fall of rome

Clues

• emphasised the violence of the barbarians! invasions, not migrations. the barbs settled in the empire without roman permissiion (4, 6)
• romans and barbarians married each other frequently which showed a good relationship between bs and rs - unity of the two groups - suggests that the barbarians were not a threat because the romans encouraged these types of intermarriages (8, 1, 1, 8)
• romans took barbarian captives to feed their slave trade - so the romans depended on the barbarians for their economoy and society to continue in the way it was going. the barbarians also look roman captives - so their was a mutual need (1, 6)
• the barbarians were a consequence of the fall of the empire - they did not cause the fall, they were just sucked into an already falling empire (7)
• the barbs are largely to blame for the collapse of the economic and politcal system - externfactors! the empire would not have fallen without the barbarians (4, 7)
• the corruption and usurpers in the empire caused the fall oft he empire - corruption caused the economy to collapse etc (1, 9)
• the empire fell because of external problems - there was no sign of the empire falling before the huns pushed the goths into the empire - so the empire wouldnt have fallen on its own (5, 7)
• the empire fell because of internal problems - corruption, usurpers and civil wars between the east and the west (7)
• the fact that the barbs and romans held each other as captives suggests that there was a cultural encounter - they would have experienced different things from the cultures- so they would have been familiar with each other (less of a threat) (1, 6)
• the huns caused the fall of the empire (domino theory) = the huns caused panic and chaos which pushed the goths across the frontiers of the empire which put pressure on the empire and caused its fall (1, 7)