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Fall of the Roman Empire

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What contributed to the western half of the fall of the Roman Empire?

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Solution Summary

The fall of the roman empire is examined. The contribution to the western half of the fall of the Roman Empire is determined.

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Here, you mean the Roman empire of the west.
In the east, it did not fall until 1453.

Here is a list of some of the basic theories as to why the western empire fell:

1. Germanic invasions of the Empire starting as early as 200 AD. This is the most obvious, but the real question is why did they, gradually, go unchecked? Soon, then took high position in the army and bureaucracy, meaning the old Roman stock was dying.

2. The growth of powerful landed estates that were, in effect, separate from the empire in Rome. They even had their own private armies. In my personal opinion, this is the main one. Land was concentrated into fewer hands, with slaves to work it. The former free farmer (smallholders) was dispossessed by the military aristocracy that actually did not produce anything, and got soft on their estates.

3. The empire stopped expanding, and the number of new slaves and monies dried up. Rome had reached her natural limit - the Persian empire in the ...

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