Why Did The Roman Empire Fall?

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Whilst discussing holidays with a friend we got onto talking about Italy as he has had some very enjoyable holidays in Tuscany. He is also quite interested in history and knowing that I do school workshops on Romans he asked me whatever caused the Roman Empire to decline and fall. At the time I couldn’t give a clear and concise answer. I knew there were many contributory factors and I couldn’t think where to start without boring my friend to death!

I recently read an article by Dr Miles Russell, a senior lecturer in Roman archaeology summarizing the main reasons for the fall of Ancient Rome in an article written for History Extra. I was very impressed with Dr Russell’s explanation. I made a list of the key points below:

disease
invasion
civil war
social unrest
inflation
economic collapse

Dr Russell states that during the third and fourth century the continual internal power struggles between rival emperors was the most significant factor. The Empire turned in on itself and gradually tore itself apart. The army could no longer effectively defend the borders against constant attacks by waves of invaders from the north.

Although the eastern half of the empire continued the west broke up into a number of separate kingdoms effectively ending the Roman Empire and beginning the Dark Ages.

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