Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire
Rome is the capital of Italy and was built by twin brothers Romulus and Remus. It was first ruled by kings and this ended when Etruscan conquered it. The Romans were divided into political and social classes which were major made of slaves and patricians. Romans were selfish, arrogant and cruel people and this resulted in many conflicts and war. With time, the culture of the Romans changed and the Romans were divided into slaves, middle class people and artistocrats.
Rise of the Roman Empire.
Various issues contributed to the rise of the Roman Empire. These included a strong military, leadership and religion, architecture and entertainment. First, a roman army was formed as a defense for Rome. The army was first formed by volunteers but with time professionals were recruited. This assured security for the people and also protected the land. This military was very powerful. They fought for the Mediterranean control that they fully gained. Eventually, the Roman Empire became extended to Syria from where it originally was that is Spain (Noble, 2010).
Another contributing factor towards the rise of the Roman Empire is their architecture. Roman Empire had excellent architects and even most of the buildings exist even up to today with some being famous world monuments. One of these buildings is the colosseum which was built in 315 AD and was used by the Romans in their fights. Other works of architecture in the Roman Empire include roads, aqueducts and bridges.
The roads aided the fast movements of the military in the Empire and were also used during trade. It was also in Rome that the first concrete was invented. This was structured by the use of volcanic rock and rubble. Through these works of architecture, the Eoman people became united and it also widened their knowledge (Noble, 2010). In addition, Rome has excellent art works including jewelry, paintings, mosaic, carvings and sculptures.
Leadership was also a contributing factor to the rise of the Roman Empire. Some of these leaders include Julius Caesar and Emperor Trajan. It was during the leadership of Trajan, that the Roman Empire became greatest in size. He was succeeded by Hadrian who improved the running of the Empire. During his reign trading and traveling became safe and Christianity spread in Rome. Leadership in the Roman Empire brought peace and enlargement of the Roman Territory.
Lastly, entertainment contributed towards the rise of the Roman Empire. These entertainments contributed greatly towards uniting the Romans. For instance, they participated in races using chariots, and performance of political and religious rituals which were marked by celebrations. There even came a time in the Roman Empire that the festivals were too many that people had less working days (Noble, 2010). Though some of these events were violent for example gladiator fights, they contributed significantly towards the rise of the Roman Empire.
Fall of the Roman Empire
The Roman Empire did not fall at once instead it went through a steady change. The main reason for the fall was the fall in economy. This was caused by lack of funds and it affected almost every life in Rome and infrastructure was poorly maintained. Lack of funds was caused by hoarding of gold and silver by the Romans and treasury looting. Due to this and decline in trade, the western Empire stopped growing. Due to the climatic changes in the Mediterranean, crop yields fall and hence Romans had to irrigate their crops.
Since irrigation water was kept in reservoirs, mosquitoes started breeding. The result of this was outbreak of malaria which killed many people (Noble, 2010). Due to the looting and accumulation of the currency by citizens, the Empire did not have enough to maintain their infrastructure and buildings. There were floods that greatly damaged buildings. Eventually due to economic fall, the Empire collapsed.
The Roman military also began to decay. Due to the fall in security, barbarians began to bring down the Roman Empire. The army became disorganized and this was mainly caused by recruitment of non Romans. Rome offered citizenship to all people in the empire. Due to the death of people through diseases, starvation and war, which resulted to unavailability of manpower, the military disintegrated. This gave an opportunity for barbarians to penetrate into the Empire. The result was the end of the Roman Empire and the ruling of Germans from Western Europe.
The rule of the Germans was a gradual process. These Germans who had been Roman Empire’s neighbors passed into the Empire first as groups of few people and eventually as large numbers and they became incorporated into the Empire. It was Rome’s last emperor, Constantine who embraced Christianity. Through him, Christianity became one of the great religions in the world (Noble, 2010).
This indeed was the empire’s last great achievement. Other than being a great religion, it was the official religion in Rome. Through the church, spirituality preceded over politics since theologians preached against the significance of the Romans serving their state. However, eventually Islam led to the division of the Empire. It was Islam that disintegrated the Mediterranean unity and hence contributed to the end of the Empire.
References
Noble, T.F. (2010). Western civilization: beyond boundaries. Vol. 1, 6th Ed. USA: Wordsworth publishing company.
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