Why Did Rome Fall Dbq Analysis

For two centuries, Rome was a picture of military power, economic success, and technological advance. The Alps gave strategic defense to the homefront and the Mediterranean Sea allowed for prosperity with trading. Rome took ideas from Greece to develop in the sciences and the arts. Grecian influence and geographic advantages set Rome up for success. However, as the empire grew in size there was a need for supplies, causing economic and political tension, eventually transforming their renowned republic into a dictatorship. In the years that followed, government instability, martial negligence, and invasions caused Rome to fall.
Generally, government instability is characterized by regime or government change, violence in society, and policy …show more content…
The discipline that had allowed Rome to create this great empire had all but disappeared. “[Before the year 400 CE] foot-soldiers wore breastplates and helmets. But when, because of negligence and laziness, parade ground drills were abandoned, the customary armor began to seem heavy since the soldiers rarely ever wore it.”(Doc B) Instead of just training more, they decided that armor was unnecessary. This is, what looks to be from an outside opinion, an easily avoided catastrophe. To add insult to injury, all of these deaths seemed pointless; because “although there were many disasters, which led to the loss of great cities, no one tried to restore breastplates and helmets to the infantry. Thus it happens that troops in battle, exposed to wounds because they have no armor, think about running and not about fighting.”(Doc B) So, with the army depleted, the logical thing to do would be to repopulate the troops, right? Instead they allowed “hosts of senators, bureaucrats, and clergymen... to avoid the draft; and among other groups who escaped were cooks, bakers, and slaves.”(Doc B) Instead of forcing their population, full of Roman patriotism and having actual personal investments in these fights, they hired Germanic mercenaries. Which in turn “added to the demands on the state’s budget, just as declining production cut into tax revenues.”(Doc F) Martial negligence accelerated the exhaustion of both Rome’s economy and martial strength. This allowed other nations to invade the

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