An empireis alargeterritory in which several groups of peopleareruled by asinglegovernment or leader.Theterritory can beseveral thousands miles away from that leader or government. However, theterritory must stillfollow thelaws of that particular government. If agovernment has enough territories then all theland and peoplethey ruleis considered an empire.Oneof thegreatest empires in world history was theRoman Empire. Romeis acity in thecountry of Italywhich is in thecontinent of Europe. Even though Romewas just acity it ruled territories that werethousands ofmiles away. TheRoman Empirewas powerful for over 500 years, from 27 B.C.E. to 476 C.E. At its height of powerin 117 C.E. Romeruled what is most of thecontinent of present dayEurope, parts of theMiddleEast or what was calledAsiaMinor, andmost of NorthernAfrica, including Egypt. TheRoman Empirecontrolled thewholeMediterranean world during this era(timeperiod).TheRoman Empiremadelaws for morethan 50 millionpeople. All thepeoplein theempirehad to follow Roman laws andusethesamelanguagein business and government. That languagewas Latin.Therewas oneperson that was in chargeof theempire. Hewas called an emperor. Rome’s first emperor wasCaesar Augustus.Hewas madeemperor becauseheended morethan 100 years of civilwar. A civil war iswhen different groups from thesamecountry orempirefight against each other so that onegroup can havemorepower. Augustuswas also responsiblefor expanding theempire.WhenAugustus died in 14 C.E. many peoplethought that theRoman Empirewould last forever. However,by theyear 476 C.E. theempireweakened and it was split into two halves, thewestern and eastern empires. In 476C.E., thewestern half of theempiredisintegrated (brokeapart). But, theEastern half lasted for another 1000 years.Therewas not onesingleor specific reason for thefall of thewestern half of theRoman Empire. Insteadmany historians point to anumber of different problems combined that brought about thefall of theRoman Empire.Therewere3 main reasons for thefall of Romewhich areas follows: political instability, economic and socialproblems, and finally aweakening of thefrontier or border.Politics has to do with thelaws and leaders of aplace. Instability means that something isweak and is likelyto fall. Political instability in theRoman Empiremeant that thepeopleand methods used to lead werenot very strongor reliable.For centuries theempirewas very lucky. Theemperors and other leaders of theempirewerevery smart andextremely good at running agovernment. However, therewas aperiod when therewereseveral weak and unreliableemperors. Furthermore, themethods that wereused to transfer power from oneemperor to another werenot verygood. When an emperor died then different groupswithin theempirefought each other to haveeither oneof their friends or family members.This meant that themost qualified or best leaderswerenot chosen as thenew emperors. Instead thosethat had thelargest armies, or themostinfluential friends or family members becamethenew emperors.Often thePraetorian Guard, theemperor’s privatearmy, chosethenewemperor. They had thebest equipped army in theempire. They frequentlychosetheperson who would offer them thelargest reward, rather thanselect theperson who was themost qualified.Two of themost notorious (famous for being bad) emperorswereCaligulaand Nero. They weresaid to wastehugeamounts of money onpublic work projects, likebuilding statues, stadiums, and palaces. This meant that therewerebeautiful buildings intheempirebut oftentimes many peoplewould go hungry.For aperiod of timemany emperorswereoften assassinated as different groupswithin theempiretried togain power. Within aonehundred year period therewere37 different emperors. Out of those37 emperors, 25 wereassassinated (murdered). So many different emperors meant that therewas not astrong and stableleader to head thegreat empirefor an extended period of time.Other reasons for thefall of Romewereeconomic and social problems. Economic problems haveto do withmoney and finances. In order for Rometo pay its hugearmy theempirehad to tax all its citizens very heavily. Suchhigh taxes forced may peopleinto poverty (being poor). Sincetherewereso many poor peopleit meant that theycould not buy as many goods, so tradeor theeconomy suffered.For many peopleunemployment was also aproblem. Many peoplewereout of work. Thewealthy families intheempireused slavelabor to work on their largeestates. So therewerenot many paying jobs available.Furthermore, thesmall farmers could not afford to haveslaves or hireother people. So they could not competewiththelargeestateowners. Thesmall farmerswereforced to sell their land and moveto thecities to look for work.However, therewas not enough work for everyone. Somepeopleturned to crimeto feed themselves and theirfamilies. Thecities and theroads of theempirewereoften very dangerous places becauseso many peopleweredesperatefor money, food, and work.Therewerealso other social problems in theempireat thesametime. Therewas corruption (dishonesty)among theleaders of theempire. Often peoplein positions of power stolefrom theempireor took bribes to showfavoritism to individual peopleinstead of serving all thepeopleof theempire. Such corruption meant that manypeoplewereashamed to bepart of theempire. This shameled to adeclinein thesenseof loyalty that peoplehadtowards theempire. For centuries many peoplewerevery proud to considerthemselves part of theempire. However, theintroduction of thesocial problems ofcorruption, crime, and unemployment meant that peopledid not takepridein beingaRoman citizen.Another problem that led to fall of theempirewas theweakening of theempire’sfrontiers or borders. Thehugesizeof theempiremadeit very difficult to defend. Itsometimes took weeks for leaders in Rometo communicatewith thegenerals thatweredefending theborders. By the300’sC.E.’s theNon - Roman tribes north oftheDanubeRiver, known as theGermanic tribes, wereinvading and stealing foodand other goods from theempire.In 330 C.E. theemperor Constantinetook astep that changed thefutureof RomanEmpireforever. Hemoved thecapital of theempirefrom theItalian city of Rometo thecity of Byzantium which was 850 miles east and not in danger of invasionfrom theGermanic tribes. Herenamed thecity thecity New Rome. It was latercalled Constantinople, after theemperor Constantine. Today that city it is knownas Istanbul and is located in thecountry of Turkey.After Constantine’s reign (timein power) was over, power in theempirewasusually divided between 2 different emperors onein thewest and onein theeast.Romeremained thecapital of thewestern half of theempireand Constantinoplewas thecapital of theeasternempire.Theemperors in Romeconstantly found themselves threatened by invading Germanic tribes. Finally, in 410C.E. oneof thesetribes attacked and looted (stolefrom) Rome. In 476, thelast emperor of Romewas driven from histhrone. After thefall of thewestern half of theRoman Empire, Europesplit into several small kingdoms that wereruled by different tribes.In theEast theempirecontinued for another 1000 years. Today wecall theeastern empiretheByzantineEmpire. However, after Romefell it did not mean that thegreatness of Roman civilization ended. TheinfluenceoftheRoman Empirelived on through medieval and modern times. Therearemany institutions and ideas that wehavein our society today that werestarted in theRoman Empire. Things likeour modern government, architecture, art,language, law, and philosophy wereall started or improved by theRomans. If it was not for theinfluenceof theRoman Empireour modern society asweknow it would bevery different than it is today