The Roman Empire

Hello everyone, I’m Ali Hamza. Today I will give you information about the foundation, development and fall of the Roman Empire. So first of all, the Roman Empire was founded in 27 BC when Augustus became the absolute ruler of Rome. From Augustus onwards, emperors built more and more monumental buildings that transformed the city of Rome. The Roman Republic was renamed the Roman Empire in 27 BC, when Augustus took control of Rome. Centuries before Augustus’ reign, Rome had already dominated the Italian Peninsula and defeated its main rivals. According to historical sources, the population of the Roman Empire was 58 million. The Roman Empire ruled over an area of 5.9 million square kilometers. The Roman Empire had territories from Spain in the West to the Caspian Sea in the East, to the lands of England in the North, and to Africa in the South. It also had territories in the Middle East. The empire, which ruled around the Mediterranean for many years after the internal turmoil that began with the Migration of Tribes in 375, was divided into eastern and western parts in 395.

Roman society was deeply hierarchical, with slaves at the bottom and patricians, aristocratic families, and senators at the top. At the very top were the emperors. Also, Roman law was one of the empire’s most enduring legacies. Roman law influenced many modern legal systems. It was codified into legal principles such as the Twelve Tables and later Corpus Juris Civilis. The Roman military was one of the most disciplined and effective in history. The Roman legions were the backbone of the empire, and their organization and tactics were highly advanced.

The Roman economy was primarily agricultural, but trade also played an important role, especially through the large network of Roman roads and seaports. Roman monetary units such as the denarius made it easier to trade throughout the empire. Slavery was an important part of the Roman economy, especially in farming and households. Slaves were often prisoners of war or born slaves.

The fall of the Eastern and Western Roman Empire

The Western Roman Empire came to an end in 476. Starting with the 3rd century crisis, growing internal problems and increasing attacks by barbarian tribes led to the fall of Western Rome. The last Western Roman Emperor, Romulus Augustulus, was defeated by a barbarian commander named Odoaker. This event symbolizes the official fall of Western Rome.  Nearly a thousand years later, in 1453, the Eastern Roman Empire, better known as the Byzantine Empire, fell to the Ottomans by Sultan Mehmet II. The reasons for the collapse are military and political weakness, lack of help from the West, territorial losses such as the Battle of Malazgirt in 1071, external threats such as the rise of the Turks, etc.

As a result of the collapse, Mehmed II used modern cannons to destroy the walls of Constantinople and bring the city under Ottoman rule. This event marked the official end of Eastern Rome. The capture of Constantinople is considered by European historians as the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the New Age. The fall of Eastern Rome was one of the cornerstones of the Ottoman Empire’s rise as a world power.

The Importance of Eastern Rome

For nearly a thousand years, the Eastern Roman Empire left an important cultural legacy in the fields of Christianity, law, art and science. Its collapse is also considered one of the events that led to the rise of the Renaissance in Western Europe. In the West, the migration of Byzantine scientists and artists in particular encouraged the re-discovery of ancient Greek and Roman culture.