Rome is a historic city and capital of Roma Province and is situated in the central region of the Italian Peninsula. For a long time, Rome controlled the destiny of all evolution known to Europe before it fell into despair and dissolution. Even with many challenges, Rome was able to conquer all and hold its position as a world power. This paper will discuss the factors that lead to the rise and fall of the Rome empire.
With well-trained military troops, Rome was able to conquer many neighboring states. Adapting to the culture of the conquered provinces made it easier for the troops to blend with the locals and gave an advantage to them to expand their territories from within. A strong and able leader was an added benefit because he would come up with strong attacking strategies that would help in conquering the rebels (Coy et al., 2017). The army had a massive supply of weapons that were used in their conquest of new territories. The conquered territories worked in harmony with the Roman empire, forming a sense of economic cooperation and unity in all communities under the Roman regime.
The location of Rome was advantageous since the empire would spot enemies before they enter their territory. Geographical location is beneficial since one can man entry and exit points and control those that are entering the base. Also, the position of Rome made it easier for the troops to access trade routes hindering the passage of goods without their consent.
Roman general, Gaius Marius, was able to implement reforms that helped him in creating a professional army that performed well in gaining new territories which was a major boost in the rise of Rome. Vast territories came with many acquired goods and slaves to provide cheap labor in the farms. Also, the territories acted as military training camps for new recruits to the army.
One of the main reasons for the fall of Rome was the constant use of outside mercenaries as their troops. Many times, Germans were being used by the Roman military and when the Barbarians invaded, there was an uprising that sprung in the fourth century (Hurlet, 2019). After the attack, the Germans withdrew their allegiance and this led to the fall of the empire when soldiers withdrew.
The financial crisis hit the empire and it had to struggle with outside forces and inside forces. Without enough capital to provide for the needs of the troops such as firearms. Regular wars, overspending, and inflation of taxes had widened the gap between the rich and the poor (Ward, 2018). Moreover, due to the much reliance on salve labor, there was insufficient food production and soldiers would go to war on empty bellies. With their agricultural and commercial production going down, the kingdom started to lose its grasp on Europe.
Overspending and overexpansion required more income to cater for the expenditures and enough administrative manpower to man the conquered states. Rome was unable to man the vast territories and many of them begun to crumble and this led to the downfall. They had established well-connected road networks but communications were not effective. Rome struggled to keep enough troops to defend the small territory they were left with and constant outside attacks forced them to surrender in the second century.
With proper management and well-organized troops, Rome would have remained a superpower to date but with poor management, things fell out of hand. To maintain a large territory and man a large troop a capital is required to satisfy their needs and to provide transport services. Food reserves should be checked regularly to maintain a steady supply of food to the troops and the leaders should not only depend on other nations for mercenaries.
References
Coy, J., Scales, L., Stollberg-Rilinger, B., Scott, T., & Wilson, P. (2017). An empire for our times? A discussion of Peter Wilson’s the Holy Roman Empire: A thousand years of Europe’s history. Central European History, 50(4), 547-572.
Hurlet, F. (2019). Justice, Res Publica and Empire: Subsidiarity and Hierarchy in the Roman Empire. In Hekster O. & Verboven K. (Eds.), The Impact of Justice on the Roman Empire: Proceedings of the Thirteenth Workshop of the International Network Impact of Empire (pp. 122-137). Brill.
Ward, A. M. (2018). History, ancient and modern. In the fall of the Roman Empire. The Fall of the Roman Empire, 1(4), 51–88. Web.