Government corruption and political instability

Government corruption and political instability

If Rome’s sheer size made it difficult to govern, ineffective and inconsistent leadership only served to magnify the problem. Being the R...
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 Overexpansion and military overspending

Overexpansion and military overspending

At its height, the Roman Empire stretched from the Atlantic Ocean all the way to the Euphrates River in the Middle East, but its grandeur...
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 The rise of the Eastern Empire

The rise of the Eastern Empire

The fate of Western Rome was partially sealed in the late third century, when the Emperor Diocletian divided the Empire into two halves—t...
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 Economic troubles and overreliance on slave labor

Economic troubles and overreliance on slave labor

Even as Rome was under attack from outside forces, it was also crumbling from within thanks to a severe financial crisis. Constant wars a...
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 Invasions by Barbarian tribes

Invasions by Barbarian tribes

The most straightforward theory for Western Rome’s collapse pins the fall on a string of military losses sustained against outside forces...
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 Battlefield Surgery

Battlefield Surgery

The Romans invented many surgical tools and pioneered the use of the cesarean section, but their most valuable contributions to medicine...
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 The Twelve Tables and the Corpus Juris Civilis

The Twelve Tables and the Corpus Juris Civilis

Subpoena, habeas corpus, pro bono, affidavit—all these terms derive from the Roman legal system, which dominated Western law and governm...
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