Roman Empire Dbq

The Roman Empire was an era that historians found very interesting as it showed the necessities a community needs and the problems that could lead to the collapse of one. It was a civilization that advanced and spread the major religion Christianity. So when the Roman empire divided, and the Western side started to crumble what could have happened to the Western side that caused it to fall apart? The primary causes for Rome’s fall are having corruption within the government, a poor economic state, and a weak military.
The first primary reason why Rome collapsed is that corruption within the government didn’t follow Rome’s original ideology which was having integrity. To start, there was a constant change of emperors during the 3rd Century.

Rome’s military had the responsibility of protecting the empire from invaders. However, invasions happened and the map in document C shows the pathing of the invaders. The Vandals, Ostrogoths, and Huns were invaders that came from Asia that the Roman military couldn't defend against. Rome’s military definitely tried to defend against the invaders but they kept getting defeated. The reason why they kept getting defeated was that they didn’t train with armor and some soldiers ran away during a battle in fear that they would die as shown in document B, which is an excerpt from Concerning Military Matters. The population of the military also started to decrease from a disease spreading around killing numerous Romans. The decrease could be seen being talked about in doc F. It talked about natural disasters such as earthquakes, diseases, and tsunamis. The result was that Rome was outnumbered during battle and if their soldier’s skills don’t make up for the decreased numbers then they’d lose more commonly over time as more soldiers die. The next document shows somebody observing the lifestyle of the Huns and it’s not normal behavior to them. Their invaders weren't ordinary to them, so they weren't predictable. Document D represents a Roman historian who used to be a soldier describing the Huns as savages, but even so, the Romans still couldn’t defend themselves from them.

The constant change of emperors caused disorganization in the empire along with the injustices between the wealthy and poor as the wealthy could just bribe their way out of punishment and the government officials would accept the bribes from the rich, followed by severe taxing from the government because they needed to hire Germanic soldiers after their military soldier population decreased by natural disasters while inflation was going on from the government who were devaluing the coin by adding less silver with the wages staying the same, so some Romans switched to bartering and with bartering they didn’t have to pay the severe taxes leading them not being able to hire Germanic soldiers and other state expenses with invasions happening overtime but the Roman army not being able to defend against it because of them neglecting to practice with armor, and soldiers running away against unpredictable attackers with the disorganization within the military from constant emperor changes, furthermore Rome’s military population went down because of diseases and without people paying those severe taxes led to Rome’s fall.. When Rome’s Rome’s fall can be an example of what a society should have and shouldn't. The problems that Rome had should not happen unless it's a country that’s