In the discussions of the previous post, the question arose about the structure of the monetary system of the Roman Empire. It seemed to me useful to place a small article to clarify this issue. Also of interest to anyone who is interested in the role of the monetary system in the rise and fall of empires.

In addition, regarding the death of the Roman Empire, there are many unscientific conjectures about the reason for this. For example, that Rome perished from depravity. Although in the era of the death of Rome, debauchery was already basically tied up. Since all the citizens of Rome were basically Christian. Some by force, some at the call of the soul. And the early Christians were strict about depravity.

There is another suggestion that Rome perished because of Christianity. Say, the sermon on non-resistance to evil by violence decomposed the Roman spirit and thereby ruined the empire. Well, about the non-violence of Christians, it's in vain. Faith has never prevented good Christians from slaughtering each other. And even more wicked. To the glory of God.

So the reason for the death of the empire should be sought elsewhere.

The Roman currency, the sestertius, was remarkably stable for four centuries. Historians describe such a case:

Once a Roman galley skidded to India. The Romans in the port began to pay with sesterces. These coins ended up with the local Maharajah. All coins were the same in weight. They were made of pure silver. And, incredible! They depicted various emperors. Maharaja called the Romans to him. And he asked: is it true that the emperors depicted on the coins lived at different times. The Romans answered in the affirmative. And they told in more detail about the emperors depicted on the coins, and their time. Maharaja compared Roman coins with his own. Which got smaller and smaller over time. And the percentage of silver in them was decreasing (inflation in the spirit of those times). And still, the Maharaja constantly had problems with his army due to regular salary delays.

The Maharaja scratched his turnip and asked: is it possible, after all, to attach his kingdom to such a wonderful empire? And even wrote a letter to the Roman Senate and the Emperor for this purpose.

Not only Roman power united the empire. But also its outstanding financial system, which made it profitable for the conquered peoples to exist as part of the empire. Which was expressed in the amazingly weak resistance to the Roman domination of these very peoples. From history, mainly Jewish uprisings are known. And even those have not acquired a truly mass character. Although they brought Rome a lot of problems.

So: somewhere in the fourth century, the silver mines in the Pyrenees dried up. (And even earlier, the silver mines in the Apennines dried up. The capture of the Pyrenean silver mines in order to obtain monetary metal to finance the empire was the original goal of the Punic wars between Rome and Carthage.)

Attempts to find another source of silver were unsuccessful. Rome did not reach only one and a half hundred kilometers to the silver mines in the Tatras. (They did not know about the silver in the Tatras. Otherwise they would have reached it. It was on this silver that the Austrian Empire later grew with the Habsburg dynasty and existed for more than 1000 years.)

With the disappearance of the monetary metal in the empire, a terrible deflation began. (That is, the rise in price of money over time). It became more profitable not to let sesterces (as well as talents - a larger Roman coin) into circulation, but to bury them in the ground. There were not enough funds. There was nothing to pay officials and soldiers. There was nothing to feed the plebs. The exchange of goods went more and more into barter. It is very difficult to collect taxes from barter. And where there was no barter, subsistence farming revived. Also tax-free, in fact. And the collapse of the empire began. There were attempts to save the situation by hiring cheaper barbarians as soldiers and officials, with their subsequent arming and training. Well, we've been hired. Well, armed. Well, they taught. How it ended is public knowledge.
Such is the story.

Rome did not die from depravity. And not from the mass introduction into the minds of the Romans of the idea of ​​non-resistance to evil by violence. There were also more significant reasons.

Traveling around Rome and admiring the preserved sights, every tourist reflects on why such a strong civilization ceased to exist. The decline and fall of the Roman Empire cannot be traced back to a single cause.

One version dates the death of the Roman Empire to 410 AD, when the territory was invaded by the Gothic tribes led by Alaric. The tribes of the Goths were Christians, so they did not commit massacres and did not destroy buildings, but only robbed, took out jewelry, and removed valuable decorations from buildings.

According to the second version, Rome was destroyed to the ground later, in 476, by Odoacer, the leader of the barbarian Germanic tribe of the Heruls, who forced the young Romulus Augustus, the last emperor of Rome, to abdicate.

