The Fall of the Roman Empire Essay -- Decline of Ancient Rome

The Roman Empire was, without a doubt, the most powerful governing body in the Mediterranean that ever was. At the peak of the Roman Empire, in the mid part of the first century, it covered about half of Europe, much of the Middle East, and the north coast of Africa. So why did Rome fall? There was not one cause that led to the fall of Rome, but many things occurring in succession to each other. After the reign of Tiberus, there were many poor leaders, two of which were Caligula and Nero. Caligula killed his sister, among many other people and made his favorite horse a senator. Nero murdered his wife and mother and was accused of setting fire to Rome. Such deeds were common because the laws of the empire favored the rich landowners and who ordered and were the target of many assassinations (Gibbon, 70). It is true when it is said that Rome was not built in a day. Nor did it fall in a day. Many factors contributed to the ruin of the Roman Empire. The two most important factors were this: the cities consumed without producing and disease ravaged the Roman world. After the Punic wars with Carthage, Rome acquired many new lands that it did not have before. The farmers of these lands came to the cities, only knowing how to farm and fight wars. With their farms were destroyed, some were able to fight for the professional army, but others were left with nothing to do. These first families had no skills to pass down to their descendants. Generations passed and soon there were no more people that knew how to farm or earn a living. The powers of Rome made this worse by not educating the masses that first came to the cities after the Punic Wars (Stambaugh, 125). During peace times it was easy to govern these areas but du... ... their entire civilization was based on war, greed, and arrogance. Bibliography Baker, Simon. "Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of An Empire" BBC Books; Reprint edition, 2007 Coolidge, Olivia E. "Lives of Famous Romans." American Home School Publishing, 2007. Gibbon, Edward. "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire." Everyman's Library, 2010. Grant, Michael. "The Fall of the Roman Empire." Scribner, 1997. Web. 25 June 2015. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23040343?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents Guittard, Charles. "The Romans: Life in the Empire." Millbrook Press, 1996. Roberts, J. and Westad, O. "The History of the World" Oxford University Press, 2013. Stambaugh, John E. "The Ancient Roman City." Johns Hopkins University Press, 1988. Vickers, Michael J. "The Roman World (The Making of the Past)." Peter Bedrick Books, 1989.