Essay On The Decline Of The Roman Empire

What is commonly referred to as the “fall of Rome” wasn’t at its essence a fall at all. It was a gradual decline, following years, decades, even centuries of conquering peoples and acquirement of riches. Throughout the centuries, the Roman Empire had many RISES and declines as does any world power that survives for as long as the Roman Empire did. The question is why this decline was the last decline, what led Rome to a point that the Empire failed to recover as it had in the past. Roman armies had conquered many lands and peoples under even more consults, caesars, and emperors. The Roman border grew over centuries, acquiring riches and cultures, and yet failed to truly assimilate and eradicate the cultures of the peoples they overtook (Freeman, 509). Many of these areas, such as Egypt and Greece, predated Roman culture and therefore felt superior even to the Romans (Freeman 509). The Jews in particular felt the divide, as their religion was continuously at odds with the state (Freeman, 352, 473, 479, 488-89). …show more content…
For example, this is what took place during the conquest to Britain (plunder), and allowed Rome to subsidize Britain and other poorer regions by redistributing resources (Freeman, 474 & 476). Even Rome herself was incapable of supporting itself and required significant portions of the redistributed goods, such as grain (Freeman, 476). Unfortunately, redistribution has not proven to be a successful system, and in this instance it indeed had weaknesses. Freeman points out that it was an inflexible system and that taxation was probably set too low, in addition to the fact that it left the regions with sparse resources that couldn’t be regrown or recouped quickly in the event of an attack or other unforeseen event (Freeman,