However, according to many researchers, the fall of Rome began much earlier and was caused not only by such obvious reasons as the raids of external aggressors. The beginning of the crisis phenomena in the Roman Empire was noted as early as the 3rd century, after the political, economic, religious and cultural life of the Romans had profoundly changed. Now historians name more than 210 reasons for the fall. Let's dwell on some of them.

Lack of a strong leader

In the Roman Empire, there was a frequent change of emperors, rulers of regions and provinces, who did not have political strength, authority and foresight.

Among the representatives of power, people of non-Roman nationalities are increasingly appearing, which also reduces authority and absolutely destroys the patriotic idea.

barbarization

A significant proportion of the population of Rome during the period of decline were representatives of barbarian tribes who did not have a developed culture and ideology. Due to the difference in the level of development of social relations, the assimilation of representatives of these tribes into Roman society is insignificant. However, Rome is forced to maintain peaceful relations with the barbarians, since a significant part of the army was formed from their ranks.

army crisis

External enemies, advancing from all sides in small and numerous detachments, did not meet with resistance from the Roman army, weakened by poor maintenance and extreme exploitation, which did not have strong leaders and was not inspired by the patriotic idea.
Most of the salaries and allowances of the soldiers were appropriated by military leaders, so the lower ranks were extremely demoralized, and cases of looting directed against compatriots became more frequent. The ranks of the armed forces were replenished insignificantly for a number of reasons:

• The decline in fertility;
• The unwillingness of the landowners to give their slaves and hired workers as soldiers and lose cheap labor;
• The reluctance of urban residents to join the army because of low wages.

Sometimes these phenomena are associated with such a movement as pacifism. However, the main reason for the crisis is the destruction of the professional army, the loss of military discipline, the increase in the number of soldiers from among poorly trained recruits - former peasants - and the barbarians who settled on the territory of the Roman Empire.

Slave owners and slaves

Official version of school textbooks: Rome ruined. Exploitation gave rise to revolts and uprisings of slaves that flared up regularly. The uprisings were of different scales: the dwellings of landowners were burned, tools and domestic animals were destroyed, slaves refused to work.

To suppress the uprisings of slaves, the help of the military was required, but they barely had time to repel the attacks of external enemies.

Slavery led to an extreme decline in agriculture, the destruction of the country's economy.

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Economic crisis

The Roman Empire was going through a period of fragmentation into provinces, while large possessions were divided into small ones, partially rented out to small landowners and slaves. Subsistence economy began to predominate, the share of processing sectors of the economy decreased, and prices for the transportation of goods increased. Trade is going through an extreme degree of decline, relations between some provinces are finally terminated.

The state raised taxes, but the solvency of the population fell sharply, and there was nothing to pay taxes. Inflation was followed by a reduction in the amount of money in the country.

Small agricultural holdings began to unite in communes or ask for protection from large land owners - the process of separating large feudal lords and the final ruin of the small peasantry began.

Demographic crisis

The decline of the economy and the lean years that followed each other caused famine in the country, a wave of infectious diseases. The death rate rises, the birth rate falls sharply. The government issues several decrees to support families with children, on benefits for the children of barbarians, but in Rome the number of older and elderly people is steadily increasing, society is aging.

Social causes

The middle class is gradually ruined, urban culture, production and trade are falling into decay, riots are arising. The second side is the so-called social apathy, the destruction of spirituality and patriotism.

Crisis of Spirituality

The ideal of a harmoniously developed person, a proud Roman who serves his city-state, builds his life on the basis of social principles, is gradually destroyed and forgotten. There comes a crisis of art: literature, architecture, sculpture.

The moral decay of the population is often associated with the flourishing of vices, depravity, and homosexuality.

It's hard to be goth

The Germanic tribes of the Goths appeared in the Danube region only in the 3rd century AD. e., coming from Scandinavia. They were hardy warriors and dashing riders, but they preferred to fight on foot. The Romans were constantly in contact with the Goths: sometimes fighting with them, sometimes conducting trade.

