Rome Day 6

The Fall of the Roman Empire
Questions P. 176

1.
Inflation - Drastic drop in value of money coupled with a rise in prices.
Mercenary - Foreign soldier fighting for money.
Diocletian - Strong-willed army leader, became Emperor in 284 A.D. Ruled with an iron fist and severely limited personal freedoms. Also restored order to the empire and increased its strength. Doubled the size of the army and sought to control inflation by setting fixed prices on goods.
Constantinople - Meaning city of Constantine. Capital of the Eastern Roman Empire.
Attila - Powerful chieftan who terrorized both halves of the Roman Empire with his army of 100,000 men. In the East, his army attacked and plundered 70 cities, although failing to scale the high walls of Constantinople. In 452 A.D. his forces advanced against Rome but failed due to famine and disease bouts.

3.
The main internal causes to Rome's downfall were the economy falling and military and political turmoil. Inflation made the money less valuable and at the same time prices were rising. At the same time harvests in Italy and Western Europe became increasingly meager because the overworked soil lost its fertility. More so, years of war had destroyed a lot of the farmland. Eventually, serious food shortages and disease spread, and the population declined. Over time, Roman soldiers became less disciplined and loyal, meaning the army could just fall apart, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Eventually the Empire would have to hire mercenaries, and although they accepted lower pay than Romans, they had little to no loyalty to the Empire. Conditions in the Empire eventually caused citizens to lose their sense of patriotism, making them become indifferent to the Empire's fate.

4.
Diocletian succeeded in preserving the Empire by re-strengthening the army by doubling its size and then setting fixed prices for goods to control the inflation. Along with this he split the empire in two so that two rulers could control the vast and complex empire together. To restore prestige to the office of emperor, he presented himself in a godlike aura at ceremonies and claimed to be a descendant from ancient Roman gods.

5.
Germanic tribes began invading the empire because the Huns started pushing them out of their native lands. The Germanic people needed somewhere to go so they started pushing through Gaul and eventually into Rome to flee from the Huns.