Transcript The Fall of Rome

The Roman Empire
Crumbles!!!
The Fall of Rome
180 AD
•Invasions
•Inflation
•Civil Wars
•Food Shortages
•Trade stops
•New Style of Warfare
Political and Military Causes
• During the PAX - Not everyone has to fight
• Govt. hires Mercenaries – soldiers who
fight for money
• Non-citizens (mostly German)
• No inherent loyalty to Rome
• Civil Wars erupt – as generals try to
overthrow government to seize power
• 28 emperors from 192-284, most killed by
own men
Economic Problems
• decline in food & product
production due to war
(merchants and artisans
go out of business)
• Govt. raises taxes on
landowners
• Landowners raise rents to
landless farmers
• Farmers leave to work in
cities
• This plus warfare
increases food shortage
and causes INFLATION
Inflation – sharp rise in prices while
the value of money drops
• Govt. melts down coins, add cheap metal
and mint more coins to pay army
• $ is worth less
• Prices on goods rise to make up for the
decrease in coins value
• Fewer Goods and crops are being
produced  rising prices
Social Causes
• Romans relied on outsiders
to produce / work for them
• Decline in interest in public
affairs (no voice in
government)
• Low confidence in the
empire
• Disloyalty and lack of
patriotism
• Decline in populationdisease & famine
Invasion
• 4th century – The Huns (Asia) attack Germanic tribes
• These tribes move into Roman territory rather than fight
the Huns - led by Attila
• Huns have stirrups  greater momentum of force on
horseback
• German tribes would rather fight Romans
•
•
•
•
•
•
Visigoths
Ostragoths
Vandals
Franks
Angles
Saxons
• *** Many Germans in the Roman army are reluctant to
fight their tribes.
Are there any similarities?today?
Attempts at reform:
Emperor Constantine – becomes ruler in 300’s AD
• Capital at Byzantium (Constantinople) – modern
day Turkey (more easily defended)
• Declares jobs hereditary
• Legal for landowners to chain farmers to the
land if necessary
• Armies are not effectively protecting Roman
lands
• Wealthy landowners retreat to estates and hire
private armies for protection
• Some poor seek land and protection from
landowners  serfdom
• The Western Part of the Empire is abandoned
by the Emperors after the late 400’s AD
The Byzantine Empire
Using the documents find the TYPE of cause:
• Political (internal)
• Invasion (political but external)
• Economic
• Social
• Document 1 …very few inhabitants in the empire believed the old
civilization was worth saving… most people were excluded from any
role in government. ..they could not fight in the army…their
economic situation was hopeless. Many people became serfs, with
no freedom to leave the manor.
•
- The Course of Civilization by Strayer, Gatzke and Harbison
Document 2: Rome was weakened because it became too large to
defend….the introduction of Christianity had some influence on the
weakening of the empire as well. The clergy preached the doctrine
of patience and the last remains of military spirit were buried in
Christian virtues…
- The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon
• Document 3: While the empire was expanding, Rome’s prosperity
was fed by the conquest of new markets in the barbarian lands.
When the empire stopped expanding however the economy slowed
down into recession, then depression…The abundance of slaves led
to the growth of large estates that dominated agriculture…small
farmers couldn’t compete with the large slave-owning estates and so
drifted to the cities looking for work. Even in the cities however, the
abundance of slave labor kept unemployment high and wages low.
•
- Uses of the Past by Herbert J. Muller
Document 4
Some of the money from Rome’s treasury was used to pay the army and
the government officials of the Empire . . . the result was strangling
taxation of the people. Many people who were otherwise productive
citizens lost heart and faith in their government and the
economy….tenants fled from the farm lands they rented and workers fled
from their occupations. . . .
- The New Deal in Old Rome by Henry Haskell
• Document 5: Rome, like all great empires was not overthrown by
external enemies but undermined by internal decay. . . The military
crisis was the result of fewer Romans and more foreigners filling the
ranks of the army. Near the end the army was comprised almost
entirely of Germans.
•
- Romans without Laurels by Indro Montanelli
The Legacy of Rome
• In other words – what parts of our culture
and history can we credit the Romans for?
Roman Catholicism
• Constantine made Christianity legal with the Edict of
Milan (313 AD)
• Theodosius outlawed all other religions ( AD)
• The Bishop of Rome became the most powerful leader in
the Western Empire when the Emperors moved the
capital to the east
• Bishop of Rome  “Pope” (Peter the apostle was the
first)
• The church became the most dominant power structure
of the Middle ages – and the authority over the Church –
the Pope – became more powerful than kings and ruled
Europe in a sense
Latin
• Anywhere the Romans
conquered, Latin influenced the
local language
• Spanish, Italian, Portuguese,
French, Romanian, Romance
languages
• Latin was a common language
through which people of different
nationalities could
communicate language of the
Church and of scholars
Roads
• “All roads lead to Rome”
• The Romans set up a network that
connected most of Western Europe
• These roads would be repaired and
reused during the Crusades
Law
• In the 1400’s Europeans
began studying ancient
Roman law and adopting
many of their principles of
justice
• Equality under the law
• Innocent until proven guilty
• Only actions can be crimes,
not thoughts or words (some
exceptions – incitement)
• Led to a modernized law
code based on Juries and
the rights of the accused
Art
• The Romans continued and added to the the
classical style begun by the Greeks
• This style is rediscovered by artists in the 14th –
16th century (Renaissance)
Frescoe
Document 4
Some of the money from Rome’s treasury was used to pay the army and the government officials of the Empire . . . the result
was strangling taxation of the people. Many people who were otherwise productive citizens lost heart and faith in their
government and the economy….tenants fled from the farm lands they rented and workers fled from their occupations. . . .
The New Deal in Old Rome by Henry Haskell
The Roman Arch
& Dome
(Architecture = the Creation of Arches)