The Western Roman Empire: The Significance of Its Collapse Essay

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The Western Roman Empire was one of the parts of the Roman Empire, located on the west, with its capital Mediolanum, now known as Milan. There were several periods of the Western Roman Empire’s existence, and the abdication of Romulus Augustus was the final reason of the Western Roman Empire’s official fall.

After that empire announced its end, a new era began, and it was called the Middle Ages, also known as the Dark Ages, the period when the Islamic world changed considerably and Islamic traditions became more and more significant and recognizable by the whole world (Stearns & Langer, 101). However, lots of other problems in political and cultural spheres took place, as lots of people wanted to present own rules and traditions.

If the Western Roman Empire had survived even in a shrunken form because of Italian influence and pressure, the development of European and Islamic cultures and their history would have changed considerably: the role of churches would not have been so significant as it had been during the Middle Ages and the Middle Asia would not have learnt Islamic culture on a profound level.

The fall of the Western Roman Empire was the most noticeable signal for the start of the Early Middle Ages. When the Empire lost its power and influence over other countries and nations, it turned into one more decentralized region of Europe. This collapse gave a green light for the development of many other religions and the possibility to occupy the territory of the Western Roman Empire for other tribes and nations.

The point is that the Western Roman Empire was a kind of split of several different traditions and religions. The Romans felt the power to unite everything and not to share with other countries. However, the collapse of the Western Roman Empire led to the division of certain common ideas and interests and created more opportunities for other religions to develop and spread over the whole world.

So, this fall of one of the greatest empires in the world during the Ancient Ages caused numerous changed and provided other nations with an opportunity to spread and gain recognition.

Now, it is high time to imagine what could happen to all European and Islamic countries, if the Western Roman Empire had continued its existence, even in a shrunken form. Well, first of all, the role of churches was not widely spread over the world, and the Middle Ages were not so popular because of its religious aspects. Even more, it is hardly to imagine whether the Middle Ages started in the middle of the 5th century.

Another significant point is the spread of Islam over the other countries of the Central Asia. Such countries as Uzbekistan and Afghanistan would not have heard about Islam and its rules concerning the matter of devotion to own nation and traditions; so that numerous wars between Afghanistan and other European countries would not take place.

The events, which happened at the middle of the 5th century concerning “ Western civilization from the Roman Empire to the Middle Ages was a story of decline and decay” (Goldberg, 1995).

Of course, it is impossible to change the history, however, it is possible to evaluate how significant one mistake may be for the rest of the world. The Western Roman Empire was not the most powerful nation during the Ancient Ages, however, its collapse gave a way for new achievements and rather significant development of the events.

Lots of European and Islamic countries won a lot from that collapse: churches became crucially important, Islam became its development over the world, and people got a chance to feel that the existence of one nation may considerably influence the development of the others.

Works Cited

Goldberg, Eric, J. The Fall of the Roman Empire Revisited: Sidonius Appolinaris and His Crisis of Identity. 1995. Web.

Stearns, Peter, N. & Langer, William, L. The Encyclopedia of World History: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern, Chronologically Arranged. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2001.

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