by Vaughan Williams

Created on: December 03, 2008   Last Updated: October 30, 2010

The decline and fall of the Roman Empire has fascinated scholars for centuries, and the only thing that they can agree upon is how there was no single reason for it; instead, the dissolution of what was at one point the strongest, most fearsome nation of the world was the result of a complex mesh of occurrences that all happened around the same time.

It seems clear, however, that the crisis of the third century, with its parade of emperors (over 20 in a 49-year period), relentless assault by barbarian tribes, and outbreak of plague is the straw that broke the Roman camel's back. The empire broke up into three smaller empires in 258, all of which fought against each other for dominance until by 274, Aurelius, by then the emperor of the central region encompassing the Italian peninsula and its environs, managed to reunite all three zones into one great mass once again.

But while the empire might have cobbled itself back together, still there were the issues within its structure that left it half-lame: unclear rules of inheritance had dozens of factions all trying to place their darlings on the throne, with civil war and assassinations becoming commonplace.

And let us not forget the sheer immense size of the Roman Empire: it encompassed lands far from its nucleus in Rome- from the distant reaches of the British Isles to Assyria, Roman forces had to not only conquer those indigenous to the region, but the bureaucratic machine had to provide the support those forces needed to survive.

As more and more area came under Roman control, that necessitated more and more soldiers. But shortage of manpower, time to train the men they did acquire, and resources to support them led to the hiring of mercenaries, often from the same peoples most recently conquered. Loyalty was questionable, and outbreaks of rebellion were frequent.

War within, war without, and weak leadership; still, amazingly, the empire soldiered on (mostly thanks to the efforts of Diocletian) until another crisis presented itself: the adaptation and enforcement of Christianity as the official state religion.

Heretofore, the Roman Empire had enjoyed a very accepting style of paganism that, while encouraging worship of the standard Roman pantheon, did not preclude locals from continuing to worship their regional deities. Once Christianity's insistence on its exclusivity came into play, the locals were not so accepting of their new overlords. It's one thing to mess with one's earthly existence, but when you start messing with one's eternal soul, that's something else entirely.

Meanwhile, the empire's economy was tanking. Inflation had skyrocketed as emperors doubled the soldiers' pay in an attempt to lure more men into their ranks, and money was next to worthless. Trade routes had disintegrated because of the danger rife in traveling: invasions and battles were so frequent that merchants could not be assured of the safety of their wares or themselves. Rome itself was sacked not once but twice. Trade ground to a halt.

Finally, the mercenaries were denied the payment promised them, and the barbarians conquered first the empire's capital of Ravenna, then the whole of the peninsula. The Hunnish Odoacer declared himself king, and that was that- the Roman Empire was no more.

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