roman empire fall

• Pax Romana


  Two centuries of peace and prosperity
• The end of the reign of the emperor Marcus Aurelius (AD 161–180) marked the end of the Pax Romana
• The rulers that followed in the next century had little or no idea how to deal with the giant empire and its growing problems
• As a result, Rome began to decline
• Factors that prompted the weakening of Rome's economy in the third century AD

  • Hostile tribes outside the boundaries of the empire disrupting trade
  • Pirates on the Mediterranean Sea disrupting trade
  • Reaching the limit of expansion, lacking new sources of gold and silver
  • Government raising taxes
  • Value of money declining as coins contained less silver
• Harvests in Italy and western Europe became increasingly meager because overworked soil had lost its fertility
• Years of war had destroyed much farmland
• Serious food shortages and the spread of disease caused the population to decline
• Problems with the Roman military in the third century AD

  • Roman soldiers becoming less disciplined and loyal, giving allegiance to their commanders rather than Rome
  • Government recruiting mercenaries, foreign soldiers who fought for money but felt little sense of loyalty to the empire
• Feelings of loyalty eventually weakened among average citizens as they became indifferent to the empire's fate
• Diocletian


  A strong-willed army leader who became emperor in AD 284 and restored order to the empire
• Diocletian's reforms


  1. Doubled the size of the Roman army

  2. Restored the prestige of the office of emperor by claiming descent from ancient Roman gods and creating elaborate ceremonies

  3. Sought to control inflation by setting fixed prices for goods

  4. Geared commercial and manufacturing activities toward the needs of imperial defense

  5. Implemented a new tax system to raise more money for the government and army
• Diocletian's reforms were successful, saving the empire from immediate economic collapse
• Diocletian's division of the empire

  Divided the empire into the Greek-speaking East and the Latin-speaking West, with Diocletian taking the wealthier Eastern half
• Diocletian's plans for orderly succession failed, leading to civil war after his retirement
• Constantine


  An ambitious young commander who gained control of the western part of the empire in AD 312 and continued many of Diocletian's social and economic policies
• In AD 330, Constantine moved the capital from Rome to the Greek city of Byzantium (now Constantinople), shifting the center of power in the empire to the East
• After Constantine's death, the empire would again be divided, with the East surviving and the West falling
• Reasons for the decline of the Western Roman Empire

  • Worsening internal problems
  • Separation of the Western Empire from the wealthier Eastern part
  • Outside invasions
• Germanic invasions


  1. Huns moving into the region and destroying all in their path, causing various Germanic peoples to push into Roman lands

  2. Germanic hordes overrunning Rome itself in 410 and plundering it for three days
• Attila the Hun


  A powerful Hunnic chieftain who united his people and terrorized both halves of the Roman empire
• The last Roman emperor, Romulus Augustulus, was ousted by Germanic forces in 476, marking the end of Roman power in the western half of the empire
• The eastern half of the empire, the Byzantine Empire, survived and flourished for another 1,000 years until it fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453
• Even though Rome's political power in the West ended, its cultural influence continued to influence the development of Western civilization