Three Main Factors in Downfall of Roman Empire

Three Main Factors in Downfall of Roman Empire
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Three Main Factors in Downfall of Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was one of the most influential historical regimes of Roman authorities over western, eastern, and central Rome. It denotes the ancient civilization approximately before the third century. The historians value this kingdom for remaining in power for around one thousands year. The history of the Roman Empire and the factors leading to its fall is archeologically traceable with a few contextual pieces of evidence, which many historians consider unauthentic. Different analysts and historians attempt to trace the history through vestiges, graveyards, and ancient remains of the civilization. Due to the long period of Empire in power, no other historical domain got that much research, archeological sources, and debates. However, none of them leads to the exact causes of the Empire's fall. Relying on the most trustworthy archeological research by many historians and researchers, a few similar reasons are responsible for its demise. The migration period of barbarians is one of the most cited events by renowned historians. Many others discuss the disloyal military's role and missionaries' arrival as the most forceful pressures pushing the Empire down. Nevertheless, the authors connect the unreliable army and the rise of a new religion to the coming of barbarians as the primary cause. It becomes clear that the most significant reason was the barbarian migration, which stimulated other essential factors to break the Empire. The three most important reasons leading to the fall of the great Roman Empire include the migration of barbarians, the faithless and divided army, and the rise of Christianity; however, the latter two reasons are deeply connected to the forceful entry barbarians, which is the primary cause.
The invasion of barbarians is one of the most significant forces driving the fall of the Roman Empire. Many scholars agree that it was not the beginning of social or ethical drawbacks that harmed the authority more than the European invaders, who impacted the state's social, cultural, and political sphere at the same time. Peter Heather is one of those historians who vehemently claim that the Roman Empire was doing socially and morally well when barbarians invaded and tore apart the government from the 3rd to 5th century. He supports his claim by unfolding the happenings from Huns to Vandals to signify the step-by-step defeat of the Roman military, resulting in its final downfall. Also, he emphasizes the forced entry of Goths into the territory of Europe, which specifies the eastern incursion to cut the roots of the strategic power establishment of the Roman Empire. Heather compellingly puts the barbarian's invasion on the top of the list of factors in breaking Roman Empire. He refers to many Huns, who enforced Goths or eastern tribes to overrun the military forces and weaken the influence or regime through battles. He tells the reader about fighting between them in different wars like Hadrianople to discuss the struggling Empire and forceful control of barbarians. In short, like many other historians, Heather also rejects the notion of the social or moral crisis behind the collapse of the Roman Empire while categorizing the invasion of eastern tribes as the most substantial factor.[Peter Heather, The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians (New York: OUP USA, 2007), 550.] []
The barbarian presence as a threat to Roman Empire is verifiable by many other historians. Wallace-Hadrill is another author who emphasizes the Huns' role in socio-economic problems and different survival scenarios of the era like war and plague. The historian considers Huns, as the most primitive immigrants, with their intentions to sweep across the south. The Empire faced many other crises like agricultural failure stemming from war and plague. Also, the army began to collapse for being unable to save far-reaching boundaries. He also refers to religious changes, like the rise of Christianity in Constantinople, which gave their hand in demising the Roman Empire. Wallace-Hadrill focuses on barbarian migration than on any other social, political, or religious aspects influencing the Empire. Although he relates the history of war and plague worsening the situation, he maintains the argument of tribal migration infecting the Roman Empire above all.[J. M. Wallace-Hadrill, Barbarian West 400 - 1000 (Hoboken: Wiley-Blackwell, 1996), 140.]
The fall of the Roman Empire and its connection to the interference by neighbors is one of the most critically evaluated topics by analysts and historians. While many authors consider the coming of barbarians as the momentous reason for getting the Empire on its knees, many others opine that the tribal involvement was inevitable in structuring and culminating medieval Europe. Guy Halsall is one of the historians who explores the barbarian migrations as an essential element in creating early medieval Europe. Contrary to the other studies, discovering the archeological and historical evidence, like Neil Christie, to debate the complex relationship between the Roman Empire and its neighboring states, Halsall discusses Western society's social and political aspects, emphasizing drastic changes. He gives an account of the migration era, calculating the changes in identity and communities. His historical research shows the improvement of the kingdom, which resulted from the involvement of European and North African tribes.. Halsall also reviews the history of the fall of the Roman Empire with its association to barbarian migration. However, he reversed the thesis constructed by many other historians and valued the tribal invasion to the generation and progress of early medieval Europe. His reversal of contemporarily approved view can quickly gather that barbarian invasion was one of the most critical factors in driving the Empire down, as analyzed by different critics with different perspectives.[Guy Halsall, Barbarian Migrations and the Roman West, 376-568 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), 378.]
