The Roman Empire - Why Did it Fall?

by Brian Tierney (Editor), Donald Kagan (Editor), L. Pearce Williams (Editor)

41 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1967

Reviews

[Walt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This small collection of primary and secondary edited documents explores different theories as to the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. It starts with excerpts from Edward Gibbon's seminal work with the editors identifying it as the basis for most discussions on the topic. Delving into Roman and Late Antiquity documents, the authors show how contemporaries recorded the decline. Finally, they include conflicting theories from multiple 'modern' scholars to explain the decline. The book was published in the 1960s, so the term modern is a misnomer. However, for the lazy college student needing a thesis, this book is a gold mine. Clearly organized for student consumption, the book also contains some discussion questions that can help students draft papers or offer plagiarized insight into the topic.

That being said, it is a dense book despite short readings and a total length of barely 40 pages. I had to read it, and re-read several times to fully digest the writing styles of previous generations of scholars. Gibbon, especially, is tough to digest. His overall theme being that the Roman Army turned on the Romans is further developed by the secondary readings and illustrated by the primary readings.

The prologue of the book is very insightful as the editors remark, that "the essential task of the historian is not to collect dead facts but to confront live issues," stayed with me as I read arguments blaming the fall of Rome to over-taxation, squeezing the middle class, and increased disparity between the rich and the poor. Although the documents differ as to when the decline began, most are unified in that the Roman Army was formed by the poor and turned on the Roman aristocracy due to increased class-related tensions, the most basic tension arising from taxes. Side issues like slavery, Democracy from Greece, education, religion, and the Germanic invasions had their role; but typically played into the more larger issue of class conflict. Salvian's claims that the poor Romans preferred the violent and unpredictable ways of the Germans to the aristocratic tax collectors of the 5th Century was really telling.

Overall, the readings are designed to create ideas. Scholars/ students must do further research and collect more sources. The material is a bit dated; but the theories and ideas remain relevant in 2013 as they did in 1967. The editors also use some obscure primary sources that are especially insightful.