White Plains Public Schools / Overview



Though the Empire Fell, Its Legacy Survived: The Fall of Rome

Global History and Geography I Name: ___________________________

E. Napp Date: ___________________________

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How does a mighty empire collapse?

I will provide the causes for the fall of Rome and you will describe the immediate effects of each cause.

|Causes of the Fall of Rome |Immediate Effects Due to Causes |

| |______________________________ |

|Emperors were greedy. |______________________________ |

| |______________________________ |

| | |

|Taxes were high. |______________________________ |

|In fact, for some people, one-third of their wages went to taxes. |______________________________ |

| |______________________________ |

| |______________________________ |

|Germanic tribes kept attacking the Western borders. |______________________________ |

| |______________________________ |

| |______________________________ |

|The borders were costing more and more to defend. |______________________________ |

| |______________________________ |

| |______________________________ |

|Powerful generals fought each other over who would be emperor. |______________________________ |

| |______________________________ |

| |______________________________ |

|In 73 years, there were 23 emperors. 20 emperors were murdered. |______________________________ |

| |______________________________ |

| |______________________________ |

|Crime increased as poor people had |______________________________ |

|fewer job opportunities. |______________________________ |

| |______________________________ |

|Once invaders broke through the empire’s defenses, it was easy to |______________________________ |

|keep conquering. |______________________________ |

| |______________________________ |

|Soldiers wanted more pay. |______________________________ |

| |______________________________ |

There was not one reason for the fall of Rome. There were many reasons. However, if you had to select the most significant reason, what would you select and why? Why do you believe that this reason was the primary reason for the fall of Rome? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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|How did the geography of the Italian peninsula influence the |3. Which ancient civilization is associated with the Twelve Tables, an|

|development of the Roman Empire? |extensive road system, and the poets Horace and Virgil? |

|(1) The unnavigable rivers in the northern part of the peninsula | |

|protected the Romans from their neighbors. |(1) Babylonian (3) Phoenician |

|(2) The harsh climate prevented agricultural production on the Italian|(2) Greek (4) Roman |

|peninsula. | |

|(3) The lengthy, rugged seacoast encouraged frequent invasions of the |One contribution of ancient Roman culture was the development of |

|Italian peninsula. |(1) the concept of zero |

|(4) The location of the peninsula contributed to Roman control of the |(2) the process of making silk |

|Mediterranean region. |(3) a republican form of government |

| |(4) the printing press |

|2. In western Europe, feudalism developed after the | |

|(1) Roman Empire collapsed |The Code of Hammurabi and the Twelve Tables were designed to |

|(2) Renaissance began |(1) create a stable society |

|(3) city of Constantinople fell |(2) promote peaceful relations with other cultures |

|(4) Mongols invaded |(3) provide a framework for the development of democracy |

| |(4) emphasize the importance of life after death |

Crossword Puzzle:

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Word Bank: Mediterranean, Carthage, Punic, Republic, Senators, Patricians, Plebeians, Veto, Latin, Generals, Julius, Augustus, Pax Romana, Barbarians, Invasions, Corrupt, Ethnocentric, Constantine, Jesus, Vast

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“Constantine was a Roman Emperor. While the Romans ordered the execution of Jesus and persecuted Jesus, the Romans would eventually make Christianity a world religion when the Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity.

Adapted from roman-

“The next significant event in Constantine's religious development occurred in 312. Lactantius, a tutor for Constantine’s son, reported that during the night before the Battle of the Milvian Bridge. Constantine was commanded in a dream to place the sign of Christ on the shields of his soldiers. Twenty-five years later Eusebius gives us and less convincing account in his Life of Constantine. When Constantine and his army were on their march toward Rome - neither the time nor the location is specified - they observed in broad daylight a strange phenomenon in the sky: a cross of light and the words "by this sign you will be victor". During the next night, so Eusebius' account continued, Christ appeared to Constantine and instructed him to place the heavenly sign on the battle standards of his army.

Whatever vision Constantine may have experienced, he attributed his victory to the power of "the God of the Christians" and committed himself to the Christian faith from that day on, although his understanding of the Christian faith at this time was not very strong. Constantine did not receive baptism until shortly before his death. It would be a mistake to interpret this as a lack of sincerity or commitment; in the fourth and fifth centuries Christians often delayed their baptisms until late in life.

Questions:

1: Who was Constantine? ______________________________________________________________________________

2: According to Lactantius, what happened to Constantine the night before the Battle of the Milvian Bridge? ______________________________________________________________________________

3: According to Eusebius, what happened to Constantine while on the march toward Rome? _______________________________________________________________________

4: How did Constantine interpret this sign? ______________________________________________________________________________

5: How did Constantine’s conversion affect the status of Christians in the Roman Empire? ______________________________________________________________________________

The Good, The Bad, and The Terrible

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“Who can believe that Rome has fallen?”

