How Christianity contributed to the fall of the Roman Empire

There are very many factors that led to the fall of the Roman Empire, among this reasons is the rise of a religion known as Christianity. Christianity was monotheistic (the worship of one god) and it ran contrary to the religion of the traditional Roman Empire. The traditional Roman Empire ran on a polytheistic (the existence of many gods) point of view.  Their gods were Mars, who was the god of war and was considered father of Romulus and Remus, which were the founders of Rome. The second god was Romulus whose role was to watch over the Rome people and lastly Jupiter who was their supreme god.  They were worshiped alongside other spirits in the temple of Capitoline Hill. This difference led to some Christians being prosecuted. The romans did not take it lightly at first when Christians denounced the worship of their gods.

However, In 313 C.E., Roman emperor Constantine the Great ended all persecution and declared toleration for Christianity. Christianity became the official state religion of the Rome emperor, which spread very quick making the roman emperor reign to weaken and become less credible. They could no longer worship their many gods as a way of religion. That is how Christianity led to the fall of the Roman Empire. It is not straight and significant but it contributed.

Factors that led to the fall of the Western Roman Empire

1. Invasion by barbarian tribes

Rome had been in constant tangle with Germanic tribes like the Goths for centuries.  These tribes had encroached beyond the Roman Empire borders by the 300s. in 410, Visigoth King Alartic completely sucked  the Rome city. For the next decades, there were constant attacks until “the eternal city was raided in 455 by vandal. 476 marks the end of the Roman Empire when Germanic leader Odoacer revolted and deposed emperor Romulus Augustus’

2. Overreliance on slave labor and many economic related troubles.

Several financial crises crumbled Rome from the outside even though it was falling due to outwards pressure. Oppressive taxation and inflation had created a very big gap between the rich and the poor. They could no longer link up. The very rich class flew to set up in depended fiefdoms in the countryside in an attempt to evade taxmen. Rome could no longer conquer slaves due to their weakness. This led to economic breakdown hence collapse of the Roman Empire.

3. Rise of the eastern empire

In the third century, the fate of the western Rome Empire was completely sealed when the emperor Diocletian divided the empire into two. The two halves were easy to govern; however, they started drifting apart. The two became weak and could not sufficiently defend themselves against invasion. They started to squabble over military aid and other important resources. The largely Greek-speaking Eastern Empire grew in wealth while the Latin-speaking West descended into economic crisis, later, Italy and the city of Rome the only places which had symbolic value for  the East were left vulnerable. As the well build and fortified eastern centers remained standing.  The Ottoman Empire in the 1400s after thousands of years managed to completely take over the western empire.

4. Overspending by the military due to overexpansion

The Roman Empire overstretched into the river Euphrates in the Middle East all the way from the Atlantic Ocean. This made them face administrative nightmares. They ended up spending a lot of their resources to fund military guards to fortify the big empire. This led to slow collapse of the empire.

5. Corrupt government and political instability

The big Rome Empire faced inconsistent and ineffective leadership. It was a dangerous job being a roman emperor. The situation worsened during the second and third centauries. In a span of just 75 years, over 20 men had overthrew and sat on the throne. This was done after great murder of their predecessor.  The souvenirs were even auctioned to highest bidders by the emperor’s personal bodyguards at will. Roman citizens lost trust in the leadership system and the empire collapsed.