The Fall of Rome: Internal Weaknesses and External Threats

1. The Fall of Rome

2. Internal Weaknesses • Civil Wars robbed the Empire of unity • Power became based on loyalty of legions rather than legitimacy • The legions had more mercenaries than citizens with no attachment to Rome

3. Internal Weaknesses • Constant warfare on the frontiers were expensive • Extra legions had to be raised and paid for • Legions based on the frontier made Italy vulnerable to invasions

4. Internal Weaknesses • Constant turmoil meant an increase in piracy and banditry • Commerce decreased causing a need for higher taxes • Inflation caused unrest in Rome

5. Attempts at Reform • Diocletian • Absolute monarchy • Divided the empire • Rigid social classes • State direction of economy • New tax system • Emphasis on defense of the empire

6. Attempts at Reform • Constantine • Supported Christianity • Created a new capital at Byzantium called Constantinople • More wealth in the east

7. External Threats • Movement of peoples from Central Asia pressured Germanic tribes • Germanic tribes moved into the empire • German leaders knew Roman tactics from time in the legions

8. Invasion • Huns invaded into Gaul weakened the west • Germanic tribes started controlling western provinces • Ostrogoths & Vandals attacked Rome • 476 CE Odoacer defeated the last Western Emperor

9. Byzantine Empire • The Eastern Roman empire survived because of greater wealth • Increasing Greek influence made it different than Rome • Later period called the Byzantine Empire from site of Constantinople