Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Europe Transformed

There were many different reasons for the decline of the Roman Empire. There are many different theories as to why Rome fell, but know body knows for sure. One of the main reasons why people think that Rome fell was because the lacked in military strength. The barbarians wanted part of the Roman Empire and at the army was lacking in strength so the barbarians easily defeated the Romans and took over that part of the empire. Another reason for the fall of Rome was that the taxes became too high and the economy became unsteady. As the taxes rose people were unable to pay them and would be thrown in jail or forced to pay heavy fines that they would have to sell all of their stuff to pay off. People would then lose all of their stuff and die or get sick from having such little resources. Because of the high taxing merchants would charge prices that were unreasonable and unfair for the necessities due to the high taxes. The government tried to make a fixed price for each item, but these rules were not followed because the merchants were desperate for more money. This vicious cycle went on for a while until the economy crashed.  Another theory as to why the Roman Empire fell was that there was an epidemic. In that time period it was easy to spread sickness in such a highly populated area. Also around that time period the sickness would go untreated due to a lack of medicine. The people would also not get treated because with the high prices and taxes they would not be able to pay for the medicine. Another theory as to why Rome fell as that when one of the Roman rulers, Theodisius, died he split the empire between his two sons who were not equipped for ruling an empire on their own. People would take advantage of the inadequate leaders and battled them for power. This was one of the main reasons as to why Rome fell.