How did the sheer size of the Roman Empire contribute to its downfall?

Question: How did the sheer size of the Roman Empire contribute to its downfall!?
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Not only was it difficult to communicate, but, the expense of maintaining such vast territories was astronomical!.
Forts had to be built!.
Soldiers had to be sent to the forts!.
They required housing, food, and equipment!.
When the Roman Empire had to fight wars closer to home, some of the soldiers in the out-posts were re-called to Rome!.
In most cases, replacing those soldiers was not feasible, due to the expense of the war!.
As for the remaining soldiers, Rome left them in the out-post without any funding, because it was cheaper than maintaining the posts!. Their numbers were too few to properly man the forts defensively, so many of them, simply joined the local communities, found a new career, married local women, had families and died thousands of miles from their homeland!.
In this respect, Rome did not fall, it simply crumbled by degrees!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Think about the size of the Roman Empire, then think about communication technologies during that time!. Yes, a fast horse was the quickest a message could travel!. Although the Romans built fantastic roads, allowing messages to travel faster than ever, the fastest speed was still a horse!. With those massive distances, it could be weeks before a message could reach the government, let alone the amount of time it would take to make a decision, then to send the message back!. The problem was that they over extended themselves, and couldn't communicate quickly enough to keep their empire together!.Www@QuestionHome@Com