Recently, environmental factors have also been attributed to the decline of the Roman Empire. This theory attributes both the rise and fall of Rome to ecological factors. The growth of the Roman Empire coincided with the environmental prosperity of the Mediterranean basin from the 3rd century BC until the middle of the 2nd century AD. The proponents of this theory state that environmental conditions started to deteriorate around AD. The climate became cold and dry, which had adverse effects on agriculture.
At the same time, epidemics like the plague had struck the empire, further reducing the size of the economy and population. The last straw was the increase in global volcanic activity from the 5th century to 8th century AD. Different factors contributed to the fall of the Roman Empire. They include economic crises, barbarian attacks, farming issues from exhausted soil due to over-cultivation, inequality between the rich and the poor, detachment of local elites from public life, and economic recession as a result of overreliance on slave labor.
When Christianity became the state religion , the Church reduced the state resources by acquiring large pieces of land and keeping the income for itself.
Thus, probably leading to the fall of the Roman Empire. The barbarian invasions are regarded as external factors that led to the fall of the Roman Empire. This military interpretation holds that the Roman Empire was sound, but frequent external attacks weakened its power. By Gregory Aldrete, Ph. The list starts as early as 31 and 27 BC through and AD. Roman law governed the land. Roman armies continued to fight and win victories on the frontiers. And Roman emperors appeared on the coins that Odoacer minted.
These aspects of Roman life continued after the Gothic ruler Theoderic overthrew Odoacer in Theoderic proved even more successful than Odoacer in reviving Italian fortunes after the political chaos of the mid-5th century.
His armies campaigned successfully in modern Croatia, Serbia and France. He made much of Spain into a protectorate for a time. Large scale repairs were made to churches and public buildings throughout Italy. Either Theoderic or Odoacer undertook renovations to the Colosseum following which senators proudly inscribed their names and offices on their seats. Rather than imagining that Roman rule had ended in , Italians in the late 5th and early 6th centuries spoke about its recovery.
The answer lies not in Italy but in Constantinople. It is at this moment of East-West tension that we can return to Marcellinus Comes. Odoacer was not a Goth. Theoderic, however, was a Gothic king and he had taken power from Odoacer.
As the Gothic-led Western Roman state found itself in increasing tension with Constantinople, the fall of Rome emerged as a way to justify an Eastern Roman invasion that would restore Italy to Eastern Roman control. Marcellinus did not invent this idea in a vacuum. He served in Constantinople as an aide to the future Eastern Roman emperor Justinian , who was at the time the imperial heir apparent. This propaganda worked well. In , Eastern Roman armies attacked Italy.
The Italian war did not conclude until and the fighting devastated both the city of Rome and much of Italy. But the barbarians — such as the Franks, Saxons and Vandals — weren't simply raiders from foreign lands chipping away at a weaker Rome.
That's selling those groups short. Many of the barbarians were coalitions of soldiers that had been working with and for the Roman Empires for several generations. That gave the barbarians the opportunity to learn Roman tactics and expertise, which they then applied against the empire, resulting in a series of withering military defeats for the Romans. It was simply a region of diminishing Roman influence where people moved freely around," she said.
In that context, it's easy to see how the frontier could shrink over time. Dwindling tax revenue made it increasingly tough for Rome to muster enough legions to reclaim lands the barbarians had taken. It wasn't until , when the Ottomans sacked Constantinople, that we can truly say the Roman Empire ended.
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