From Aberglaube (Superstition) to Zweifrontenkrieg (Two-front War): 210 Reasons for the Decline of the Roman Empire

Look at a map of the Roman Empire in 420 and you might be forgiven for thinking that talk of a decline was a little overblown. In terms of outline, the empire does not look all that different from its fourth century predecessor. Even a generation later at the outset of the 450s, while some regions had fallen out of imperial control - Britain, western Gaul, western Spain and Africa province, the overall integrity of the empire appears to be sound. Such appearances can be deceiving. On such maps, the eye is immediately drawn to the presence of barbarian tribes establishing their own proto-kingdoms on formerly imperial territory - Franks, Burgundians and Goths in Gaul, Suebi in Spain, Vandals in Africa and the opening gambits of German tribes in Britain. Surely their establishment had been at the point of a sword, bringing all kinds of death, destruction and decline to the Roman Empire?

The great movement of Germanic peoples - the Völkerwanderung - had seen numerous tribes cross into Roman territory either as displaced refugees, desperate migrants or opportunistic invaders; however, it is too simplistic to say that this influx caused imperial infrastructure to crumble. The Roman state had proven capable of resisting such intrusion along the Rhine-Danube frontier in the past, and at least two barbarian tribes operating on Roman territory by the turn of the fifth century - the Goths and the Franks - were there by the invitation of the Roman government. Something had to have changed within the Roman Empire for its policies to fail so spectacularly in the late fourth century. The lack of clarity about what that something might have been was summed up by Alexander Demandt in his 1984 work, Der Fall Roms, where he tabulated a list of 210 reasons given by various historians for the decline and fall of the Roman Empire in the West.

You could maybe try to take a couple of these reasons and try to come up with an explanation as to why it might have affected the empire adversely. You will certainly find that a few on this list are polar opposites…

1.                 Abolition of gods

2.                 Abolition of rights

3.                 Absence of character

4.                 Absolutism

5.                 Agrarian question

6.                 Agrarian slavery

7.                 Anarchy

8.                 Anti-Germanism

9.                 Apathy

10.              Aristocracy

11.              Asceticism

12.              Attack of the Germans

13.              Attack of the Huns

14.              Attack of riding nomads

15.              Backwardness in science

16.              Bankruptcy

17.              Barbarization

18.              Bastardization

19.              Blockage of land by large landholders

20.              Blood poisoning

21.              Bolshevization

22.              Bread and circuses

23.              Bureaucracy 

24.              Byzantinism

25.              Capillarite sociale (Social capillarity)

26.              Capitals, change of

27.              Caste system

28.              Celibacy

29.              Centralization

30.              Childlessness

31.              Christianity

32.              Citizenship, granting of

33.              Civil war

34.              Climatic deterioration

35.              Communism

36.              Complacency

37.              Concatenation of misfortunes

38.              Conservatism

39.              Capitalism

40.              Corruption

41.              Cosmopolitanism

42.              Crisis of legitimacy

43.              Culinary excess

44.              Cultural neurosis

45.              Decentralization

46.              Decline of Nordic character

47.              Decline of the cities

48.              Decline of the Italian population

49.              Deforestation

50.              Degeneration

51.              Degeneration of the intellect

52.              Demoralization

53.              Depletion of mineral resources

54.              Despotism

55.              Destruction of environment

56.              Destruction of peasantry

57.              Destruction of political process

58.              Destruction of Roman influence

59.              Devastation

60.              Differences in wealth

61.              Disarmament

62.              Disillusion with stated goals of empire

63.              Division of empire

64.              Division of labour

65.              Earthquakes

66.              Egoism

67.              Egoism of the state

68.              Emancipation of slaves

69.              Enervation

70.              Epidemics

71.              Equal rights, granting of

72.              Eradication of the best

73.              Escapism

74.              Ethnic dissolution

75.              Excessive aging of population

76.              Excessive civilization

77.              Excessive culture

78.              Excessive foreign infiltration

79.              Excessive freedom

80.              Excessive urbanization

81.              Expansion

82.              Exploitation

83.              Fear of life

84.              Female emancipation

85.              Feudalization

86.              Fiscalism

87.              Gladiatorial system

88.              Gluttony

89.              Gout

90.              Hedonism

91.              Hellenization

92.              Heresy

93.              Homosexuality

94.              Hothouse culture

95.              Hubris

96.              Hypothermia

97.              Immoderate greatness

98.              Imperialism

99.              Impotence

100.          Impoverishment

101.          Imprudent policy toward buffer states

102.          Inadequate educational system

103.          Indifference

104.          Individualism

105.          Indoctrination

106.          Inertia

107.          Inflation

108.          Intellectualism

109.          Integration, weakness of

110.          Irrationality

111.          Jewish influence

112.          Lack of leadership

113.          Lack of male dignity

114.          Lack of military recruits

115.          Lack of orderly imperial succession

116.          Lack of qualified workers

117.          Lack of rainfall

118.          Lack of religiousness

119.          Lack of seriousness

120.          Large-landed properties

121.          Lead poisoning

122.          Lethargy

123.          Levelling, cultural

124.          Levelling, social

125.          Loss of army discipline

126.          Loss of authority

127.          Loss of energy

128.          Loss of instincts

129.          Loss of population

130.          Luxury

131.          Malaria

132.          Marriages of convenience

133.          Mercenary system

134.          Mercury damage

135.          Militarism

136.          Monetary economy

137.          Monetary greed

138.          Money, shortage of

139.          Moral decline

140.          Moral idealism

141.          Moral materialism

142.          Mystery religions

143.          Nationalism of Rome's subjects

144.          Negative selection

145.          Orientalisation

146.          Outflow of gold

147.          Over refinement

148.          Pacifism

149.          Paralysis of will

150.          Paralysisation

151.          Parasitism

152.          Particularism

153.          Pauperism

154.          Plagues

155.          Pleasure seeking

156.          Plutocracy

157.          Polytheism

158.          Population pressure

159.          Precociousness

160.          Professional army

161.          Proletarianization

162.          Prosperity

163.          Prostitution

164.          Psychoses

165.          Public baths

166.          Racial degeneration

167.          Racial discrimination

168.          Racial suicide

169.          Rationalism

170.          Refusal of military service

171.          Religious struggles and schisms

172.          Rentier mentality

173.          Resignation

174.          Restriction to profession

175.          Restriction to the land

176.          Rhetoric

177.          Rise of uneducated masses

178.          Romantic attitudes to peace

179.          Ruin of middle class

180.          Rule of the world

181.          Semi-education

182.          Sensuality

183.          Servility

184.          Sexuality

185.          Shamelessness

186.          Shifting of trade routes

187.          Slavery

188.          Slavic attacks

189.          Socialism (of the state)

190.          Soil erosion

191.          Soil exhaustion

192.          Spiritual barbarism

193.          Stagnation

194.          Stoicism

195.          Stress

196.          Structural weakness

197.          Superstition

198.          Taxation, pressure of

199.          Terrorism

200.          Tiredness of life

201.          Totalitarianism

202.          Treason

203.          Tristesse (sadness)

204.          Two-front war

205.          Underdevelopment

206.          Useless eaters

207.          Usurpation of all powers by state

208.          Vaingloriousness

209.          Villa economy

210.          Vulgarization

Demandt, A. Der Fall Roms: Die Auflösung des römischen Reiches im Urteil der Nachwelt. Munich (1984), 695

See also: Galinsky, K. Classical and Modern Interactions: Postmodern Architecture, Multiculturalism, Decline, and Other Issues. Austin (1992), 53-73

http://crookedtimber.org/2003/08/25/decline-and-fall/