1. REASONS FOR THE DECLINE OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE

2. THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY/WEAKENING OF ARMY CHURCH LEADERS TOOK POWER FROM THE EMPEROR AND BECAME ACTIVE IN POLITICS. MANY MEN SUCH AS CLERGYMEN, SENATORS, AND COOKS, WHO WOULD HAVE BEEN ORDERED INTO THE ARMY BECAME EXEMPT FROM SERVING. TRAINING BECAME WEAK. SOLDIERS STOPPED WEARING HEAVY ARMOR WHICH EXPOSED THEM TO WOUNDS CHRISTIANITY MADE MANY ROMAN CITIZENS PACIFISTS MAKING IT MORE DIFFICULT TO DEFEND AGAINST BARBARIANS. MONEY USED TO BUILD CHURCHES COULD HAVE BEEN USED TO MAINTAIN THE ROMAN ARMY.

3. DECLINE IN MORALS AND VALUES MONEY SPENT ON “BREAD AND CIRCUSES” EVEN IN THE WORST OF TIMES ROMANS WERE USED TO WASTING MONEY ON LAVISH PARTIES AND POPULAR AMUSEMENTS SUCH AS GLADIATORIAL COMBATS AND CHARIOT RACES. BECAME LAZY AND WEAK (COUCH POTATOES) MORE INTERESTED IN FUN RATHER THAN CULTURE AND HARD WORK.

4. POLITICAL CORRUPTION EMPEROR TURNOVER: ROMANS NEVER HAD AN EFFECTIVE SYSTEM TO DETERMINE HOW NEW EMPERORS WOULD BE SELECTED. CONSEQUENTLY, MANY EMPERORS WERE ASSASSINATED AND THE OFFICE GIVEN TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER MAKING THE EMPEROR INEFFECTIVE. LEGAL INJUSTICE – SEVERE TAXES, RICH DIDN’T PAY THEIR TAXES, MEN IN POWER PUNISHED POOR PEOPLE SEVERELY FOR SMALL CRIMES. JUSTICE HAD TO BE PAID FOR.

5. INFLATION ONCE ROME STOPPED CONQUERING NEW TERRITORY, THE FLOW OF GOLD INTO THE ROMAN ECONOMY DECREASED. SOON GOLD WAS IN SHORT SUPPLY. ROME STARTED MAKING COINS WITH LESS GOLD IN THEM. MONEY WAS LESS VALUABLE SO PRICES INCREASED (INFLATION). SOON PEOPLE WERE PAYING SALARIES AND TAXES WITH FRUITS AND VEGETABLES. GAP BETWEEN THE RICH AND THE POOR BECAME WIDER AND WIDER

6. URBAN DECAY MOST PEOPLE LIVED IN APARTMENTS. OVER THE YEARS THEY BEGAN TO DECAY AND THE EMPIRE DID NOT HAVE THE RESOURCES TO KEEP THEM UP. THOSE WHO COULD NOT AFFORD THE RENT LIVED IN THE CRIME INFESTED STREETS. BECAUSE THE EMPIRE WAS NO LONGER CONQUERING NEW TERRITORIES THEY WERE LOSING GROUND IN TECHNOLOGY.

7. PUBLIC HEALTH PLAGUE!! ( YES, THE BLACK DEATH OF THE MIDDLE AGES) LEAD PIPES (THE DEATH RATE FOR THE WEALTHY WAS VERY HIGH) HOMELESS CRIME (IT WAS BAD FOR YOUR HEALTH IF YOU WERE MURDERED) NATURAL DISASTERS - EARTHQUAKES, TIDAL WAVES, VOLCANOES

8. ROMAN EMPIRE DIVIDED CONSTANTINE DIVIDED THE EMPIRE INTO THE WESTERN ROMAN EMPIRE WITH THE CAPITAL IN ROME AND THE EASTERN ROMAN EMPIRE WITH THE CAPITAL IN CONSTANTINOPLE. (ISTANBUL) GERMANIC TRIBES SOON MOVED INTO THE WESTERN EMPIRE WHILE FLEEING THE HUNS. ALTHOUGH THEY SWORE ALLEGIANCE TO ROME THEY EVENTUALLY OVERTHREW THE EMPIRE. HOWEVER, THE GERMANIC TRIBES ADOPTED THE LANGUAGE, RELIGION, AND LAWS OF THE ROMANS.