Why did the Roman Empire fall? Literature & Language Essay

Why did the Roman Empire fall?
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Why did the Roman Empire fall?
Introduction
There are different theories that try to explain why a superpower such as the Greek Empire fell, yet it had ruled for more than 500 years. Numerous theorist argue that it was not a single factor that contributed to the collapse of the empire, but a series of numerous factors that contributed to a steady decline (Andrews, 2014). Some of these factors include factional infighting, rise of Christianity, and rise of mercenaries and auxiliaries in the army, plague, diseases and bad luck. However, the most important factor that contributed to the collapse of the Roman Empire is lack of strong leadership. This paper examines the reasons that led to the collapse of the Roman Empire and emphasizes on the main factor that led to this downfall.
Factional infighting contributed to the fall of the Roman Empire. When civil war emerged in Italy, the Roman army, which was smaller in size, decided to focus its attention there. The borders were left wide open and this gave the barbarians the opportunity to invade and attack. Factional infighting also weakened the ability of the Roman army to provide a strong security that would have protected the empire against the Barbarian bandits (Harper, 2017). The attack also made travelling across the country unsafe and this implied that the merchants could not deliver goods in the city. This contributed to the eventual collapse of the empire.
The rise of mercenaries in the army contributed to the collapse of the Roman Empire. The government used to spend huge amount of resources on the military instead of other social factors such as building houses and other social amenities. This enraged many people and they stopped volunteering their services to the army (Andrews, 2014). This forced the government to hire mercenaries who were not only expensive, but also unreliable since they ended up turning against the government and this contributed to the collapse of the empire.
Another important factor that contributed to the fall of the Roman Empire is the rise of Christianity, which was a new religion. The Christian religion was monotheistic in nature compared to the Roman religion which was polytheistic, implying that it believed in numerous gods. Furthermore, the Romans used to persecute the Christians in the past due to their beliefs, yet the religion was popular among the poor people who formed the majority across the Roman Empire. When the Roman emperor declared toleration of the Ch...