~Anonymous

Adapted from bbc.co.uk

“In September 476 AD, the last Roman emperor of the west, Romulus Augustulus, was deposed (removed from power) by a Germanic prince called Odovacar. The Roman Empire in Western Europe - a centralized state which had been in existence for 500 years – no longer existed, its single emperor had been replaced by dozens of Germanic kings and princes.”

Adapted from

“Throughout the third century the Roman Empire faced the barbarians. All along the imperial frontier, which ran roughly along the Rhine and Danube, enemies were now pressing. The Franks and other German tribes had come up to the Rhine. The Vandals were in north Hungary and the Visigoths. Behind these in south Russia were the Ostrogoths, and beyond these were the Alans. But now Asians were forcing their way towards Europe. The Huns were already attacking the Alans and Ostrogoths and pushing them to the west.

It is impossible in the space at our disposal to trace the movements of all the various German but let the Vandals serve as an example. They came into history in East Germany. They then moved about 425 A.D. towards Spain. There they found Visigoths from South Russia and other German tribes. From Spain the Vandals sailed for North Africa (429) and captured Carthage (439). They built a fleet. They secured the mastery of the sea and captured and pillaged Rome (455), which had recovered very imperfectly from her capture and looting by Alaric half a century earlier. Then the Vandals made themselves masters of Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia and most of the other islands of the western Mediterranean. They made, in fact, a sea empire very similar in its extent to the sea empire of Carthage seven hundred odd years before. They were at the climax of their power about 477.”

Questions:

1: Who were the barbarians? _____________________________

2: Why did Rome have so many enemies? _____________________________

3: What did the barbarians want? _____________________________

4: What did the Vandals do? _____________________________

4. What happened to the last Roman Emperor of the West? _________________________________________

5. What replaced the empire? ___________________________________________

Questions:

1: What three continents did the Roman Empire extend into? ________________________

2: What sea was the sea that united the Roman Empire? ________________________

3: What problems faced the border regions of the Roman Empire? ________________________

4: What difficulties are faced when ruling a vast empire? ________________________

5: What difficulties are faced when ruling diverse peoples? ________________________

Persecution:

Definition: Causing a person or group of people to suffer due to their religion, race, or culture

Romans persecuted Christians in the Roman Empire for three hundred years until the conversion of a Roman Emperor.

Why?

____________________________

Some Roman Emperors were good. Some Roman Emperors were bad. And some Roman Emperors were terrible. The trouble with a Roman Emperor was that an emperor was emperor for life. The only way to remove the emperor was to kill the emperor. Of course, many Roman Emperors were murdered. Yes, the trouble with an emperor is his unlimited power and unlimited power can be a very dangerous thing, especially if the person with unlimited power is corrupt, cruel, and unethical or immoral. Let’s look at the Roman Emperor, Nero.

Adapted from

“In the reign of the Roman Emperor Nero, in 64 A.D., there was a great fire in the city of Rome. It started in a very poor area downtown and at first none of the rich people cared very much. You see fires often burned down apartment buildings in the poorer areas of Rome, because people lived in three- or four-storey wooden buildings and heated their rooms with fires.

The rich people just built a big stone wall between the slum and the better parts of Rome, to keep the fire from spreading to their own houses. But this fire spread over the wall. It burned down a lot of downtown Rome. People were very upset.

Nero was out of town when the fire started. When he heard about the fire, he came back to Rome. People expected that he would help out somehow: maybe give people money to rebuild their houses, or hand out blankets, or something. But he didn't. Instead, Nero announced that he was going to take a lot of the land where the buildings had burned down and build himself a great big new palace there, called the Golden House. And he did (you can see it today, if you go to Rome).

People were angry that he hadn't helped them, and they started saying that Nero had started the fire himself in order to clear land for his palace. Nero needed to find someone else to blame. Nero thought of the Christians. Many people hated the Christians anyway, so they wouldn't mind blaming them.”

“They hated them mainly because they were different, and because they tried to get other people to become Christians too. So, Nero arrested a bunch of Christians. He blamed the fire on them, and had the arrested Christians burned alive.”

Questions:

1: What happened in Rome in 64 A.D.? _______________________

2: Why did this event happen? _______________________

3: Why were the rich people upset? _______________________

4: Why were the Romans angry with Emperor Nero? _______________________

5: Who did Emperor Nero blame? _______________________

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