the decline of the roman empire?

Decades upon decades of civil wars, partly brought upon by the Barracks-Room Emperors, soldiers who had risen through the ranks to take the Imperial throne for themselves. They usually died shortly after being declared Emperor, sparking yet another civil war between other generals. There was also a plague (Justinian's Plague) and animosity between the western and eastern halves of the Empire, which prevented one half of the empire from realistically helping the other half (even if they had wanted to work together). It was this animosity that prevented Emperor Valen from waiting for his co-emperor to arrive at the battle, the battle Valen would lose and die at/after; he had wanted the glory of victory all to himself.

Also, the barbarian invasion was less of an invasion than it is popularly made out to be. The Goths were fleeing the Hunnic invasion, and asked to be granted foederati* status so they could live on Roman territory. They were betrayed by the people who were sent to organize the expedition. The higher ups sold them the humanitarian supplies that were supposed to be given free of charge, some of the women and children were kidnapped and kept as slaves, and the Goths were being kept in the refugee area instead of being moved to the land the Emperor had promised. Eventually, the Goths rebelled. The later Gothic rebellion that resulted in Rome's sack of 410 became as popular as it did because of Rome's treatment of Goths.

*Foederati were colonies of non-Romans who could live in Rome and gain citizenship by providing services to Rome like military service.

the actual ones or the universal concept? in accordance to Gibbon a million. loss of civic distinctive function inspired barbarian invasion. 2. using mercenaries. 3. Christianity made Romans effeminate and unwilling to combat. 4. Christianity became into superstitious and unable to scientific theory for which the ancients had consistently been respected. Your attempting too no longer elementary. there is a lot to declare appropriate to the above nonsense without appropriate to your self with the certainty! Plague by using volcanic appropriate cooling of the ambience and the argument that no longer something particularly replaced- Christianity being an extension of pagan theory and the success of the empire appear basically as "The Catholic Church" no decline to communicate off basically a transformation of style and familiarity from a updated view. once you're asked for 4 factors it is the clue which you need to study what you think of roughly some popularly believed 4 factors. you do no longer must be an authority.

Their forces were stretched extremly thin since every new territory they gained meant more rebels and insurgencies.

Corruption and civil war destroyed their economy and military.

Barbarians hordes grew fierces, smarter, and larger. They copied roman technology so that they could effectively invade rome.

Attila the Hun kinda put europe back a few hundred years.

Lead aqueducts possibly made the roman leaders suffer higher levels of mental retardation.

The empire was so big, and their true population (roman) was so small they had to rely mainly on mercenaries and levies, which were much less loyal, and pretty much routed at the sight of an enemy.

This question has been asked before. I'll mention just a few things:

1. dependence on slaves, weakening of the middle class

2. replacement of the citizen army by a mercenary army

3. corrupt leadership (one became emperor through assassination)

4. trade deficit from buying too much Chinese silk

5. monetary devaluation (related to above)

6. rise of Christianity (people were less loyal to the pagan government)

Corruption

A shrinking tax base

The Roman people became decadent and became more interested in worldly pursuits and forgot about the wolves at the door.

Bad leaders.

Shrinking Military-they started using mercenaries, like the Goths

Many reason including: weak economy, weak leadership, political in fighting, and unsecured borders.

it was due to weak emperors, political fragmentation, a decentralized government, and inferior agricultural technology which couldn't keep up with the population.