Ss08_rome - trickey



SS 8 - Ancient Rome 05 - The End of an Empire

The End of the Empire

Like all good things, Rome eventually came to an end. By 117 A.D. the Roman Empire had reached its peak, both in terms of size and in terms of power and influence. The Romans had brought peace, law and order to most of the known world, but there were several reasons as to why the Empire faded into history.

Start of the Problems

Even though under Julius Ceaser and Augustus, the Roman Empire continued to expand and improve, subsequent dictators were less effective. Corruption is the term that is used to describe when leaders and administrators of a government stop being honest and instead of doing their jobs, they start to take bribes, steal money for themselves and generally let things fall apart. Rome had become so large and so wealthy that many people working for the Empire began to think that they could take some of that wealth for themselves. There was also very little incentive for the dictators or Emperors of Rome to stamp out corruption because they were not elected by the people so it didn’t matter if they did a good job at running the Empire or not. This is one of the most important rules that we have learned about the fall of the Roman Empire, that corruption leads to a break-down in society and that rulers have to be limited to how long they can rule before they have to ask the people if they should continue to govern.

Problems with the Frontier Provinces

Beginning in 161 A.D. some of the Empire’s neighbors began to cause problems. The frontier provinces of Rome were those areas that were far away from the central government of the Empire that was located in Rome. Not everyone in these frontier provinces were loyal to Rome. Even though the Romans maintained the peace and provided trade, many people felt oppressed by a foreign dictator (didn’t like being ruled by someone from afar). The Romans had a name for those

people outside of the Empire, they called these people barbarians, (meaning people who speak a different language) . The shear size of the Empire also caused problems. To help govern these frontier provinces, local Roman administrators would hire barbarian soldiers, and in the end these barbarian soldiers like the Visigoths of Germany, would turn on the Romans and eventually even attack Rome itself.

Problems at Home

Rome itself started to have problems. Corruption and the gap between the rich and the poor was leading to social unrest. As a result more soldiers had to be hired to control the poor, which meant more taxes which only made the poor more angry. Religion and the spread of Christianity would also cause problems for Rome. Christianity started in the Roman province of Israel and proved to be very popular with the poor, the slaves and even the women of Rome because it taught a message of equality.

The economy of Rome was also being affected by corruption and the continuous wars it was having with the barbarians. As trade slowed, and less goods made their way into Rome, the Romans ability to make money also slowed down, which only created more poor people. Many different leaders tried to regain control of the Empire but the government was running out of money.

Desperate Attempts and the Aftermath

In an attempt to better manage the Empire, n 284 A.D. the Roman Emperor Diocletes divided the Empire in two. Diocletes believed that if Rome could govern the Western Empire, and if the city of Byzantium (modern day city of Constantinople) could govern the Eastern Empire, then they could regain control of the Empire’s borders and frontier provinces and reduce the cost of operating the government. Diocletes would govern the Eastern Empire and he appointed Constantius to manage the West. Unfortunately, even these efforts could not stop the barbarians from Germany destroying and invading Rome in 410 A.D..

All of the advancements of Rome would be destroyed and lost to humans. The result would see Europe descend into what is called the “Dark Ages”. There would be no schools to pass on knowledge, there would be no more infrastructure that would support large cities. Art and the skills needed for architecture would be lost or forgotten and people’s lives would become poorer as trade would almost come to a complete stop all over Europe.

Humans would eventually re-discover an appreciation for what the Ancient Romans achieved and we would once again see the value in education, trade and infrastructure. We would eventually realize that it is important to look to the past to learn from our mistakes and improve upon our successes. World History is just that; the study of past in order to improve the future.

SS08 - Ancient Rome 05 - The End of an Empire

The End of the Empire

Directions: READ the handout entitled;”The End of the Empire” and then answer the following questions;

1. Use your handout, the internet or a dictionary to provide definitions for the following terms; (1 mk each)

Corruption Frontier Oppressed Barbarians

Economy Dark Ages

2. On a separate piece of paper, answer the following questions using COMPLETE

SENTENCES;

a. In your own words, describe how corruption helped cause the decline of the Roman Empire. What important lessons have we learned from the fall of the Roman Empire? (2 mks for quality of response and inclusion of details)

b. In your own words, describe how religion and the economy played a role in the decline of the Roman Empire. (2 mks for the quality of your response and evidence of thought and effort)

c. In your own words, describe what attempts were made to save the Roman Empire before it was too late. What happened after this failed? (2 mks for quality of response and evidence of insight)

3. Using the map provided in your readings to help you label and colour the following map of the divided Roman Empire. Be sure to label the two capitals of each Empire, all water bodies and major rivers.

You will be marked out of 5 marks for labels and quality of work and evidence of effort.

Total: ____ /17

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The “sacking” of Rome by the Visigoths

Corruption – the term used to describe when leaders or administrators of government or business stop being honest and instead start accepting bribes or start stealing in order to increase their personal wealth.

Frontier – the outlying areas of a particular state or country. The frontier provinces of Ancient Rome would include those regions like the Germanic tribal lands, Gaul and England.

Oppressed – is the term used to describe the act of using your power or force to keep a certain group either poor or enslaved.

Barbarians – the Rome word used to describe those non-citizens of the Empire who did not speak Latin and were considered uneducated foreigners.

Economy – the term used to describe the ability of a country or a state to produce and create wealth. When the economy is good, people are able to make money. When the economy is bad, there is not enough money or wealth being created for everyone’s needs.

Dark Ages – the term used to describe the time period in Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire when almost all of the knowledge and advancements made by the Romans were lost and people’s lives suffered.

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