Fall of Empires - Characteristics?

Question:I'm taking a look at the common characteristics within the fall of major empires. ( Such as the USSR, Roman Empire, etc..) I have come up with a number of factors, just looking for a new look at the topic from others. Thanks!

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: I'm taking a look at the common characteristics within the fall of major empires. ( Such as the USSR, Roman Empire, etc..) I have come up with a number of factors, just looking for a new look at the topic from others. Thanks!

It's very complex, and no two empires necessarily fall for the same reason.

The claim that Rome fell because of moral decadency is facile and inaccurate. Roman morals at the time of the fall weren't any worse than they were 500 years previously. In fact, by the time of Rome's collapse, it had become majority Christian, and had swept away a lot of the "immoral" pagan traditions.

Rome fell because of a combination of socio-economic, cultural and external factors. The chief cause was the collapse of the Roman economy under the burden of every-increasing military burdens, brought on by the movements of Germanic tribes into Roman territory (who themselves were being pushed westward by the advancing Huns). The financing of wars through excessive taxation served to depopulate the countryside as farmers fled from Rome's collectors. Rome entered a self-perpetuating cycle of spending huge amounts of money on war and taxing the bejeezus out of the empire's people. Inflation spiraled out of control, and people couldn't even afford to participate in activities of "moral decadence" at this point.

The emperors naturally contributed to the fall of Rome, due to the lack of any tradition of succession and the neverending civil wars that were a result. The third century saw a period of crisis where two dozen emperors rose and fell with alarming frequency, averaging perhaps 2 years a reign. Autocratic power was a huge temptation for men of ambition, but it was a deadly game.

Ultimately, it was the loss of loyalty to the Roman ideal that fed the spiritual collapse of the empire. While Rome's embarrassing defeats at the hands of barbarians contributed to this, it was also due to the advent of Christianity. Loyalty to the Roman tradition was supplanted by the Christian loyalty to God above all others. Europe began its transition into a "Christian" civilization and away from the old Hellenistic one.

There are lots of other factors, of course. I'd recommend Michael Grant's book "Rome" for a thorough and well-written history of Rome from its founding to the fall of the Western empire.

the major factors why an empire falls is because of disunity and the empire is conquered by other foreign powers. USSR was dissolved because it is not united anymore and its members want to gain independence. the other factors could be economic problems and other kinds of disasters.

decadency. moral ans social

One important characteristic that gets overlooked is that they don't fall once, nor quickly. Rome split in half. The Western half weakened long before it finally fell. The Eastern half went through many changes before finally collapsing almost a thousand years later.

When looking at the USSR, take into consideration that it was originally the Russian Empire under the tsar. You might also want to note the territorial changes made under the communists. I don't think the Russian Empire has completely fallen yet. That is one of the reasons we are still seeing Russian involvement in the other republics.

Good luck. This is an interesting topic.