How did slavery weaken the Western Roman Empire?

Answer 1

Slavery did not really weraken it. In the late empire slavery became a less important source of labour. The economic crisis led to deurbanisation. Many people left the cities and went to the country. They worked on the latifundia (large estates) as servile labourers. This development also laid the foundations for serfdom in the middle ages.

Answer 2

Slavery neither weakened nor caused the republic to fall. Slavery was a fact of life in the ancient world. In Rome's case, slavery could be said to actually strengthen the society because most slaves were freed either by their master's outright, by buying their freedom, or in their master's will. These freedmen, although they were not citizens themselves, would have children who were citizens and in this way add to the citizen pool of Rome.

Answer 3

Slavery made two indirect contribution to the end of the Roman Republic. Slaves were enslaved war captives. During the Second Punic War (218-201 BC) many small peasants lost their land. This was due to: a) their farms being ravaged by the war or the peasants having had to neglect them due to prolonged military service; b) the supply of slave labour dramatically increased. Most of them were bought by rich landlords. The abundant supply of slave labour enabled them to greatly increase their holdings and to take advantage of the misfortunes of the small peasants to buy land on the cheap. Many landless peasants migrated to Rome and lived in abject poverty due to a shortage of jobs.

The above had two effects. 1) The plight of the poor in the city of Rome became a political hot potato. A political faction called popularis championed the cause of the poor. This was bitterly opposed by the optimate, a conservative political faction which supported the interests of the aristocracy. The popularis-optimate conflict was one of the main factors which destabilised the Republic. Many of the 11 civil wars of the Late Republic were fought between these two factions.

2) The Roman army was an citizen militia which drafted mainly peasant-proprietors. There was a shortage of recruits for the levy as so many peasants had lost their land. Because of this, in 107 BC the Marian reforms opened the army to the landless poor. Joining the army became voluntary. The reform also created a professional standing army. The career lasted 16 years and on discharge the soldiers received either a lump sum or a plot of land to farm. This made the soldiers loyal to their commanders. For the implications of this, see below.

More broadly, the Republic fell under the weight of Imperialism. It had become dysfunctional with the growth of the empire. The central government lost control over the provinces whose governors acted quite independently from Rome. The professionalisation of the army had made the soldiers (who were poor landless peasants) loyal to the commanders of their legions who could use their soldiers to obtain what they wanted through violence or the threat of violence. Tax collection in the provinces was carried out by private collectors who 'farmed' the taxes to line their pockets. Corruption went out of control. There was mass poverty. The senators were seen as being concerned with the interests of the aristocracy, rather than those of the poor and were unpopular among the middle and lower classes. The last chain of civil wars which bought down the Republic was started Julius Caesar who fought the armies of the senate in Caesar's Civil War. Caesar wanted power for himself, but he also wanted to create a state capable to handle the provinces, fight corruption and improve the lot of the people.

Answer 4

because there were lots of slaves