In the 370s, the situation in the region changed dramatically. From the east, new, previously unknown conquerors poured into the territory of the Goths. These were the Huns, a truly nomadic people who traveled thousands of kilometers in their wanderings from the steppes of Mongolia to the Danube. The question arose before the Goths: to submit to the conquerors from the east, whose appearance inspires awe, or to agree with Constantinople on the settlement of the Gothic tribes south of the Danube in the rich pastures of Thrace. The Gothic leaders preferred the second option.

Map of the Gothic War 377−382

Migration and rebellion

In 376, the Goths humbly asked the emperor to settle them in Roman territories. They agreed that the Gothic tribes were moving to Thrace as columns (semi-dependent peasants). However, due to the abuses of the Roman bureaucrats, which went so far that the Goths were forced to sell their own children into slavery so as not to die of hunger, the Goths decided to take up arms.

The Gothic leader Fritigern raised an uprising against the Roman authorities. After the victory over the Thracian governor, more and more people flocked to his banner. These were Roman deserters, and Goths-federates, slaves and even workers who had long lived in the empire. For Emperor Valens, the suppression of the uprising was complicated by a large-scale war with the Sassanids in the east, which chained all the forces of the empire to itself.

Even in the 4th century, the Roman army used tactics from the time of Caesar

Throughout 377, the strength of the Germans only increased - largely due to the influx of barbarians from across the Danube. While the Romans adhered to the tactics of guerrilla warfare, they were able to pinch the Goths, but the new commander decided to give them battle in the open field. Despite the uncertain outcome, the Roman army, bled dry and overwhelmed, could no longer adhere to the previous tactics and opened the way for the Goths to the south after they were joined by significant detachments of the Huns and Alans, tempted by booty.

By 378, it became clear that the Goths needed to defeat the Romans in a pitched battle in order to consolidate their gains and settle as imperial federates. The Romans realized that only a large field army could drive the Goths out of Thrace. To do this, the emperors agreed to oppose the Goths together and force them to leave the empire. It is noteworthy that although the Roman army nominally numbered 500 thousand (!) People, it was a difficult task to assemble a separate field corps, since the troops were tied to the borders. To fight the Goths from the east, as many troops were transferred as the Romans could afford.

Composition of armies

Roman troops were represented by a variety of units that could only be assembled to suppress the uprising. These were both heavy horsemen, who, however, made up a small part of the cavalry, and horse archers, but the heavy infantry armed with swords and spears was still considered the main striking force of the army. The tactics of the Roman army had remained unchanged since the time of Caesar: in the center of the infantry, built in two lines with arrows between them, and the cavalry on the flanks. However, over 400 years, the quality of the Roman infantry has declined significantly, the foot soldiers often did not wear safety weapons, they were poorly trained.

The Goths revolted because of the abuses of Roman officials

The Goths and their allies (Germanic tribes, Romans, Alans, Huns) were armed with Roman weapons and also posted cavalry on the flanks. However, the cavalry of the Goths was more regular and massive, especially considering the presence in their army of such first-class horsemen as the Alans. However, the tactics of using infantry differed sharply from the Roman one and consisted of “breaking through” the enemy’s formation with a deep column.

On the eve of the battle

In the summer of 378, the main forces of the Romans (15-20 thousand) concentrated near Constantinople and moved to Thrace. Not far from Adrianople, the army of the Goths set up camp. The emperor gathered a council of war to decide whether to join the battle immediately or wait for reinforcements to arrive. The courtiers convinced Valens to attack ready, because according to intelligence, there were only about 10 thousand Germans. Interestingly, Fritigern himself sent an embassy to the emperor with a request to make peace on the terms of 376. In this proposal, one can also see a sober calculation: if the Romans had used the tactics of attrition, Fritigern's forces would have melted faster than he could have managed to defeat the Romans in the field. On the other hand, the German leader probably did not want to destroy the empire, much less create his own kingdom on its fragments. He sought to settle on the borders as a federate, to fight and trade as an imperial subject. However, the emperor rejected the offer and decided to give battle.

Emperor Valens (328−378)

Second Cannes

On the morning of August 9, 378, the Roman army left Adrianople and headed for the Gothic camp, set up 15 km from the city. The German leader, in order to gain time and wait for reinforcements, resorted to negotiations, which he skillfully dragged out. Negotiations did not lead to anything, and the opponents took up swords.

