Above I have a loupe that has pictures that represent 8 reasons of why the Western Empire fell. Below I have 1 picture for each reason.
There are 8 reasons the Western Empire of Rome fell. The first reason is public health. One main factor was lead pipes. They made the Romans very sick. Another reason is political corruption. It was very hard to find a new emperor for the Romans. The army strangled the new emperor in 186 A.D. In 100 years Rome had 37 emperors. Next is the third reason, unemployment. Farming was done on large estates in Rome. Farmers either lost or had to sell their farms. Inflation is the fourth reason. The Romans stopped conquering land, so the flow of gold decreased in the economy. Much of the Roman's gold was used on luxury items. Many prices of goods had to be raised to make more money. The fifth reason urban decay. At one time, there were 44,000 apartment houses in the city of Rome. Anyone who could not pay the rent had to move out and live it a crime infested cities. Another reason is inferior technology. The Romans failed to make new technology because they relied too much on animal and human labor. They could not maintain within their legions or produce goods fro their city. Next is the seventh reason, military spending. Frustrating lost the desire to defend their city. The Romans hired unemployed people or people from other countries to be in the army. Invasions was the last reason. During the invasions, many roads and bridges were left in disrepair. In this time the emperor was Augustus Romulus. Finally in 476 A.D., the Germanic Empire took over the Western Empire of Rome.
Click on the button to learn more about the Fall of Rome
Here is a video on the Fall of Rome
There are 3 things that the United states have in common with Rome. One thing is staggering increase in the cost of elections. In the 2012 U.S. Presidential Election, we used 3 billion dollars of money raised from private sources. In Rome, the price for elections was large as well. Caesar once borrowed so much money that he thought that if he lost the election, he would be ruined. Another thing is continuous war. The United States has continuous war because for the past 100 years, the U.S. has either been in a war or recovering from one. This is similar to what Rome had to deal with. Also, the United States and Rome share a collapsing middle class. Both the United States and Rome have collapsing middle classes for the same reason: cheap oversea labor that gives them fewer rights. Even though the United States have some of the same characteristics as Rome, the U.S. will not fall because we are much more advanced today than the Romans were back then.