Resumo de The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
According to Edward Gibbon, the Roman Empire succumbed to barbarian invasions because of a loss of civic virtue among its citizens. They had become lazy and soft,outsourcing their duties to defend their Empire to barbarian mercenaries, who then became so numerous and ingrained that they were able to take over the Empire. Romans, he believed, had become effeminate, unwilling to live the military lifestyle.In addition Christianity. Christianity, created a belief that a better life existed after death. This fostered indifference to this life among Roman citizens, thus sapping their desire to sacrifice for the Empire. Its comparative pacifismtended to sap the traditional Roman martial spirit. The first adumbration of disaster came in the spring of 376, when the empire suddenly faced a problem with a modern resonance. Asylum-seeking Goths by the ten thousand gathered on the northern banks of the Danube, begging for entry. Hoping the refugees would make good soldiers and slaves, Rome let the Goths in. Lacking land and food, they went on a rampage through the Balkans which culminated two years later in the Battle of Hadrianople, in which the Romans suffered one of their most disastrous defeats. But this was not the real problem. The Goths were fleeing an unknown race of men had appeared from some remote corner of the earth, uprooting and destroying everything in its path. The Huns were coming. Sweeping in from the Russian steppes, they scattered others westward - first the Goths, then Alans, Franks, Vandals, Suebi and Alemanni to name a few. The Hun had also arrived. They later vanished, but the trouble they had caused didn't. Inside the empire, the Germanic tribes were like cancer cells, gaining strength as they moved. Roman troops deployed by a central power, dependent on fixed bases, could not control, let alone eradicate, travelling hordes. The Goths, united into Visi (western) Goths by pressure first from the Huns then the Roman opposition, fought and negotiated their way from the Balkans into Italy, where they sacked Rome, before drifting on to settle in Aquitaine. Eventually all France, Spain and North Africa was a patchwork of barbarian kingdoms, increasingly sophisticated, increasingly committed to unity, a settled life, trade and political interaction. In brief, they were barbarians no more, but incipient nations, often adopting Roman ways. This is a fearfully complicated narrative, which Gibbon handles with consummate skill and authority. First, he positions the balls on the table, Rome and Constantinople here, barbarians there, Persians off to one side. He portrays the awesome appeal of Romanness, which locked peoples from Spain to Syria in an embrace as seductive as it was powerful. Gibbon also mentioned the climate, while reserving naming it as a cause of the decline, saying "the climate (whatsoever may be its influence) was no longer the same." While judging the loss of civic virtue and the rise of Christianity to be a lethal combination, Gibbon did find other factors possibly contributing in the decline.And they include the following as explained in the threefold below;A. .The Romans were ignorant of the extent of their danger, and the number of their enemies. Beyond the Rhine and Danube, the northern countries of Europe and Asia were filled with innumerable tribes of hunters and shepherds, poor, voracious, and turbulent; bold in arms, and impatient to ravish the fruits of industry. The Barbarian world was agitated by the rapid impulse of war; and the peace of Gaul or Italy was shaken by the distant revolutions of China. The Huns, who fled before a victorious enemy, directed their march towards the West; and the torrent was swelled by the gradual accession of captives and allies. The flying tribes who yielded to the Huns assumed in their turn the spirit of conquest; the endless column of Barbarians pressed on the Roman empire wih accumulated weight; and, if the foremost were destroyed, the vacant space was instantly replenished by new assailants. From the Gulf of Finland to the Eastern Ocean, Russia now assumed the form of a powerful and civilized empire, which threatened the Roman Empire.B. The empire of Rome was firmly established by the singular and perfect coalition of its members. But this union was purchased by the loss of national freedom and military spirit; and the servile provinces, destitute of life and motion, expected their safety from the mercenary troops and governors, who were directed by the orders of a distant court. The happiness of an hundred millions depended on the personal merit of one or two men, perhaps children, whose minds were corrupted by education, luxury, and despotic power. The deepest wounds were inflicted on the empire during the minorities of the sons and grandsons of Theodosius; and, after those incapable princes seemed to attain the age of manhood, they abandoned the church to the bishops, the state to the eunuchs, and the provinces to the Barbarians.. C. Cold, poverty, and a life of danger and fatigue, fortified the strength and courage of Barbarians. The warlike states of antiquity, Greece, Macedonia, and Rome, educated a race of soldiers; exercised their bodies, disciplined their courage, multiplied their forces by regular evolutions, and converted the iron which they possessed into strong and serviceable weapons.

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