Many Historians have had many fluent views on the main causes of the collapse of what we would refer to at the western Roman Empire today. The eastern Roman Empire was Complex as well but with the siege of Constantinople in 1453 it is easy to see that the eastern Roman Empire fell.

As far as the Western Empire it wasn’t one drastic collapse, but a gradual decline. Given that this decline happened over centuries different people will look to different causes for the ultimate collapse in 476 C.E. What are some of the theories that these historians point out as the collapse of Rome itself? Let’s go over a few of them to see why so many people might come to a main reason:

Empire: as republic turned to Oligarchy turned to borderline monarchy, Aristotle’s political theory of gradual decline came to fruition. If you had a dynamic emperor like Augustus( even though he is a historical Rorschach) you would have stable leadership. Nepotism reared it’s ugly head with the likes of Caligula Commodus, Domitian, and Caracalla. If you have a strong leader than you have control. If you have a maniac or a monster or a literal child then you would lack control. Without a doubt the western half of the empire after the crisis of the third century did not get the lions share of stable emperors especially after Majorian.

Christianity: Edward Gibbon is famous for this theory. He proposed that Christianity led to the collapse. It’s an interesting concept that Christianity was a hot button issue for the majority of the empire( not republic). With Christians spreading throughout the empire certain emperors has ways of dealing with them. Whether A Nero would light his palace at night with them or Trajan would recommend pliny to attest them if they did anything illegal or seditious. Some would have waves of terror up until Constantine “unified” Christianity at the council of Nicae in 325( Christianity was far from unified before and after this but for the sake of argument let’s say there was a semi larger orthodoxy). Theodosius making Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire gave a lot of power to the church. Gratian even went so far as rejecting the title Pontifex Maximus. A title held since Augustus. Could Christianity had an impact on leadership as well as the army?

The army: Rome at its peak was a Military state. They glorified conquest and hailed their men as heroes. Fortunes were occasionally even won as an officer would gain military Glory. Late into the Republic the army was looking a lot less Roman and a little more barbaric. It’s hard to fight for a state that inherently thinks your people are barbarians. At times throughout the empire they were paid handsomely. When they weren’t they would not be afraid to let anyone know. Constant threats to the border made the army a dangerous position.

Outside Tribes: There were many. The goths, Huns, vandalls, franks, Britains, ETC. the goths had one of the harshest treatments under Rome. Seemingly giving the romans many opportunities to work together they eventually started a fracture from within. Adrianople is a monumental battle. If they wanted they could have ran through the empire after the gothic cavalry sunk the Roman army. However they weren’t the only ones. The Huns seemed invincible, the vandals were great at burning ships, the Goths showed strategic capabilities, all of these tribes adapted to battle. Rome did something similar as they were growing as an empire, but their hubris stagnated them.

Economy: many emperors never learned that the more coinage you make the less valuable you make it. The economy was extremely unstable. As the western empire shrank so did the tax revenue. As the tax revenue shrinks the less you can pay the soldiers.

Dividing the empire: Diocletian ended the crisis of the third century with strong leadership and forward thinking. Establishing the tetrarchy was a brilliant maneuver. The empire became too big for its own good. With two senior emperors and two junior emperors both serving ten years he set up a system that was...ultimately doomed to fail. As he stepped down, Constantine gobbled up territory and soon was the sole emperor. At least Diocletian had amazing cabbages to show for it. However Theodosius was the last sole emperor of the entirety of Rome. After that it was split between East and west. East has riches, stable military, less threats, and a capital that was almost impossible to overrun. The west had unstable borders, a food supply entirely dependent on Egypt, instability within, and bad leadership. Ticking time mob.

We will stop there. Any one of these can be seen as the nail in the coffin, but within the bigger picture Rome collapsed for many many many different reasons. I believe that many historians have many different main theories because it was such a well documented fall. If we can pinpoint one main thing we can learn from our history. Marcus Tullius Cicero put it best by saying “To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child. For what is the worth of human life, unless it is woven into the life of our ancestors by the records of history?”’with all of these theories we can maybe try to learn something from it