How Rome fell and Gibbons explanations

There were many reasons to why the Roman empire fell. The most common one that is known is that the fall of Rome was because of Christianity. The reason why so many blame Christianity as the fall of Rome is because the religion caused the Roman citizens to become Pacifists which made it more difficult to defend the empire against attacks. Crime started to break out in the streets, especially violence which made the bigger cities in Rome unsafe which weakened the empire. Another reason why Rome fell was their public health. The Colosseum was a place where entertainment and games were held but from the blood and death, disease spread. Those that lived on the streets were more vulnerable to get the disease because of the widespread of diseases that swept through the streets. Another reason that caused Rome to fall was the difficulty of choosing another emperor. During a 100 year period, Rome had about 37 emperors and 25 of them were removed by assassination. This caused the overall weakness of the empire.

It didn't take the Goths and Germans very long to realize that Rome was becoming weak. They also realized that he new emperors were weak and so they knew then was the time to attack. Many Roman generals saw this and began to revolt. The Visigoths marched into Rome and took over the city. They sacked the city and took what they wanted. Anyone who crossed them, they killed. The results of this made the Romans wonder how could this happen to us and they began to wonder if the gods were angry with them. The Visigoths didn't stay in Rome for very long instead they moved on toward Italy.

The late economic collapse resulted in hyper-inflation. And from this various problems aroused from from the raising of taxation. The emperors lived luxuries lives and from this it resulted in that the government had no money. When the emperors wanted something they increased taxation. Gibbon said that the only reason why Rome fell was because of Christianity corrupting it. He said it weakened the bonds that held the Roman Empire together. But what Gibbon failed to realize was that there were many causes that weakened the empire which then led to the fall of Rome. I don't agree with Gibbon's explanation because wouldn't Christianity help the Roman society and wouldn't it benefit to it. When the empire fell, bad things came of it, the sacking of Rome, the destruction of art, the withering of great cities, the design of the system of roads, and much more. But because of the fall of Rome, it led to the abolition of slavery in Europe.

The date that most historians believe to be the day Rome fell was on September 4 476. Some historians believe that Rome could have survived if the circumstances were different. But it is said that Rome brought the decline among themselves. Edward Gibbon wrote," If a man were called upon to fix the period in the history of the world when the condition of the human race was most happy and prosperous, he would, without hesitation, name that which elapsed from the death of Domitian to the accession of Commodus." Yes this was a time where the Romans prospered and had great stability but still in the end it led to the fall of it. Rome had many reason to why it fell, so by Gibbon only giving one explanation to why it fell doesn't give us the complete look of what happened. (Bookrags)

Another reason to why Rome fell was because of the unity that was lost between the Romans. Every Roman wanted power and wanted to be remembered after they died. Half the time the Roman army would be fighting against each other to gain power rather then defending the empire. Rome came to a point when it was spending so much that they couldn't even afford it. This led to economic problems. This sounds so familiar to our society today, buying so much that we can't afford. It is said that our society today is following in the foot steps of Rome. All these things weakened the empire to the point in which it fell. The reason to why I believe Gibbon thought Christianity was the main reason to why Rome fell was because the church was spending so much of Rome's money. And he believed that it made the Romans stop caring about each other and it put Rome in a position of confusion. He thought that the money spent on the church could be used for the empire instead. (Barnett 77 & 79)

Online book: "Bookrags" http://www.bookrags.com/wiki/Decline_of_the_Roman_Empire
Barnett, Mary. "Gods and Myths of the Romans": The Archaeology and Mythology of Ancient Peoples. Smithmark Publishers. New York, 1996

Thank you again Mr. Lockwood for allowing me to turn this in late. I saw you already graded it but I wasn't finished but now I am.