Did the Roman Empire 'Fall'?

How did the greatest empire fall? The Roman Empire was started in 27 BC by Gaius Julius Caesar know more commonly as Augustus, adopted son of Julius Caesar. (http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/roem/hd_roem.htm) At the height of the Empire it controlled approximately 6.5 million kilometers of land. Its military controlled over 60 legions, which roughly equals 4,200 legionaries. The demographics peaked between 60 and 100 million. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_empire)The city of Rome was destroyed and burned in 410 AD by barbarian invaders. (http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/romans/history/fall2.htm) The Roman Empire finally fell in 476 AD when Romulus Augustulus was deposed by Odoacer, a German barbarian. (http://www.allabouthistory.org/the-dark-ages.htm). The western part of the Roman Empire was systematically taken over by the Visigoths, Vandals, Ostrogoths, Huns and other tribes of “barbarians”. With the fall of the Roman Empire, everything under its control was plunged into the Dark Ages. The decline and fall of the Roman Empire was caused by a weakened economy, due to multiple factors, and by barbarian invasions and civil war.

The beginnings of the fall of the Roman Empire took place an estimated 320 years be for the actual fall of the Roman Empire. The very rapid growth of the empire caused an economic inflation. The economic inflation was due to the continual increase in taxes, that slowly hurt the economy of Rome. The size of the empire caused Rome to have to pay a lot of money to maintain it. Rome had to take care of all of their roads, aqueducts, towns, and cities. It also would have cost a large amount of money to have and maintain a 30 legion army to defend the vast territories that Rome had conquered. These factors would have put a huge economic strain on the empire. This was a slow decline to one of the greatest empires of all time. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_the_roman_empire)

In 395, when the emperor, Theodsuis, left the Roman Empire to his two sons. The sons then split the empire into two parts, The Western Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire. With the split of the two the Byzantine Empire became its own empire. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/romans/fallofrome_article_01.shtml#three)The eastern part became known as the Byzantine empire Honorius, one of Theodsuis’ sons, got the western part of the Empire that included present day Italy, Spain, France, England, and the northern part of Africa. A civil revolt, that weakened Rome, was started when Constantine III declared himself emperor of York. When Constantine left to gather troops to attack, he left the whole area of England, Spain, and France open to Constantine was eventually killed, and his troops were taken to deal with the Visigoths in Italy. The Visigoths under the rule of Alaric sacked the city of Rome destroying the Western Roman Empire. (http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/romans/history/fall.htm)

The Roman Empire did eventually fall and decline. Through gradual decline in the economy that ultimately lead to economic crises and barbarian invasion, one of the largest empires of the world fell. There are many other factors that may have played a part I the downfall of Rome, from lead poison to the rise of Christianity. However not a lot of evidence survives this period so these factors can only be theorized to contribute to the decline and fall of Rome, but the poor economic situation and invasions from barbarians were the main factors contributing to the fall of the Roman Empire. Scholars today describe it as a complex transformation, from the Ancient Era to the Middle Ages.

Sources:
Carr, Karen. "The Fall of Rome". historyforkids. 3/12/10http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/romans/history/fall2.htm.

"Decline of the Roman Empire". Wikipedia. 3/12/10http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_the_roman_empire.

Heather, Peter. "Dark ages". BBC Ancient history in-depth. 3/12/10http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/romans/fallofrome_article_01.shtml.

"Roman Empire". Wikipedia. 3/12/10 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_empire

"The Dark Ages". allabouthistory.org. 3/12/10http://www.allabouthistory.org/the-dark-ages.htm.

"The Roman Empire (27 B.C.–393 A.D.)". metmuseum. 3/12/10http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/roem/hd_roem.htm.

Image:

"Theodosius I's empire". Wikimedia. 3/12/10 http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Theodosius_I's_empire.png.