What brought on the end of the Roman Empire
Discussion
Hey all,
Been having a bit of a mass debate (
) with my girlfriend and her Mother about what brought on the demise of the Roman Empire. I have to confess that I know bugger-all about the topic, but not wanting to seem like an uneducated-yoof I tried to blag my way through the issue...and kept getting shot down. They believe that some large geographical event occurred (volcano eruption is the favourite) that started a chain of events leading to the empire crumbling. I think they've also attributed this event as leading to the dark ages. Does this sound about right?
Forgive any ignorance on my part here, but world history was never my strongpoint at school. I've looked up a bit of stuff on the net and I could probably do more, but I just thought it would be better in terms of opinion to ask the PH massive.
Cheers everyone (anyone? pleeeeeeease?!)
Been having a bit of a mass debate (
) with my girlfriend and her Mother about what brought on the demise of the Roman Empire. I have to confess that I know bugger-all about the topic, but not wanting to seem like an uneducated-yoof I tried to blag my way through the issue...and kept getting shot down. They believe that some large geographical event occurred (volcano eruption is the favourite) that started a chain of events leading to the empire crumbling. I think they've also attributed this event as leading to the dark ages. Does this sound about right? Forgive any ignorance on my part here, but world history was never my strongpoint at school. I've looked up a bit of stuff on the net and I could probably do more, but I just thought it would be better in terms of opinion to ask the PH massive.
Cheers everyone (anyone? pleeeeeeease?!)
Decay - Christianity - Vandals and Religious Controversy...
...so it says here: http://ancienthistory.about.com/cs/ro
Got a familiar ring about it.
...so it says here: http://ancienthistory.about.com/cs/ro
Got a familiar ring about it.
From Roman Empire Net, my not so serious coments in [parentheses]
1. bad emperors [Tiny Blur/ Gordon Brown / Punchy Prescott / Muppet Hewitt / one could go on]
2. increasing civilization of the people of the empire, which means weaker soldiers. [increasing lazy lardishness ]
3. Roman disunity, endless infighting [politicians /media again]
4. economic decline [tax & spend / noone gives a stuff about manufacturing]
5. plagues [BSE / F&M / MRSA / what else? ]
6. mass migration [better not comment here as it will turn into a You are racist thread]
7. and the settlement of the Visigoths in Moesia [ah the bloddy Visigoths, see comment 6]
well?
1. bad emperors [Tiny Blur/ Gordon Brown / Punchy Prescott / Muppet Hewitt / one could go on]
2. increasing civilization of the people of the empire, which means weaker soldiers. [increasing lazy lardishness ]
3. Roman disunity, endless infighting [politicians /media again]
4. economic decline [tax & spend / noone gives a stuff about manufacturing]
5. plagues [BSE / F&M / MRSA / what else? ]
6. mass migration [better not comment here as it will turn into a You are racist thread]
7. and the settlement of the Visigoths in Moesia [ah the bloddy Visigoths, see comment 6]
well?
Great empires are eaten away from within before they are destroyed from without.
The Roman Empire at its peak could have survived any natural catastrophe, or the mass migrations from the East which eventually destroyed the Western empire.
Corruption and the weakening of the authority of the emperor is what destroyed it, the Huns merely finished the job.
The Roman Empire at its peak could have survived any natural catastrophe, or the mass migrations from the East which eventually destroyed the Western empire.
Corruption and the weakening of the authority of the emperor is what destroyed it, the Huns merely finished the job.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantin
and
www.revision-notes.co.uk/revision/396.html
This should give you some ammo.
Claire
>> Edited by Gaffer on Tuesday 21st February 13:24
and
www.revision-notes.co.uk/revision/396.html
This should give you some ammo.
Claire
>> Edited by Gaffer on Tuesday 21st February 13:24
Five main reasons:
The dramatic increase of divorce undermined the institution of the family. Traditional families ceased to function as was necessary to guarantee that the values which had proven to be successful in the past were successfully passed on to the next generation. This process of the deterioration of the Family Institution occurred over many generations prior to the actual collapse of the Empire.
The imposition of higher taxes undermined the economic stability and vitality of the Empire. Why were the taxes raised to such ruinous levels? To pay for deficit government spending, to pay for food for all in society and to pay for government-sponsored activities of diversion, such as circuses and sports. Interestingly, as the time of the final collapse drew closer, greater emphasis was placed on sports, to divert the attention of the public from the distressing news of massive trouble within the Empire.
The drive for personal pleasure had become very intense, even to the point of obsession. Sports had become more exciting and brutal.
People lost their faith, both religiously and in their government. Paganism gave way to Christianity and the efficient Roman Government gave way to chaos and disintegration.
Hidden conspirators were working within the government to secretly destroy it.
Does this sound like the U.K. at the moment, or is it just me?
>> Edited by blueyes on Tuesday 21st February 13:30
The dramatic increase of divorce undermined the institution of the family. Traditional families ceased to function as was necessary to guarantee that the values which had proven to be successful in the past were successfully passed on to the next generation. This process of the deterioration of the Family Institution occurred over many generations prior to the actual collapse of the Empire.
The imposition of higher taxes undermined the economic stability and vitality of the Empire. Why were the taxes raised to such ruinous levels? To pay for deficit government spending, to pay for food for all in society and to pay for government-sponsored activities of diversion, such as circuses and sports. Interestingly, as the time of the final collapse drew closer, greater emphasis was placed on sports, to divert the attention of the public from the distressing news of massive trouble within the Empire.
The drive for personal pleasure had become very intense, even to the point of obsession. Sports had become more exciting and brutal.
People lost their faith, both religiously and in their government. Paganism gave way to Christianity and the efficient Roman Government gave way to chaos and disintegration.
Hidden conspirators were working within the government to secretly destroy it.
Does this sound like the U.K. at the moment, or is it just me?
>> Edited by blueyes on Tuesday 21st February 13:30
blueyes said:
Does this sound like the U.K. at the moment, or is it just me?
The UK once ruled over an Empire even greater than the Romans, and it crumbled just as theirs did. It is not surprising therefore that you can see many parallels between the two situations.
>> Edited by Jaglover on Tuesday 21st February 13:29
Raffles said:
I thought it was becasue the upper classes developed a taste for wine which had been boiled in a lead pot. This brought the lead out of the pot, and they all slowly turned mad through lead poisoning. They were then unable to run a pissup in a brewery never mind an empire.
That's what I thought too..
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