The Fall of Rome and a response from Gibbon

"The incapacity of a weak and distracted government may often assume the appearance, and produce the effects, of a treasonable correspondence with the public enemy. If Alaric himself had been introduced into the council of Ravenna, he would probably have advised the same measures which were actually pursued by the ministers of Honorius. 1 The king of the Goths would have conspired, perhaps with some reluctance, to destroy the formidable adversary, by whose arms, in Italy, as well as in Greece, he had been twice overthrown. Their active and interested hatred laboriously accomplished the disgrace and ruin of the great Stilicho. The valor of Sarus, his fame in arms, and his personal, or hereditary, influence over the confederate Barbarians, could recommend him only to the friends of their country, who despised, or detested, the worthless characters of Turpilio, Varanes, and Vigilantius. By the pressing instances of the new favorites, these generals, unworthy as they had shown themselves of the names of soldiers, 2 were promoted to the command of the cavalry, of the infantry, and of the domestic troops. The Gothic prince would have subscribed with pleasure the edict which the fanaticism of Olympius dictated to the simple and devout emperor. Honorius excluded all persons, who were adverse to the Catholic church, from holding any office in the state; obstinately rejected the service of all those who dissented from his religion; and rashly disqualified many of his bravest and most skillful officers, who adhered to the Pagan worship, or who had imbibed the opinions of Arianism. 3 These measures, so advantageous to an enemy, Alaric would have approved, and might perhaps have suggested; but it may seem doubtful, whether the Barbarian would have promoted his interest at the expense of the inhuman and absurd cruelty which was perpetrated by the direction, or at least with the connivance of the Imperial ministers. The foreign auxiliaries, who had been attached to the person of Stilicho, lamented his death; but the desire of revenge was checked by a natural apprehension for the safety of their wives and children; who were detained as hostages in the strong cities of Italy, where they had likewise deposited their most valuable effects. At the same hour, and as if by a common signal, the cities of Italy were polluted by the same horrid scenes of universal massacre and pillage, which involved, in promiscuous destruction, the families and fortunes of the Barbarians. Exasperated by such an injury, which might have awakened the tamest and most servile spirit, they cast a look of indignation and hope towards the camp of Alaric, and unanimously swore to pursue, with just and implacable war, the perfidious nation who had so basely violated the laws of hospitality. By the imprudent conduct of the ministers of Honorius, the republic lost the assistance, and deserved the enmity, of thirty thousand of her bravest soldiers; and the weight of that formidable army, which alone might have determined the event of the war, was transferred from the scale of the Romans into that of the Goths."(source)

There were many reasons for the fall of the Roman Empire. They had very unstable leadership, poor economy, invading armies, etc. They just couldn't handle it so they crumbled under the pressure.(source)

In 190 A.D. the Roman Empire began to fall. It started when different people wanted to rule; nobody really liked the way the Emperor ruled. Some of the people that were in the army even wanted to rule, this caused problems; they were killing and splitting legions apart. Whatever the army did the Emperor had to pay for it, the only problem was that he didn't have any money to for it. The Emperor during this time was Diocletian. In order to get money to pay for the army, he had to become a cruel man financially. He had new coins made and raised the tax. Nothing went well after that. (source 1, source 2)

The Vandals crossed the Danube, and the Rhine River, which were the boundaries for the Roman Empire. They swormed the Romans and made their way down and around the empire. The Vandals took an easy way to the empire, they just went through Germany, down to Spain, through Africa, went around and eventually conquered Rome's Western Empire. Rome's Eastern Empire lasted for about 100 years, until 1453. (source 1, source 2, source 3)



Book 1

Book 2