Fall of the Roman Empire PDF - A History Overview

Lesson 5 The Fall of the Roman Empire Setting the Stage The Big Idea In the third century AD, Rome faced many problems. Internal problems and invasions They came both from withi...

Lesson 5 The Fall of the Roman Empire Setting the Stage The Big Idea In the third century AD, Rome faced many problems. Internal problems and invasions They came both from within the empire and from spurred the division and decline outside. Only drastic economic, military, and political of the Roman Empire. reforms, it seemed, could hold off collapse. Why It Matters Now The decline and fall of great A Century of Crisis civilizations is a repeating Historians generally agree that the end of the reign of the pattern in world history. emperor Marcus Aurelius (AD 161–180) marked the end of two Key Terms and People centuries of peace and prosperity known as the Pax Romana. inflation The rulers that followed in the next century had little or no mercenary idea how to deal with the giant empire and its growing prob- Diocletian lems. As a result, Rome began to decline. Constantinople Attila Rome’s Economy Weakens During the third century AD, sev- eral factors prompted the weakening of Rome’s economy. Hos- tile tribes outside the boundaries of the empire and pirates on the Mediterranean Sea disrupted trade. Having reached their limit of expansion, the Romans lacked new sources of gold and silver. Desperate for revenue, the government raised taxes. As taxes rose, however, the value of money declined. Since Rome was no longer expanding, conquests no longer brought in new sources of wealth. To maintain the money supply, emper- ors minted new coins with copper and lead as well as silver. It hoped to create more money with the same amount of precious metal. When people realized coins contained less silver, they refused to accept the currency at its face value. The result was growing inflation, a drastic drop in the value of money coupled with a rise in prices. Agriculture faced equally serious problems. Harvests in Italy and western Europe became increasingly meager because over- worked soil had lost its fertility. What’s more, years of war had destroyed much farmland. Eventually, serious food shortages and the spread of disease caused the population to decline. The Roman World and Early Christianity 223  Military and Political Turmoil By the third century AD, the Roman military was also in disarray. Over time, Roman soldiers in general had become less disciplined and loyal. They gave their allegiance not to Rome but to their commanders, who fought among themselves for the throne. To defend against the increasing threats to the empire, the government began to recruit mercenaries, foreign soldiers who fought for money. While mercenaries would accept lower pay than Romans, they felt little sense of loyalty to the empire. Feelings of loyalty eventually weakened among average citizens as well. In the past, Romans cared so deeply about their republic that they will- Reading Check ingly sacrificed their lives for it. Conditions in the later centuries of the Summarize What problems did Rome empire caused citizens to lose their sense of patriotism. They became face in the late 200s? indifferent to the empire’s fate. Emperors Attempt Reform Remarkably, Rome survived intact for another 200 years. Reform-minded emperors and the empire’s division into two parts helped to preserve it. Diocletian Reforms the Empire In AD 284, Diocletian, a strong-willed army leader, became the new emperor. He ruled with an iron fist and severely limited personal freedoms. Nonetheless, he restored order to the empire and increased its strength. Diocletian doubled the size of the Roman army. To restore the prestige of the office of emperor, he claimed descent from the ancient Roman gods and created elaborate ceremonies to present himself with a godlike aura. The imperial economy also came under state direction in a number of ways. Diocletian sought to control inflation by setting fixed prices for goods. Everywhere, commercial and manufacturing activities were geared toward the needs of imperial defense. A new tax system raised more money for the government and for the army to spend. Though drastic, these reforms were successful, saving the empire from immediate eco- nomic collapse. Diocletian believed that the empire had grown too large and too com- plex for one ruler. In perhaps his most significant reform, he divided the empire into the Greek-speaking East (Greece, Anatolia, Syria, and Egypt) and the Latin-speaking West (Italy, Gaul, Britain, and Spain). He took the eastern half for himself and appointed a co-ruler for the West. While Diocletian shared authority, he kept overall control. His half of the empire, the East, included most of the empire’s great cities and trade centers and was far wealthier than the West. Because of ill health, Diocletian retired in AD 305. However, his plans for orderly succession failed. Civil war broke out immediately. By 311, four rivals were competing for power. Among them was an ambitious young commander named Constantine, the same Constantine who would later end the persecution of Christians. 