Yes, im aware of all those problems, but i need external factors.

It's funny when people post on forums asking for homework help. You have the INTERNET, you'll find way more information using Google than anyone here is gonna post.

Here is my actual essay that I just finished, rate it.




The Fall of The Roman Republic and The Roman Empire

Despite some similarities, the fall of the Roman Republic and the fall of the Roman Empire greatly differ. While they both experienced internal political struggles, the Roman Empire suffered far more internally with the declining economy, the numerous corrupt emperors, and the birth of Christianity. To add to the brutal internal struggles, the barbaric invasions crushed the Roman armies. While this was nothing new to the Republic, both the invasions, and the internal struggles together were far more intense than anything the Republic and the Empire had ever seen, thus resulting in the fall of the Roman Empire.


The Roman Republic undoubtedly fell due to the roman revolution, a long internal political transformation that ultimately led to the destruction of the Roman Republic. When the Gracchi invited the Assembly of Tribes to take a more activist role against the senate, military patrons began to use the assembly to pass bills in their favor, which in turn led to the Roman revolution. Unfortunately, the Gracchi could not protect themselves from the senate without an army and met their doom. However, powerful generals appeared who did have the support of their armies and used it to seize power. Consequently, the struggles between the generals undermined the republican constitution which led to the rule of Rome under dictatorship. Even after the ruthless tyrant Sulla made reforms, placing the Senate firmly in control, the Senate was unable to manage the next generation of warlords. After the Senate refused to grant Pompey’s political aims Rome was left in the hands of a political alliance, the first Triumvirate. The Senate feared Julius Caesar may become another Sulla and convinced Pompey to command an army against Caesar. Yet in doing so Pompey condemned the Republic into another civil war. Soon Caesar prevailed and declared himself dictator for life, sweeping aside all restraints on his power that Roman tradition previously imposed. Caesar had undermined the members of the governing party, resulting in the upper class uniting to murder Caesar. Although the Republican constitution was shattered, some politicians tried to restore the republic, however, Caesars adopted son, Octavian, gained supreme control through careful control of the army and magistrates. Ultimately, the Roman Republic and Constitution were demolished through the internal struggle over political power. Through Octavian’s own autocracy and the restoration of the forms of the Republic, the Roman Empire was created.



Although political struggles did contributed to the internal fall of the Roman Empire much like in the fall of the Republic, the introduction of Christianity, the rapidly declining economy, and poorly trained army and navy played a key role in the fall of the empire as well, which the Republic never experienced. Due to the Empire’s size, much more elements were needed to preserve the Empire than the Republic. The emperors, with some exceptions, were stable rulers until the beginning of the third century. After the last of the “five good emperors,” political balance shifted to the military. This resulted in a fatal military and political crisis were emperors could only survive a few years. During this time, dozens of emperors claimed the throne, however many of these men were no more than warlords, who for a short time purchased their loyalty from their soldiers, similar to the warlords of the Roman Republic. In addition, the Emperors showed poor leadership, corruption, and were poor. While imperial rule was in a hectic time, the economy had a crisis of its own. Droughts, famine, and food riots began to overtake the cities of the Empire. Land lost during the barbarian invasions contributed towards trade and land lost, as well a smaller tax collecting base. Also, farmers began tax skimming and the government was not strong enough to punish the farmers. In addition, Coin clipping resulted in uncontrollable inflation. Due to the declining economy, providing for the army became unaffordable. The armies received less training and their territories were stretched beyond their limits across the empire. To add to the internal problems of the Empire, Christianity caused religious divisions amongst the people of Rome. In the early Empire the emperor was looked upon as a God. Christianity however teaches of only one God, which makes the emperor seem less powerful. While the Republic did experience extreme political struggle, the internal troubles were nothing of that compared to the Empire’s.


Although the external causes for the fall of the Republic are few in number, they are very significant, and ultimately lead to the fall of the Roman Republic. The breakdown of the Roman Republic has been called Hannibal’s legacy. After many years of fighting up and down Italy, many farmers were left to the point of ruin. Wealthy citizens took advantage of this and seized the land. Thus leading to the Gracchi creating a bill to redistribute land to the dispossessed farmers, this in turn led to the Roman revolution. In addition, many warlords rose to power through preventing outside invasions, which led to internal political struggles.


Similar to the internal struggles, the external struggles of the Empire were much more intense compared to that of the Republic. The barbaric invasions brutally ran down the Roman Armies. Due to the Empire’s massive size, stopping the invasions became more of a struggle. After the death of Theodosius, the Empire split into an Eastern half, and Western half. Unfortunately, the geography of the western half made it far more vulnerable to invasion than the eastern half, which contributed greatly to its disappearance. The eastern half however, lasted for another thousand years and slowly transformed into the Byzantine Empire. These invasions were nothing new to the Romans as the Republic survived through many invasions in the past.


The fall of the Roman Republic can be considered more of a political revolution resulting in a new form of government under imperial control rather than a complete collapse. However, the Roman Empires western half disappeared from the earth, and the eastern half slowly blended into the Byzantine Empire. While the Roman Republic faced only true internal struggles, the Empire dealt with far more severe internal struggles and brutal external invasions. The Internal and external elements acted as a unifying force preserving the Empire that Augustus founded. Once these failed, the fabric that held the Empire together became too weak, resulting in the fall of the Roman Empire.

My teacher actually prefers no dates. He wants to see if you actually "understand" history. Not just memorize a bunch of dates.

I guess you guys would have to be in my class to understand. But my teacher does not want dates, and he wants the thesis statement in the first sentence of the introductory paragraph. Second, its a 5 page limit so I cant include every single peace of information, I just have to put enouph down so that the BIG picture is there. I completly agree with him on the dates issue. Regurgitating facts is one thing, but actually understanding history is another.

Woops your right. Here is an reformated version of the first paragraph.


Despite some similarities, the fall of the Roman Republic and the fall of the Roman Empire greatly differ. While they both experienced internal political struggles, the Roman Empire suffered far more internally with the declining economy, the numerous corrupt emperors, and the birth of Christianity. To add to the brutal internal struggles, the barbaric invasions crushed the Empires armies. While the invasions were nothing new to both the Republic and the Empire, the invasions and the internal struggles in the Empire together were far more intense than anything the Republic had ever seen, thus resulting in the fall of the Roman Empire.

Thats not what im saying. Trivial facts and dates are very important. In an essay anyone can just write down facts and dates, thats easy. If you really know history you can connect the dotes, and write about the big pictures in history.

I agree, knowing the order in which events happend is obviously important. (This is a college class) My teacher who has a PHD in history however feels that being able to connect the dots is more important.

Knowing dates is just memorization. Now if you look at my paragraph on the internal struggles of the republic I did go in order of the events that happend. And the fact is that he distributes take home essays. Essays test to see how you anaylize and understand information. Anyone can look up a few dates really quickly. But really being able to compare the fall of the Empire and the republic requires a true understanding of Roman History. Otherwise your just left with 2 lists that dont connect with each other. I would indeed include dates if he asked for them. He specifically said "Do not include dates". He feels that knowing specific dates doesnt mean you understand history, just that you can regurgitate facts on paper. And the guy does have a PHD, so he knows whats important about history.

CaptFalcon33035 wrote:

Try to find information dealing with Cheney. Any information associated with him is likely to demonstrate some causes for the fall of the USA. The marking point of the civil war was upon President Obama's death.

Fixed it for you.