Scheme of the battle of Adrianople

The attack of the Roman cavalry, located on the right flank, began even before the foot soldiers had time to reorganize into battle order. Unexpectedly for the Romans, this attack turned into a disaster. Instead of the usual reconnaissance in battle, the Roman horsemen entered the battle, but were defeated by the Gothic cavalry that approached the main forces. In pursuit of the retreating Germans cut into the flank of the Roman infantry, while the cavalry of the left wing of the Roman army was defeated by Fritigern's cavalry, which had quietly approached.

The battle of Adrianople is called the "second Cannes"

The army of Valens was in a vice, and a deep column of Gothic infantry was advancing along the front. Initially, the Roman foot soldiers held firm, but seeing that there was nowhere to wait for help, they rushed to flee, with the exception of a few legions, who strictly kept the system. The emperor tried to bring into battle the reserves and the court guards, but neither of them was in place - the units either fled, succumbing to general panic, or were deliberately withdrawn from the battle by the enemies of the emperor.

Valens was left by his closest associates. According to one version, the emperor was wounded by an arrow, taken out by bodyguards and hidden on a farm, where, however, the Goths soon showed up. The defenders bravely fought back, and then the Goths simply set fire to the farm along with the defenders, where the emperor died.

Battle of Adrianople

After the battle

According to the historian, two-thirds of the Roman army perished, among the dead were many of the highest ranks of the empire. Ammian Marcellinus compares Adrianople with the battle of Cannae, when in 216 BC. e Hannibal in similar circumstances defeated the army of the Roman consuls.

After the victory, the Goths still could not take the well-fortified Adrianople and were forced to withdraw. The new emperor Theodosius fought with the Goths until 382, ​​when, due to the exhaustion of the parties, it was decided to proceed to negotiations. The agreement concluded this year repeated the points of the agreement of 376: the Goths settled on the southern bank of the Danube, preserving their customs and autonomy, and were obliged to fight in the army of the emperor.

After the battle, the appearance of the Roman troops completely changed.

However, the peace did not last long. After only 30 years, the Visigoths of Alaric will go west, sack Rome and establish their kingdom in southern Gaul. For the German peoples, Adrianople predetermined their dominance in Europe in the following centuries, and for the Roman Empire, the year 378 became fatal, tipping the scales in favor of the barbarians. Soon, barbarian kingdoms will appear throughout Europe, and the title of Roman Emperor will become a formality.

The meaning of the battle

In the history of military art, the battle of Adrianople opens a new era of heavy cavalry: first in the Roman army, then in the armies of the barbarian states, where this process will be completed after Poitiers (762) or even after Hastings (1066). The military reforms carried out by Diocletian and Constantine at the beginning of the 4th century were not implemented quickly enough in the army. Understanding that the field armies of that time, consisting of horsemen, were much more effective than the old system developed back in the time of Caesar, the Roman emperors continued to consider the infantry as the main branch of the army until 378, not noticing the decline of the Roman infantry, recruited from citizens. After Adrianople, the appearance of the Roman (and then the Byzantine) army changes forever. The cavalry becomes the main striking force, fewer and fewer units are recruited from the citizens themselves, and the proportion of federates and barbarian mercenaries becomes more and more. However, soon this new army will have to undergo a severe test in the Catalaunian fields.

The study of the question of what caused the burning of Ancient Rome is devoted to the multi-volume works of scientists - historians, and more than one thousand dissertations of various levels have been written on this topic, ranging from master's in the West to doctoral in the Soviet Union. However, it was not possible to unambiguously name the reason. And the fact that the death of the Roman Empire was caused by the incessant raids of authors, primarily Germanic tribes, is only suitable for high school textbooks.

Socio-economic causes of the fall of Ancient Rome

As early as the 3rd-4th centuries, slaveholding, with its inherent property rights not only for tools and resources, but also for the creators of material values ​​themselves - slaves, began to show its inefficiency. The situation was aggravated by the mass distribution of land plots not only to outstanding military leaders of the permanent Roman conquests, but to simple ones. This required an increase in the influx of farmers, but the slave army could not grow indefinitely.

