Introduction
For a period of half millennium in power, the Romans at last lost their hold on Europe in 400’s CE. This century created countless devastation, political instabilities, and fascinating historical issues on how the Fall of Rome came into existence. Two centuries after the fall, Europe appeared to be very diverse compared to the time during Roman rule. There was severe deterioration in the Western Civilization. The foreign invasions especially the barbarians largely interrupted the region. This period was seen as the end of the ancient Age and the beginning of the middle age (Delbruck, 1990).
Reason for the decline and fall of Rome
Increasing pressure from the barbarians forced the Romans to let many foreigners dominate the state. There were newly accepted resident aliens, and majority of them were recruited into the Roman army making barbarian soldiers. These barbarians sneaked into the Empire at a higher rate that Rome at a higher rate turned into a state of immigrants. The Knowledge gained of Roman mode of warfare as well as military tactics through serving within the Roman Army by the Barbarians, was the major cause of the fall of the Roman Empire (Hayworth, 1999).
The withdrawal of the Roman soldiers of the Rhine-Danude leadership in CE third century following the Italy civil war, made the borders of Rome to be left open for any attack (Delbrück, 1990). The Germanic hunters, herders that were originating from the central and the northern Europe, got involved in raiding and took over the Roman land. The general Germanic Odovacar made himself the ruling leader for the entire Italy after overthrowing the Roman Emperors. Since then, Germanic chiefs led the Western area of the Empire and pirates dominated with bandits forced traveling to be unsafe. The development of cities reduced, forcing trade and transactions to disappear.
Moral and value declines
Morals and values began to decline during the final moments of the Empire. This has made several historians to believe this as one of the contributors for the decline of the Empire. Violent crimes put the many cities and streets into insecurity environments (Spielvogel, 2009).
Environmental and state health problems
Majority of the historians have believed that ecological and communal health problems caused by the Barbarians were the put the Roman Empire into fall. They claim that taking much authority by the Barbarians to rule, killed most leaders from Rome. They also argue that residents, who were wealthy, managed to pipe water to their homelands for use and causing death among those who could not afford to have piped water.
Uncalled for military expenditure
The long-term military left very few resources that could aid in other important activities for instance; provision of public housing and retaining the improved state of public roads. Later on, during the times of the empire, the Roman who highly irritated gave up the aspiration to guard the whole empire. The emperors, who were just farmers and business people, were made to contribute taxes frequently to the government to keep the hired soldiers interfering with the economy. This has made historians to consider it as a contributor to the loss of the Empire (Heather, 2010).
Justification for ‘The Dark Ages after the fall of Roman Empire
Historians name the period after the fall of Rome ‘The Dark Ages” because of its negative connotations. The Dark Ages meant the time period ushered in after the failing of the West Roman Empire. This occurred after the deposition of the final Western emperor known as Romulus Augustulus by Odoacer who was the Barbarian in AD 476.
In the initial days, the term dark meant the era when backward ways and activities that prevailed in the state. Nevertheless, upcoming historians, made use of the term “dark” to indicate how little were revealed during that period. The latest finding apparently have distorted the perception because a lot of facts that took place during this period have not been discovered. The term Dark Age is justified and discussed in the following areas of concern;
The state of the Church
The Dark Age meant the period of time for religious struggle, where the Protestants and the Catholics perceived the era in an opposing stand. Protestants viewed it as the era of catholic corruption as they were not comfortable with the actions of papal doctrines and ranking among the Catholics, whereas the Catholics found it to be an era of religious peace and harmony. The Dark Age was also linked to the vast conquests of the Muslims who took part in the fallen empire (Spielvogel, 2009).
Faith and Enlightenment
The Dark Ages time was known as faith age, individuals sought God’s help through staid rituals. Religion was believed to be contrary to prudence and therefore there was the need to shift towards enlightenment.
The most vital contribution of the Carolingian Empire to Western Civilization
The Carolingian Empire integrated the majority of Western Europe in a unity of ruler, which was later named the Carolingians, Frankish king’s family that created the roots of the empire that made the Romans to fail in controlling the Western Europe (Knox, 2005). The bigger contribution was also from Charlemagne on Western Civilization as he created machinery government.
Conclusion
To conclude, the barbarianism invasion to Rome, introduced destructive ways that deteriorated the morals and values, environmental and public health status, and the church status more so on faith and enlightenment yet these are important areas of concern for any state. These have forced state of Roman into Dark Age era and the collapse of it’s the Empire.
List of References
Delbrück, H., (1990). The Barbarian Invasions: History of the Art of Wars. Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press.
Hayworth, S. A. (1999). The barbarian invasions. Chicago: University of Chicago
Heather, P., (2010). Empires and Barbarians: The Fall of Rome and the Birth of Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Knox, S., (2005). History of Western Civilization. Boise: Boise State University.
Spielvogel, J. (2009). Western Civilization, Vol. I: To 1715, Thomson/Wadsworth. 7th Edition, ISBN: 13 978-0-495-50287-6.