Early medieval Europe grew from the eastern migration, giving the society a social, political, and cultural rise. Different barbarian groups emerged in eastern and Western Europe, showing profound religious and cultural changes. Collins provides a narrative account of other barbarian groups like Vikings to highlight the role of migration in the creation of medieval Europe with its cultural advancements. Vikings were a group with strong leadership that attempted to gain power by defeating the military in many ways. Affected by the famine and authoritative restrictions, they moved from one place to another to get firm standing. Lastly, their invasion attained supremacy, and present-day Normandy connects back to their history in its social, political, and cultural improvements.. Besides, the author accentuates the religious conversion, and inhabitants' tendency to accept Christianity and Islam gave remarkable religious change to Roman Empire. Collins's research verifies that the demise of the Roman Empire is closely related to the barbarian invasion of the territory. Like Halsall, he also tells the story of the cultural improvement of society with the migration of different tribal groups like Vikings, although it distributed the nation politically.[Roger Collins, Early Medieval Europe, 300-1000 (London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2017), 332.] [Collins, 208.]
The archeological databases from different sources also indicate the transformation of early medieval Europe with the advent of foreigners. The adoption of common culture or the foreigners as found through various archeological researches show the drastic cultural changes in the migration period. The integration and acculturation of Europe in the 5th and 6th centuries show the impact of barbarian culture on the natives. It also signifies the influence of the native lifestyle over the foreigners, which produces a new culture. Consequently, it gave a unique ethnic tinge to the land through an evolution from the demise of the Roman Empire to traditional Europe. The different archeological sources, denoting the influence of migration over the natives and their coexistence, imply the cultural collapse of the Roman Empire.[ Rgzm, "Foreigners in Early Medieval Europe," RGZM, accessed December 10, 2021, https://www2.rgzm.de/foreigners/frame.cfm?Language=UK#../cfm/Main.cfm?Language=UK]
The entry of barbarian tribes is one of the most notable events in defeating the Roman Empire with its many eastern groups. Huns is one of the most discussed foreigner groups in the history of the development of medieval Europe. Edward Arthur Thompson is the only historian who narrowed his research on Huns. He showed how this group attacked north of the Black Sea and conquered the central European regime following the decease of renowned Attila. Focusing on Huns, the professor discusses ups and downs in their endeavor to invade central and east Europe. The historical account by Thompson directs many changes in different parts of Europe by the invasion of Huns, one of the most well-known foreign migrants. In short, Thompson's research notifies the importance of barbarians in European states in stimulating its sociopolitical growth from the Roman Empire to the medieval period.[E. A. Thompson, The Huns (Hoboken: Wiley-Blackwell, 1999), 40.]
Many other historical books show Rome's social, political, cultural, religious, and law transformation through foreign incursion. Particularly emphasizing Huns, different professors explore the confrontation of Romans and barbarians as the beginning of a new Europe with innovations in judiciary procedures. Rosenberg underlies the invasion of barbarians in large numbers in Gaul, which affected the Iron Age's judiciary. Also, the author dives down deep into learning the drastic changes during migration through the vestiges in photos.. Rosenberg's multipart story of the Germanic chieftains and the development of Constantinople to Canterbury displays the responsibility of barbarians for the fall of the Roman Empire.[ Harry Rosenberg, "Barbarians and Romans: The Birth Struggle of Europe, AD. 400–700. By Justine Davis Randers-Pehrson. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1983. xix + 400 pp. $29.50," Church History 53, no. 4 (2009): 528, doi:10.2307/3166127.]
Traveling back to the history of the Roman Empire, two schools of thought seem to refute each other. The professors like Rosenberg, Halsall, Thompson, and others consider the foreign invasion a positive cultural phenomenon. However, another group of scholars believes it is a great catastrophe, affecting a civilized society and throwing it back to its primitive lifestyle. Bryan Ward-Perkins convincingly argues that the massive incursion of barbarians terrorized the West and led them to the horrible destruction of civilization. The author reverses contemporary theories and conceptually provides evidence that violence and primitivism affected the socio-economic life of the inhabitants.. Wa...