The possession of land property by the legionnaires led to the internal disintegration of the army, whose commanders were forced to replenish the army contingent with mercenaries from among the Germanic, Gothic and Gallic tribes. This, in turn, required additional funding.
Thus, the solution of one problem gave rise to another, and it all revolved around a general financial decline caused by inefficiency in production and limited human resources in the labor market. The degradation of the entire system was aggravated by the ever more spreading Christianity.

Religious reasons for the decline of Rome

If the adoption of Christianity cannot be called one of the main reasons fall of ancient rome, then the change from a polytheistic religion to a monotheistic one contributed to the disruption of the well-established imperial mechanism. The first Roman emperors, in various ways and techniques, identified themselves with the gods, but from the beginning of the reign, who won the imperial throne on the bayonets of their legions, this identification became problematic. And of course, no parallel can be found between Christ and the rulers of Rome. Early Christian morality was in clear contradiction with the moral decay of the imperial nobility, which began during the reign of Nero.

Military Causes of the Fall of the Roman Empire

The official reason for the fall of the Roman Empire is considered to be the capture of the city by the Roman military leader (skir or rug by nationality) Odoacer, in September 476. True, the bulk of the host were mercenaries of different tribes. But even 60 years before that, the Visigoth army, led by King Alaric, sacked Rome. Later, when the Hun troops

The invincible ancient Roman army holds a special place in our minds. Her efficiency and discipline helped the small town on the Italian peninsula to control much of the Western world, from the British Isles and the Rhine to the Middle East and North Africa. This article contains interesting facts about the ancient Roman army; some of them may partly explain the reasons for its success and failures.

1. Seasonality and wars

According to early historical records, the ancient Romans fought only between sowing and harvesting (summer) due to the logistical difficulties of warfare. Rome's economy was based on agriculture. The advance of troops in the winter required a lot of expenses.

According to Titus Livy (History from the Foundation of the City), if the war was not over by early autumn, "our warriors were forced to wait out the winter." He also wrote that many soldiers preferred to hunt in the mountains and forests during the long waiting period.

For the first time, the ancient Romans decided not to stop fighting in the winter in 396 BC, during the siege of the Etruscan city of Veii.

2. Decimation

Rebellious sentiment among the soldiers was always a potential problem for Roman generals. Many methods have been developed to prevent this behavior. Decimation was considered the most dangerous and effective of them. It consisted of beating or stoning to death every tenth soldier from an army unit who started a riot. The victims were chosen by their own comrades by lottery. If anyone had a desire to organize a mutiny, the prospect of decimation made that person think twice before making a final decision and moving on to action. There was also a strong possibility that other soldiers, having learned about his plans, would immediately tell the general about everything.

The Romans were well aware that decimation, despite its effectiveness, was unfair, since its victims could be people who had nothing to do with the rebellion. From their point of view, the injustice of decimation was a necessary evil. Publius Cornelius Tacitus (Annals) wrote that "demonstrating an example on a large scale always implies a certain degree of injustice when people suffer for the public good."

3. Property qualification

Military service was considered a duty and a privilege for Roman citizens. Initially, the Roman army was composed entirely of locals and organized based on their social status (according to the weapons and equipment they could afford). The richest people served in the cavalry, the less wealthy went into the infantry. Men who did not have property were excluded from the ranks of the army.

After the Second Punic War (218-201 BC), this system became obsolete. Rome began to wage large-scale and protracted wars, so it needed a constant military presence in the new conquered territories. For this reason, the property qualification was reduced.

In the second century BC, it was generally canceled. In 107 BC, the ancient Roman commander Gaius Marius began to accept volunteers into the army, who did not have any property and received weapons and equipment at the expense of the state.

4. Siege War

When the Romans were besieging a city or building, they sent a special unit to the front line, which surrounded the settlement and did not allow anyone to escape. Then a fortified camp was set up in this area (usually on a hill and out of range of throwing guns). After that, another army unit tried to break through the defensive walls, being under the cover of archers and catapults.

The catapult was considered one of the most dangerous siege weapons. Flavius ​​Josephus ("Jewish War") was the first to give us an account of the destructive power of the catapult: "He [meaning the stone thrown by the catapult] instantly killed a soldier who was standing on the wall near Josephus Flavius. A stone shell tore off his head; the upper part of his skull was thrown to the side at a distance of 550 meters.

