What were the military economic political and social factors that lead to the fall of the Roman empire?

Answer 1

The term the fall of Rome refers to the fall of the western part of the Roman Empire, rather than the city itself, which was never conquered. This was a process which took several decades. The process was determined by several factors. It was precipitated by the invasions by the Germanic peoples (the Vandals, the Sueves) and the Alans (who were Iranian speakers) who invaded the empire and took over north-western Africa and part of Spain, the Alemanni who took over Switzerland and northwester France and the Burgundians who settled in east France The loss of the agricultural rich territory in Africa lead to a significant loss in revenue for the Roman government. The Visigoths, another Germanic people, who had been allowed to settle in the eastern part of the Roman Empire and then moved to south-western France,took advantage of the situation to take over Hispania (Spain and Portugal). The Romans lost political unity. There were usurpations and infighting which made it difficult to respond to the invasions effectively. There was also a failure by the combined fleet of the western and eastern part of the Roman Empire to dislodge the Vandals from Africa. It ended in disaster and was very costly. The Romans army became reliant on Germanic soldiers and two Germanic commanders-in chief of the Roman army and installed puppet emperors (three by Ricimer, one by Gundobad and one by Orestes.Amidst this political instability, the reign of the last emperors was short.

Answer 2

The Main factor was military, namely the invasions by Germanic peoples (the Vandals, Sueves, Alans, Burgundians and Alemanni). These invasions were more than just military actions. They were migrations of whole peoples in search for new lands and who settled on the lands of the empire.

Some historians think that the term fall (which was put into use by Edward Gibbon in the 18th century) is not the most appropriate. They prefer to say that the empire was dismembered. The conquering peoples carved up the empire and formed their own kingdoms: the Vandals (together with the Alans) in northwest Africa, the Sueves in parts of Spain and the Burgundians in eastern France. The Alemanni took over north-eastern France, Switzerland and Austria. The Visigoths, who had been allowed to settle in the eastern part of the empire by the Romans, moved to south-western France and established their own kingdom there, which then expanded into, Spain and Portugal. The Franks who had been allowed to settle in Holland south of the river Rhine and Belgium expanded into northern France and later took over the Domain of Soissons, a rump Roman state in central France. The Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Frisians migrated to Britain in waves and took it over.

There were four main political factors.

1) The loss of unity between the western and eastern parts of the Roman Empire. This was caused by Theodosius I being succeeded by his two sons (Arcadius in the east and Honorius in the west) who were young, inexperienced and incompetent. This resulted in politicians in the east and west conspiring against each other, instead of maintaining unity.

2) The conflict between the Romans and the Visigoths (who had been allowed to settle in the eastern part of the empire) combined with Honorius' incompetence. This conflict led to Alaric I to invade Italy. He was defeated by Stilicho, the competent commander of the army of the Western Roman Empire. To deal with this he had to redeploy troops from the frontier in Gaul to Italy, which weakened this border, making it easier for the other Germanic peoples to invade the empire. Stilicho had reached a settlement with Alaric I, but Honorius was swayed by his political opponents and he was attacked and the executed. The empire lost the only man who was capable to defend the empire effectively and its most able statesman. Honorius then incompetently mishandled the dispute with Alaric and this led to Alaric besieging Rome three times and sacking it on the third occasion. The Visigoths then moved to south-eastern France. Nominally were allies of the Romans, but effectively, they started creating their own kingdom there.

3) Under the strain of the invasions, the western empire lost political cohesion. There was a lot of infighting and a string of usurpations. This played in the hands of the invaders by weakening the Romans further and by allowing them to pay the different Roman factions off against each other.

4) As the western empire was disintegrating, the eastern empire interfered with the affairs of the west. The clearest example occurred when the last emperor of the west was deposed by Odoacer. Zeno, the emperor of the east, sent Theodoric I, the king of the Ostrogoths (who also had been allowed to settle in the eastern part of the empire) to invade Italy and unseat the usurper on his behalf. The Visigoths established their own kingdom which covered Italy and the former Yugoslavia.

The economy of the empire had been declining since the Crisis of the Third Century. However, this was a very relative factor. Despite this the Romans had been able to fight off previous attempted invasions. What changed in this period is that the last invasions were migrations of whole peoples who wanted land, instead of just military attacks. The city of Rome was managing to recover reasonably well from Alaric's sack.

Socially, some pagan Romans thought that Roman society was decadent and that the Romans had lost their fighting fibre and toughness. They blamed this on the weakening effect of Christianity and the increased reliance of the Roman army on Germanic allies or mercenaries. However, this was a stereotyped view which expressed prejudice. It was reported that some people were not unhappy about the invasions because of the heavy taxation burden exacted on them by the Roman state.

Answer 3

=1.) weak rulers==2.) serious economic problems==3.) mercenary armies==4.) the empire was too big=