciplined and loyal,
fight for general not Rome.
 Mercenaries: foreign soldiers hired
to fight, had less loyalty to empire
 Citizen loyalty drops, indifference
emerges
 Lack of motivated, worthy
emperors
ATTEMPTS AT REFORM

DIOCLETIAN SPLITS THE EMPIRE

**Splits Empire:
-EAST: Greek Speaking (Greece, Anatolia, Syria,
Egypt)
- WEST- Latin Speaking (Italy, Gaul, Britain, Spain)
DIOCLETIAN takes the east! Co-ruler takes West!
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284 AD: limited citizens personal freedoms, restored the
empire, doubled army, fixed priced goods.
 First Emperor worshipped as a god – act of treason if you didn’t
 Continued persecution of Christians
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Retires 305 AD: Civil War breaks out 311 AD, 4 rulers fight
over Rome!!
CONSTANTINE
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312 AD: Constantine Gains control of Western half
324 AD: Constantine Gains control of entire empire
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Milvan Bridge - conversion to Christianity
Edict of Milan – Tolerance of Christianity
330 AD: Moves Capital of Roman Empire from Rome to
Byzantium: Greek City in Anatolia.
-SIGNIFICANCE: center of power shifts from west to
east!
-soon Byzantium becomes a wonder like Rome
-CONSTANTINOPLE: Byzantium is renamed to honor
emperor. (City of Constantine)
After death of Constantine: Empire splits again: West
Crumbles, and East survives!!!!
THE EMPIRE CRUMBLES!!!
 GERMANIC
INVASIONS:
-370 AD: Mongol Nomads called HUNS
moved into regions outside empire forcing
Germanic People to migrate
ATTILA THE HUN!!!
 -Huns indirectly responsible for Germanic Invasion!
 444 BC: Huns became a direct threat- United under
Attila: 100,000 Huns terrorize both halves of empire!
-attack 70 cities (not Constantinople or Rome)
Bishop of Rome Leo I begins
exerting control – beginning of
papacy
Attila the Hun invades Italy –
persuaded by Leo I to leave
Italy
Germanic Tribes Run From The
Huns
 GERMANIC TRIBES:
 -tribes of Germans who lived along Northern Frontier
of Roman Empire
 - Roman called them Barbarians!
 NAMES OF BARBARIAN TRIBES:
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Goths: Italy
Vandals: Italy, Spain, & N. Africa
Angles, Saxons, and Jutes: Britain
Franks: Gaul (France)
Theodosius
Visigoths made peace
with Emperor
Theodosius
Theodosius makes
Christianity the
Official religion
of the Empire
Saint Ambrose converts Theodosius to Christianity
The Papacy and Odoacer
Papal Power Continues to
Grow –
Vandals attack Rome –
convinced by Leo I to not kill
anyone
Vandalism
German Odoacer becomes Western Emperor ending Roman
rule of the west
476 AD – Generally accepted as the Fall of Rome
Roman Empire continues in the East as the Christian Byzantine
Empire until 1453
LEGACIES OF ROME
 GRECO-ROMAN CULTURE: mixing of
elements of Greek, Hellenistic, and Roman
Cultures (classical civilization)
 Fine Arts
 Pompeii: many preserved
 Learning and Literature
 Language: Latin: Romance languages
 Architecture
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Colosseum
Pantheon
Aqueducts
Roads