5. Tunneling

Tunneling played a key role in siege warfare. This tactic was quite effective, but after it became known to the enemies of Rome, it lost the element of surprise. During the war against Mithridates of Pontus at the beginning of the first century BC, the Romans tried to dig a tunnel in order to break through the defenses of the city of Themiscyra. Residents, having learned about this, launched a number of dangerous animals and insects into the tunnel, including bears and bees.

The first archaeological evidence for the use of chemical weapons has been dated to the third century AD; scientists found them in the tunnels of Dura-Europos (an ancient city on the Euphrates that existed from about 300 BC to 256 AD). They are associated with an underground battle that took place between the Romans and the Sasanian Persians. The latter besieged the Roman garrison and used the tunnels to break through.

In order to neutralize the attackers, the Romans also began to dig tunnels. Weapons and skeletons found at the excavation site confirmed the fact that Roman soldiers suffocated from asphyxiating gas, which was formed as a result of the ignition of bitumen and sulfur crystals.

6. Helmet function

According to some ancient writers, helmets in the ancient Roman army, in addition to the obvious protective function, had many other advantages. Polybius ("History") noted that the decorations on the helmets had a psychological effect on the enemies; they made the Roman soldiers appear taller and more intimidating.

The use of helmet ornaments to intimidate enemies has been practiced by many cultures. But in this case, Polybius was referring specifically to the long feathers that made the Romans look much taller than they actually were. This is significant when you consider that many of the Romans' enemies, especially from Central Europe (such as the Gauls and Germans), were much taller and stronger than them.

7. Decision making process

During the Roman Republic, only the senate, the state body that embodied the will of the citizens, had the right to declare war. After Rome began to expand, some wars began to be declared by generals without the consent of the senate.

An example of this is the war against Mithridates of Pontus, which was declared in 89 BC by the consul and general Manius Aquilius without any participation from the senate. In theory this was illegal, but in practice there was little the Senate could do. Some generals were simply too influential and powerful. When Rome became an empire, the right to declare war became available only to the emperor.

8. Fetials

In ancient Rome, there was a special group of priests who were known as fetials. Their only duty was to carry out the rituals associated with the war and the conclusion of agreements. The last step in the ritual of declaring war was a spear thrown into enemy territory.

By the beginning of the third century BC, Rome significantly expanded its influence, capturing almost the entire Apennine peninsula, starting from the Padana plain and ending in the south. After that, the rite of throwing a spear into enemy territory to declare war lost its meaning.

However, superstitions don't die so easily, and eventually the fetials came up with a clever alternative. A plot of land near the temple of Bellona (goddess of war) was declared a no-man's land. During the war with King Pyrrhus (280-275 BC), the Romans captured an enemy soldier and forced him to buy part of this land in order to be able to throw a spear at it.

9. Gladius hispaniensis

The soldiers of the Roman army used a standard short sword called "gladius hispaniensis" ("Spanish sword"); it was developed in the Iberian Peninsula. This sword was popular for its deadly effectiveness and practicality.

According to Titus Livy ("History of Rome from the founding of the city"), when the Romans fought against Philip V during the Second Macedonian War (200-196 BC), the Macedonians were shocked by the Roman sword: "Before that, the Macedonians […] only observed wounds from spears and arrows. When they saw the bodies dismembered by Roman Spanish swords - arms cut off from the shoulders, heads severed from the torso and neck, insides turned outwards, […] they trembled as they realized what kind of weapons and what kind of soldiers they would have to deal with ” .

10. Reward for killing the emperor

The Praetorian Guard was a specialized division of the Roman army, consisting of the personal bodyguards of the emperor. In the first century AD, the Praetorian Guard became involved from time to time in the process of appointing new emperors.

As time went on, she gained more and more influence and, ultimately, found herself in a position in which she could appoint, overthrow and even kill Roman emperors. In most cases, the Praetorians did this because of the reward they received from the new emperor for the murder of his predecessor.

This practice is one of the reasons why, in the decline of the Western Roman Empire, the succession of imperial power became so chaotic. Once loyal protectors of the emperor, members of the Praetorian Guard gradually turned into corrupt and dangerous people who exercised considerable control over the life of the ruler of Rome.

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