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Rome Falls in the hands of Odovacar

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Article by: Harvey Justice

After a series of events, the heavily foreseen Fall of Rome has occured. Many blame the relatively recent introduction of Christianity, which turned many Roman citizens into pacifists, making it more difficult to defend against the barbarian attackers. Also money used to build churches could have been used to maintain the empire. Although some argue that Christianity may have provided some morals and values for a declining civilization and therefore may have actually managed to prolong the imperial era.           Public Health is a problem, as there were many health and enviromental problems. Most of the wealthy had water brought to their homes through lead pipes. Previously the aqueducts had even purified the water, however, at the end the lead pipes were thought to be preferable. The death rate of the wealthy was very high. The continuous interaction of people at the colosseum, the blood and death probable spreaded disease. Those who lived on the streets in continuous contact allowed for an uninterrupted strain of disease much like the homeless in the much poorer run shelters of today. Alcohol use also increased as well adding to the incompetency of the general public.           One of the most difficult problems was choosing a new emperor. Unlike Greece where transition may have not been smooth but was at least consistent, the Romans never created an effective system to determine how the new emperors would be selected. The choice was always open to debate between the old emperor, the Senate, the Praetorian Guard, and the army. Over time, the Praetorian Guard gained complete authority to choose the new emperor, who rewarded the guard who, at that point, became more influential. Then in 186 A.D the army strangled the new emperor, the practice began of selling the throne to the highest bidder. Over the next 100 years, Rome had 37 different emperors- 25 of whom were removed from office by gruesome assassination. This contributed to the overall weaknesses of the empire.           The empire also struggled from mass unemployment, inflation, urban decay, heavy military spending and inferior technology which led to them failing to maintain their legions.           For many years, the well-disciplined Roman army held the barbarians of Germany back. Then, in the 3rd century A.D, the Roman soldiers were pulled out from the Rhine-Danube frontier to fight civil war in Italy. This costly event led to the Roman border open to attack. Gradually Germanic herders and hunters from the north began to overtake Roman lands in Gaul and Greece. Then, in 476 A.D, the Germanic general Odovacar overthrew the last left of the economically and militarily drained Rome. Now, the western part of the empire was ruled by Germanic chieftain. Roads and bridges are left in disrepair and fields left untilled. Bandits and pirates make travel unsafe there. Cities are unable to be maintained without the goods of the now deserted farms. The trade and business have just seemed to vanish. Rome is no more.