Rome Day 6

The Fall of the Roman Empire
Questions P. 176

1.
Inflation - Drastic drop in the value of money coupled with a rise in prices.
Mercenary - Foreign soldier fighting for money.
Diocletian - Strong-willed army leader who became emperor in 284 A.D. Ruled with an iron fist and severely limited personal freedoms. He restored order to the empire and increased its strength. Doubled the size of the army and sought to control inflation for setting fixed prices on goods.
Constantinople - Means city of Constantine. Originally called Byzantium, became the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire.
Attila - Powerful chieftan who terrorized both halves of the empire with his 100,000 men army. In the East, his armies attacked and plundered 70 cities (However, failing to scale the high walls of Constantinople). In 452 A.D. he and his forces advanced against Rome, but bouts of famine and disease kept them from conquering the city.

3.
The main internal problems within the empire were economic failings, and military and political turmoil. Inflation made it hard on citizens and with Harvests becoming increasingly meager in Italy and Western Europe due to overworked soil losing its fertility and war destroying much of the farmland, Serious food shortages and disease soon spread. The population began to decline. With these events, Romans lost their sense of patriotism and soldiers loyalty and discipline declined. They became indifferent to the fate of the Empire. The army had to start hiring mercenaries who although would accept lower pay than Romans, had little to no loyalty for the Empire.

4.
Diocletian succeeded in preserving the empire by restoring order and increasing its strength. He began by doubling the army's size and controlling inflation by setting fixed prices on goods. He also realized that the Empire was too large and complex to be ruled alone, so he split the empire into East and West and stayed in control of the West while maintaining a co-ruler in the East.

5.
The reason why so many Germanic tribes began invading Rome is because of the Huns. The Huns came into the Germanic native area and pushed them away from the area, in an attempt to flee, the Germanic tribes pushed into Gaul and eventually into Rome.