Was moral decay the downfall of the Roman Empire? I'm trying to write a paper that will reference this topic but I'm having a hard time getting past pay-walls to well-researched papers. If /his/ can help me with just a few sources, that would be great. Thanks
>>1218832
Library. Visit it.
No.
A. Acceptance of Christianity.
B. Reliance on foreign mercenary armies
C. Unwieldy size. When Rome was just Romans, it was fiercely nationalist expansionist and virile. As its borders expanded Romans within the perimeter got soft and impotent.
>>1218876
All of these lengthened the condition of the Empire though. If they stayed the same way they had since Caesar's day the Empire would've fallen far sooner. I agree about the size though, they overextended way too much while allowing the core of their citizen ship to opt out of military duty. You can't really be a fiercely aggressive military power and have a large population of sedative citizenry.
> Was moral decay the downfall of the Roman Empire?
Yes, it was one of many reasons. It is a miracle that empire survived while so many factors were stacked against it.
>>1218993
Christian Emperor Constantin wreaked the empire by his military "reforms" buy withdrawing troops from the borders
>>1218832
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plague_of_Cyprian
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonine_Plague
Both of these plagues killed a lot of people in the Roman empire and more importantly traveled along the main trade routes. The most important cities and regions had the lions share of the deaths.The city of Rome was gutted along with many of the larger Italian cities. The hinterlands of the empire were lightly effected in contrast. This gravely changed the balance of power inside the Roman Empire. It did not cause the Crisis of the Third Century, but it made it much worst. The lands that made up the Gallic Empire could not of even tried to break away before that .
>>1219005
Emperor Constantine weakened the Roman Empire sure by changing the military. However the greatest threats to the Empire were internal at the time. By forcing the border provinces to have to call for Imperial aid if threatened it puts them in line. Roman history had by that time very clearly shown that formations stationed for a long time in the same area would come under the influence of the local powers that be.
I think that the best way to put it was that Constantine choose the best of a number of poor options at the time.
