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Despite the obvious fact that the majority of Roman emperors were scheming, devious,
opportunistic, or plainly insane, the world view dominated the social life of the Roman
citizen of the Empire. The history of the Empire is dotted with political assassinations,
strangulations, emperors playing fiddles while Rome burned, court intrigue and rivalry not
to mention a widespread incidence of downright insanity or paranoid schizophrenia. In the
end, it is extraordinary that the Roman Empire existed for as long as it did. For Edward
Gibbon, author of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (3 vols, 1770s), the
decline of Rome was natural and required little explanation: "The decline of Rome was the
natural and inevitable effect of immoderate greatness. Prosperity ripened the principle of
decay; the cause of the destruction multiplied with the extent of conquest; and, as soon as
time or accident and removed the artificial supports, the stupendous fabric yielded to the
pressure of its own weight. The story of the ruin is simple and obvious: and instead of
inquiring why the Roman Empire was destroyed we should rather be surprised that it has
subsisted for so long."
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 IF THIS IS TRUE, WHY WAS ROME SUCCESSFUL IN THE FIRST
PLACE?
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One of the reasons for the success of the Roman Empire was that the Romans treated
their Empire as the world. In other words, the world was equated with the Empire. This
belief formed the social cement which kept the Empire sustained. However, this bond, this
social cohesion, was temporary at best. There were, after all, forces outside the Roman
Empire which were eating away at the Empire itself. And regardless of whether we accept
the fact that Rome fell as a result of internal pressure or invasions from the outside, or
both at one and the same time, one thing is abundantly clear: Rome fell, and did so with a
loud noise. It would take Western Civilization nearly ten centuries to recover and
refashion a world that could be the rival of the civilization of Rome.
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HOW AND WHEN DID THE ACTUAL "FALL" TAKE PLACE?
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This is a complicated question and has occupied the attention of historians for centuries.
One thing can be said with certainty -- although Rome ultimately fell in A.D. 476, the
decline was a process that had been going on for centuries. One theory is that Roman
strengths became Roman weaknesses. Another thing which we ought to remember is that
the Roman Empire was large, and when we speak of the fall of Rome, we are talking
about the western half of the Empire. The eastern half survived as the Byzantine Empire
until 1453.
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WHY DID THE EMPIRE FALL?
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There are facts that lead to the belief that the fall was caused at and because of
Constantinople. More people believe that the fall was the result of a combination of
things: Christianity, decadence, lead, monetary, and military problems. Some people also
feel that the rise of Islam contributed to the fall.
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There is no definite person or event to blame for the fall of Rome, but rather it is the result
of time and mistakes made by all of the Romans.
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