What was a cause of the gradual decline and fall of the Western Roman Empire?

Answer 1

One of the most significant causes of the decline of the western part of the Roman Empire was the weak army and lack of leadership in what remained of the army. Now military decline was not the only cause, but it was an important one, as the Romans had always been a militaristic society.

The most significant cause of the decline of the empire in the west was the wave of Gemanics (the Vandals, the Sueves, the Alans and the Burgundians) who invaded Gaul in 406. The Roman army had made up for its weakness by recruiting Germanic and other barbarian soldiers. It was a case of the army being overstretched. The mentioned invasion occurred while many of the legions from Gaul were withdrawn to redeploy them in Italy to face a large scale attack there by an Ostrogoth warlord who was defeated by a very capable (half Roman and half Germanic) general. This redeployment of troops had been a feature in the empire for centuries. Previously this made areas of the empire vulnerable to raids from outside the empire. This time it opened the door for mass migrations into the empire and, eventually, loss of all its lands except for Italy.

The mentioned invasions, coupled with a young and incompetent emperor (Honorius) who was incapable of dealing with the situation, led to a loss of internal political cohesion, in-fights, and a string of usurpations which further weakened the empire in the west. Political rivalries and intrigue between politicians in the western and the eastern parts of the empire were another destabilising factor.

Answer 2

The fall of the western part of the Roman empire was due to the invasions by the Germanic peoples, who carved up its lands and created their own kingdoms.

The decline of the Roman economy started in what has been called the Crisis of the Third Century, during which:

a) There were constant invasions across the frontiers of the empire which massively overstretched the army

b) There was a string of military rebellions and usurpations with as many as 35 usurper emperors. Two parts of the empire broke away for a short time.

c) There was runaway inflation.

Hyperinflation was caused by many years of debasement of the Roman coins. The silver and gold content of silver and gold coins had been continually decreased by many emperors to make more coins to finance their expenses and to increase the size and the pay of the army. This devalued the coins. The coins eventually came to have virtually no value. They had as little as only 5 % of precious metal. This led to runaway inflation. The usurper emperors made this worse by issuing their own coins, which further increased the supply of money. The effects of out of control inflation were:

1) A breakdown in trade. It became difficult to exchange goods with a worthless currency.

2) The urban economy collapsed. Manufacturing in cities shrunk because their goods, which were for long-distance trade, could not be traded.

3) Agricultural production on the large landed estates became localised. Sales of crops for the cities decreased and these estates concentrated on production for local barter.

4) Many people migrated from the cities to the countryside and the population of the cities shrunk.

5) The owners of the large estates employed the migrants from the cities as servile labour. These people lost their rights and became tied to their landlords.

6) Distressed peasants who were leaseholders on the large estates were leaving their land in search for better opportunities. They were often turned into servile labour in the large estates as well.

6) The tax revenue of the state decreased, while expenditure increased as the size of the army increased. The mentioned invasions also led to greater reliance on a much expanded cavalry, which was expensive.

7) Taxation was increased and was raised in the form of demanding goods, which did not help the economy. Emperor Diocletian resorted to confiscating goods. These were ended by Constantine, but taxation remained a burden on the people for the rest of the history of the empire.

Constantine managed to bring inflation under control by scrapping the silver coins and amassing large quantities of gold to create a viable gold coinage. However, this benefitted only those who could afford gold coins. The masses had to make do with copper token money (the follis) which had been created because the previous coins had collapsed. The follis was very vulnerable to inflation. The overall result of the crisis was a decline of the economy of the empire which became fragmented and localised. Trade did not regain its previous levels, the economy remained less based on money and the gap between the rich and the poor who had to rely of the vulnerable follis widened . The changes in the economic structure created by the crisis were irreversible.

Answer 3

The mass influx of the Germanic and other peoples from Eurasia, which swamped the capacity of the Romans to defend it.