Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire and How Life in Western Europe was Transformed

There were many different aspects that contributed to the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. Rome flourished for a long time, but eventually began to fall. There is not only one answer to why Rome fell, but many different things that played different parts in the fall of the great empire. One very big thing that contributed to the fall was the economy, specifically taxes. The taxes rose so much that even the wealthy families were struggling to pay them. If the rich families were having problems paying, that meant that the poor families were having even more problems paying. Some of the poorer families who failed to pay the taxes had to be permanent inmates of the prison. The emperor saw that the economy was failing and tried to fix it by making prices stable. The merchants began to price things unfairly. They would make a very small item cost a ridiculously high price. The emperor tried to help again by setting a maximum price, but the merchants ignored the new rule. The emperor couldn’t find a solution to the failing economy. Another theory of the decline and fall was Christianity. More and more people were converting to the religion of Christianity. Once Constantine converted to Christianity, the people of the empire were even more focused on Christianity and even less focused on things such as the improving the military and inventing new things. They put all of their money into the church, and the church didn’t even help during Rome’s downfall. This caused the empire to not move forward which helped its decline and eventual fall. Disease was another contributing factor of the decline. Diseases were being spread rapidly and they did not have very many effective ways to treat them. The military was also failing and without a strong military to protect them, Rome could be taken over more easily. They could not expand their empire or protect themselves from their enemies.

The life in Western Europe changes dramatically. It was very chaotic and the people there had a hard time adjusting. Cities were invaded, there were small tribes succeeding on their own instead of banding together, and there was the new idea of Christianity which although didn’t make life worse, it made it different. Religious figures became nearly as important as political figures. That is why Rome fell and how life in Western Europe dramatically changed.