224 Module 6 Multiple Causes: Fall of the Western Roman Empire Contributing Factors Political Social Economic Military Political office seen as Decline in interest in public Poor harvests Threat from north­ern burden, not reward affairs Disruption of trade European tribes Military interference in Low confidence in empire Lack of war plunder Low funds for defense politics Disloyalty, lack of patriotism, Problems recruiting Roman Gold and silver drain Civil war and unrest corruption citizens; recruiting of non- Inflation Division of empire Contrast between rich and Romans Crushing tax burden Capital moved to Byzantium poor Decline of patriot­ism and Widening gap between rich loyalty among soldiers Population decline due to and poor and increas­ingly disease and food shortage impoverished Western Empire Immediate Cause Invasion by Germanic tribes and by Huns Fall of Roman Empire Interpreting Charts 1. Analyze Issues Could changes in any of the contributing factors have reversed the decline of the empire? Why or why not? 2. Analyze Causes Which contributing factors—political, social, economic, or military—were the most significant in the fall of the Western Roman Empire? Constantine Moves the Capital Constantine gained control of the west- ern part of the empire in AD 312 and continued many of the social and economic policies of Diocletian. In 324 Constantine also secured control of the East, thus restoring the concept of a single ruler. In AD 330, Constantine took a step that would have great consequence for the empire. He moved the capital from Rome to the Greek city of Byzantium (bih ZAN shee uhm), in what is now Turkey. The new capital stood on the Bosporus Strait, strategically located for trade and defense purposes on a crossroads between West and East. With Byzantium as its capital, the center of power in the empire shifted from Rome to the East. Soon the new capital stood protected Reading Check by massive walls and filled with imperial buildings modeled after Analyze Motives those in Rome. The city eventually took a new name—Constantinople Why did Constantine (kahn stan tuhn OH puhl), or the city of Constantine. After Constantine’s choose the location of Byzantium for his death, the empire would again be divided. The East would survive; the new capital? West would fall. The Roman World and Early Christianity 225  Explore ONLINE! Invasions into the Roman Empire, AD 350–500 450 0° 40°E North 0 250 500 mi BRITAIN Sea 0 500 1,000 km Eastern Roman Empire 406 Dn Western Roman Empire EUROPE iep 450 er Burgundians Rhine R. 8. 42 R Franks Huns R. Huns under Don 4 10 Ostrogoths 451 Attila 452 433 Saxons, Angles, Jutes Vandals 412 380–454 GAUL Visigoths D an e R. 3 76 Alaric 39 ub 9– 409 Date of invasion 415 Black ITA 410 40 395 Ad 0 Constantinople Sea ri LY a Bosporus ATLANTIC Rome 410 Strait tic OCEAN 407 Se Gaiseric 395 a 40°N 455 SPAIN 4 60 ANATOLIA Carthage 432 427– Me dit SYRIA AFRICA erra ASIA nean Sea Jerusalem Alexandria EGYPT Interpret Maps 1. Movement What group of invaders came the greatest distance? 2. Location What areas of the empire were not threatened by invasion? HMH — HSWH Full Survey — 2016 HS_SNLESE668225_112M First proof 7/15/16 The Western Empire Crumbles 2nd proof 7/22/16 The decline of the Western Roman Empire took place over many years. Its final collapse was the result of worsening internal problems, the separation of the Western Empire from the wealthier Eastern part, and outside invasions. Germanic Invasions Since the days of Julius Caesar, Germanic peoples had gathered on the northern borders of the empire and coexisted in relative peace with Rome. Around AD 370, all that changed when a fierce group of Mongol nomads from central Asia, the Huns, moved into the region and began destroying all in their path. In an effort to flee from the Huns, the various Germanic peoples pushed into Roman lands. (Romans called all invaders “barbarians,” a term that they used to refer to non-Romans.) They kept moving through the Roman provinces of Gaul, Spain, and North Africa. The Western Empire was unable to field an army to stop them. In 410, hordes of Germanic people overran Rome itself and