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According to the historian Edward Gibbon (author of "The Decline and the Fall of the Roman Empire"), Christianity caused the empire to fall because of the "future looking" ideals. Today, this reason is heavily disputed.

Currently, the most likely theories are that the Roman empire had economic instability and was ruled successively by incompetent leaders which led to the fall of Rome.

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The Empire fell because of the continued economic problems, coupled with environmental and societal collapse. Incompetent emperors also did not help with these problems.

During the beginning of the Crisis of the Third Century, it was evident that the empire's troops were more loyal to their generals than the empire itself. This led to purges and killings of Roman troops. Finally, when the empire stabilized under the rule of Diocletian. Diocletian split the empire into two in 285 CE, leading to the formation of the Eastern and Western Roman Empires.

Over time, it was necessary for emperors to pay more and more to mercenaries to defend the borders. These payments were made in the increasingly devalued denarii. The denarii (at the time of the fall of the West) was 0.02% silver, when the denarii was supposed to be 100% silver. The denarii and its other coins led to hyperinflation in Rome, which created the economic problems. However, in the East, they had reformed to a different currency that was separate from the Western Denarii, and therefore prevented the East (which was more prosperous, powerful, stronger, and more populous) from suffering hyperinflation.

The empire's society was also becoming more corrupt and the environment of which they lived more inhospitable. During the beginning of the millennium, temperatures dropped, which made it harder for people to grow crops. This led to migration out of the cities and into manors. The manors held much more power and food than the cities, and made people focus inward.

Rome did not fall in a day, and fell because of many many factors. Historians may never know all of these factors, but from careful analysis, some reasons have been proposed and are most likely valid.

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Q: What led to fall of the Roman Empire?
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Continue Learning about History of Western Civilization

The western Roman Empire is said to have fallen in 476 CE what happened during this year?

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What did the eastern roman empire eventually come?

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What two general factors led to the fall of the empire?

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When did the Western Roman Empire fall?

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