What led to the decline of the Roman Empire?

Answer

The conversion of Christianity most. That and the Huns.

Answer

Barry Glodwater and others felt the welfare system was the main problem, and wrote the following...

"And here we encounter the seeds of government disaster and collapse, the kind that wrecked ancient Rome and every other civilization that allowed a socio-political monster called the welfare state to exist."

Answer

That is a complex question with complex answers and the above two answers are either too vague and not complete (the first) and the second is, pardon me, idiotic*. The first answer was the large borders and territories that Rome had to defend year after year, about 400 something years. They had many enemies, whether in North Africa, or the Middle East, or present day Germany, Spain and Romania. They needed a very large army and this army, in order to stay loyal demanded money and gifts. Each emperor had to first gain the confidence of the army or outright bribe them and this lead to an uneasy peace within the Roman empire. Also, the constant warfare, whether amongst each other or with tribes and other empires, like the Parthian empire, greatly reduced their population which meant less soldiers. Less Italian soldiers forced the Romans to recruit many soldiers from places they had conquered and this cost money as well as helped ferment many revolts. The Romans then had to send soldiers to garrison the places they had just annexed. For example, with their territory in Egypt, Rome would have lost their grain supply and starved so all throughout it's history, Roman legions, and many of them, stayed in Egypt.

2.The Senate didn't like the Emperor and visa versa and he in turn had to always be on guard for assassins. No one thought of themselves as Roman, but as members of this or that family or they had allegiance only to a general or province. This lead to many, many revolts and a few civil wars which again killed off populations, decreased trust in the rulers army and the Senate, and disrupted trade.Also, the Roman economy depended on slaves and this lead to very little innovation as far as technology. Inflation was a constant danger and with an inadequate economic system Rome had to conquer and conquer more nations (kingdoms) in order to get money and resources for the army that had to defend it's very long border which meant more money so more territory and plunder had to be won and so on and so on.

As the Roman empire started fading they had to fight battles on more fronts and this wore down the treasury and men. The Huns, Visigoths and others attacked, made peace, attacked made peace and so on until eventually Rome was sacked.

3.Rome had no welfare state but simply a grain allotment to the most destitute of their population (and only in Rome itself) and then only to prevent a revolt. Those "welfare recipients" could not just go out and get a job, as is implied by Glodwater by even bringing up a welfare state. They had the army which was anywhere from a 16 year to 20 year enlistment, or they could beg, or they could die. Those lazy bastards!! Sitting around all day starving when they could be getting killed for an emperors' glory!

First answer by David WWofford. Last edit by Eddiecai6464. Contributor trust: 12 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 159 [recommend question]