How the Success of the Roman Empire Could Be Related to Its Downfall
This paper discusses how the success of the Roman Empire could be related to its downfall. The Roman Empire, as stated by the greatest historian Edward Gibbon, "...comprehended the fairest part of the earth and the most civilized portion of mankind..." (Goode, 1998); its disintegration was caused largely by the underlying parasites, than what surfaced in historical records. Modern scholars have taken up the task of questioning some previously avoided reasons that set forth a quiet process of decline before it actually took place.In the 5th Century, Italy was thrown in discord by the invasions of Goths (410) and later by Vandals leaving the empire devastated. The Mediterranean was robbed of her 5 centuries of peace as raiders and traders now took over her. Troubles continued through the next century, in shape of prolonged and lamentable wars between Goths and the forces of surviving East Romans or the Byzantines with their capital, Constantinople. With only a transitional victory of the Byzantinians, Italy was once again invaded by Germanic people, the Lombards. However, these people failed to capture the whole region and thus Italy was striped into divisions and extended contests henceforth
"Their personal valor remained, but they no longer possessed that public courage which is nourished by the love of independence, the sense of national honor, the presence of danger, and the habit of command. They received laws and governors from the will of their sovereign, and trusted for their defense to a mercenary army."(Gibbon, 1990). It can be inferred from above that Romans had seized to assume any responsibility of them selves which had been the source of their greatness. This was evident in the subsequent decay of Roman military potency towards the fall of the Roman Empire. The foremost mistake committed by her was adopting a strategy of creating mobile reserves to protect the frontiers as opposed to preclusive security which was the traditional policy of Rome. Secondly allowing federated status to the barbarian allies. Who created a state within state and maintained the same until Rome disintegrated. This whole was facilitated by the corrosive competition of power among generals (Cocker, 1987) and power hungry members of the ruling elite. In absence of Roman courage and fading Roman will, no attempts could be vain in saving the Roman Empire. Romans had just the right formula required to run a government, which was: "The struggles of the patricians and plebians had firmly established the first and equal balance of the constituti
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Approximate Word count = 910
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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