Rome: Fall of the Western Empire

Essay by ClanDothJunior High, 8th gradeB+, January 2007

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The Roman Empire deteriorated over time because of both internal and

external problems. Political corruption and a falling economy gradually dissolved

the empire. The loss in peoples' faith along with their strong belief of being peaceful

Christians lessened the strength of the empire. Being sacked by external troubles

such as foreign invaders finished off the Western Empire.

Political corruption was another major cause that led to the fall of the

Western Empire. The Romans had no way of picking a new emperor. It usually was

an open debate between the old emperor, the Senate, the Praetorian Guard which is the

Emperor's private army, and the army. Later the Praetorian Guard had the authority to choose the

new emperor but that didn't last long. You could become emperor if you were the highest

bidder. This showed the people that the empire was falling apart. In 100 years Rome had 37

emperors, 25 of them were assassinated.

People began to lose faith in the empire.

Rome's economy went down after it stopped expanding. Rome

relied on new markets for wealth so when it stopped expanding the markets stopped

too. The economy stopped shortly after the markets stopped which made people

leave their farms and come to the city in search of jobs. The employment rate grew

in the city. Slaves took people's jobs because slaves worked for lower wages. The gap

between the social classes grew until it totally disappeared. All that was left was

the upper class and the lower class.

Inflation happened when people started buying luxurious items with gold.

There was now less gold to be used in coins. The amount of gold used

in coins decrease so the value of coins decreased. Merchants raised the prices of

goods because of this. Later many people began to...