plundered it for three days. 226 Module 6  Attila the Hun Meanwhile, the Huns, who were indi- rectly responsible for the Germanic assault on the empire, became a direct threat. In 444, they united for the first time under a powerful chieftain named Attila (AT uhl uh). With his 100,000 soldiers, Attila terrorized both halves of the empire. In the East, his armies attacked and plundered 70 cities. (They failed, however, to scale the high walls of Constantinople.) The Huns then swept into the West. In AD 452, Attila’s forces advanced against Rome, but bouts of famine and disease kept them from conquering the city. Although the Huns were no longer a threat to the empire after Attila’s death in 453, the Germanic invasions continued. This skull, still retain­ing its hair, shows a kind of topknot in the hair that some Germanic peoples wore to iden­tify themselves. Document-Based Investigation Historical Source The Fall of the Roman Empire "The decline of Rome was the As part of their effort to understand the creation and development of societies over time, historians debate different natural and inevitable effect historical narratives. A prominent example of this is the debate of immoderate greatness. over the fall of the Roman Empire. Prosperity ripened the principle of decay; the causes Since the fifth century AD, historians and others have argued of destruction multiplied with over the empire’s fall. They have attributed it to a variety of the extent of conquest; and, causes, both from within and outside the empire. as soon as time or accident In the 1780s Edward Gibbon published The History of the Decline had removed the artificial and Fall of the Roman Empire. In this passage, Gibbon explains supports, the stupendous that a major cause of the collapse was that the empire was fabric yielded to the pressure of simply too large. its own weight. The story of its ruin is simple and obvious; and Analyze Historical Sources instead of inquiring why the 1. Evaluate Use the Internet to research opposing historical narratives Roman Empire was destroyed, about the fall of the Roman Empire. Look for more recent sources. The we should rather be surprised work of historians Arther Ferrill and Finley Hooper would be a good starting point. Evaluate how different historians' conclusions compare that it had subsisted so long." with Edward Gibbon's reasons for why Rome fell. 2. Develop Historical Perspective Formulate your own historical questions about the fall of the Roman Empire based on Gibbon’s excerpt and your other research. The Roman World and Early Christianity 227  An Empire No More The last Roman emperor, a 14-year-old boy named Romulus Augustulus, was ousted by Germanic forces in 476. After that, no emperor even pretended to rule Rome and its western provinces. Roman power in the western half of the empire had disappeared. The eastern half of the empire, which came to be called the Byzan- tine Empire, not only survived but flourished. It preserved the great heritage of Greek and Roman culture for another 1,000 years. The Byzan- tine emperors ruled from Constanti- Statue of a Roman horseman nople and saw themselves as heirs to the power of Augustus Caesar. The empire endured until 1453, when it fell to the Ottoman Turks. Even though Rome’s political power in the West ended, its cultural influence did not. Its ideas, customs, and institutions influenced the Reading Check development of Western civilization—and continue to do so today. Predict Effects Do you think Rome would have fallen to invaders if the Huns had not moved into the West? Explain. Lesson 5 Assessment 1. Organize Information Create a graphic organizer 4. Synthesize How did Diocletian succeed in preserving similar to the one shown. Fill it in with the cause of the empire? each given effect regarding the fall of the Roman 5. Contrast What happened when taxes were raised dur- Empire. How did these problems open the empire to ing the third century AD? What happened when taxes invading peoples? were raised under Diocletian? 6. Analyze Causes Why did so many Germanic tribes Causes Effects begin invading the Roman Empire? Inflation 7. Draw Conclusions How do you think the splitting of Untrustworthy army the empire into two parts helped it survive for another Political instability 200 years? 8. Identify Problems Which of Rome’s internal problems do you think were the most serious? Why? 2. K  ey Terms and People For each key term or person in the lesson, write a sentence explaining its significance. 9. Analyze Issues Why do you think the eastern half of the empire survived? 3. Analyze Causes What were the main internal causes of the empire’s decline? 228 Module 6