How over expansion and militarism led to the fall of Rome Essay

How over expansion and militarism led to the fall of Rome - Essay Example The term Roman Empire referred to a period in the history of Ancient when Rome, as well as its territories, ware ruled by tyrannical Emperors. The empire is believed to have lasted from 27 BC-475 AD, a period believed to be more than 500 years. During this era, the Roman Empire was very powerful and had territories covering south and west Europe, land around the Mediterranean Sea, Britain, North African and Asia Minor(Goldsworthy, 2009a). From the mentioned continents, it is evident that Roman Empire had widened its boundaries extensively. However, its expansionism strategies were diminished by its fall. Though this may be one of the features that led to the fall of Roman Empire, there are also other major factors that contributed to the same (Gibbon, & Bury, 1946). According to Gibbon (1932) and Goldsworthy (2009b), events took place in a chronological manner, and therefore, one cannot say that there was no order in which these factors occurred over the period of about five hundred years. The five hundred years that took place before the rise and fall of Rome Empire were accompanied by many factors that resulted in its decline. The major causes of Roman Empire’s decline can be detailed as follows: Antagonism between the Senate and the Emperor Political Corruption and the Praetorian Guard Decline in Morals Constant Wars and Heavy Military Spending Barbarian’s Knowledge of Roman Military Tactics The 'Mob' and the value of the 'Games' ... the 'Games' Decline in Ethics and Values Fast expansion of the Empire Unemployment of the Working Classes (The Plebs) Failing Economy Christianity Barbarian Invasion Natural Disasters and slave labor Antagonism between the Senate and the Emperor As in examples above, antagonism between the senate and the Emperor could be counted as one of the major causes of the collapse of the Rome Empire. At this time, the legal powers to rule the Rome’s religious, the civil and military associations were under the emperor while the senate acted as an advisory body. Though the two bodies were meant to act together, things never worked as their relationship began to change (Perkins, 2005). The emperor had no authority over life and death. The two bodies started taking different directions as the authoritative and affluent roman Emperors unavoidably become corrupted and lived a dishonest, deceptive and dishonest lifestyle (Parsons, 2010). As a result of this, Roman Empire experienced a lot of opposition between the Emperors and the Senators. In his case, everybody saw each other as the most corrupt, viewed each other as enemies and as enmity persisted, poor leadership set in resulting in the collapse of the empire (Nardo, 2001). Constant Wars and Heavy Military Spending This being one of the results of the fall of Roman Empire, constant war played a vital role in its fall. Since the empire was growing at a rapid pace, it needed more soldiers for it to survive a great conqueror. In this case, constant fighting needed heavy military spending. This demand for the military was high since the Roman Empire became over stretched, and the need for more solders was proportional to its obligations for expansion and protection of their overstretched territories (Fagan & Stonebarger, 1999). Due