¿QUÉ PASÓ EN EUROPA TRAS LA CAIDA DEL IMPERIO ROMANO?

[Music] Imagine that you were born in Europe in the year 54 after Christ, no matter what language you spoke, the religion you practiced or the tribe to which you belonged, your life would have been dictated in both small and large aspects by the city of Rome. It mattered that Rome was hundreds of miles from where you lived its citizens, soldiers and magistrates would have been everywhere you would have been required to pay taxes or tributes to the Romans and you may have even been required to enlist in a Roman army and traveled to a distant province to fight for the city and its empire, you may have spent your entire life without setting foot in the city itself but no matter its power and influence would have been enough to make you Roman, however this did not last. forever to understand the effects of the fall of the Roman Empire you must first understand why it fell?

This topic has been discussed and debated by countless scholars throughout the centuries however there are some factors that most scholars agree on. in which they at least influenced the collapse of the empire the first is the economic crisis a large part of Rome's economy was based on slave labor in fact it is estimated that at its peak 25% of the population of Rome were slaves these slaves They were taken from the soldiers and resistance forces of the conquered Nations, therefore when Rome could no longer conquer the supply of slaves was exhausted given that Rome had depended on human labor for so many years and had not sought technological innovation in the field of agriculture without cheap labor and slaves to work in the fields the economy collapsed the second main reason is not the barbarians outside the gates but the barbarians inside them as the Empire grew the native Roman population became smaller in proportion Due to the size of the Empire, Rome was forced to hire barbarian mercenaries to defend the borders. Of course, these troops were not of the same quality as the legionaries of the golden ages of Rome, nor were the generals and commanders who did have loyalty loyal to Rome.

The mercenaries were then ruling Rome itself. This led in part to rampant corruption and a volatile political climate that also contributed to the fall of Rome. The Roman army was largely made up of barbarian mercenaries who had no ethnic ties to Rome.

They could not safeguard the borders as efficiently as they had once done nor could the government continue to easily collect taxes in the provinces. The arrival of the Visigoths to the empire in the 3rd century fleeing the Hun invaders and their subsequent rebellions have been cited as contributing factors. The decline of the Western Roman Empire officially ended on September 4, 476 AD, when Emperor Romulus Augustus was appointed by the Germanic king Odoacer.

The dissolution of Rome led to a period of considerable change in which various factions competed for dominance. This era, known as the High Middle Ages, was marked by a fragmentation of political power, changes in borders and the emergence of new cultural and cultural identities. Policies Barbarian kingdoms composed of various Germanic tribes such as the Goths, Vandals, Lombards and Franks began to establish themselves in former Roman territories.

These new kingdoms, however, did not simply erase the Roman legacy; instead, they often adapted Roman institutions and mixed them with their own Germanic customs. For example, the Ostrogoths in Italy, the Visigoths in Spain, and the Vandals in North Africa continued to use Roman law and administrative systems in the British Isles. The situation was somewhat different.

The withdrawal of Roman forces around 410 AD had left the region open to invasion by various groups, especially the Anglo-Saxons and Jutes of what is Denmark and northern Germany. These invasions led to the establishment of a series of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms that eventually merged into the kingdom of England. The collapse economic and added to these foreign invasions caused a large part of the classical Roman architecture to be lost.

Unfortunately the elegant stone of the Roman era was replaced by simple wooden structures, the kilometers of Roman roads were no longer maintained and the great movement of goods that coordinated and managed by the Romans collapsed it is clear that the quality of products throughout Europe decreased significantly after the fall of Rome before the collapse high quality African pottery could be found on the table of the citizens of Rome the ancient Roman citizens who Those who lived in those regions were civilians and were in no position to expel their new masters and for the most part they didn't bother to try most simply tried to accommodate their new Germanic Masters as best they could now the Eastern Empire still existed and had strength Armies at his disposal Under Justinian he made a serious attempt to recover some of the lost ground in the west The attempt was only partially successful The Vandal state in North Africa was overthrown as was the Ostrogothic state in Italy and a small portion of territory was taken from the Bisg Goths in Spain more than that Justinian could not achieve and even these setbacks of conquests required a long war in Italy that destroyed the Peninsula all the ground lost in the west was practically impossible especially since the Persians remained a serious threat in the east and in addition there was also a new threat in the Danube the Slavs the infrastructure was never repaired the aqueducts remained cut off which means they had no Fresh Water Source malaria made life in the city inhospitable and as icing on the cake came the Justinian 's plague that killed half the population of the western part of the empire, the population decreased further to 50,000 or less grains were no longer imported from Egypt as Rome is an inland city The era of free bread and circuses had ended food prices skyrocketed as land transportation was much more expensive than sea and river transportation citizens began to use the old buildings as nothing more than quarries to repair the structures they wanted to preserve everything had fallen into disrepair state and there was no money much of the land abandoned urbanized areas had been converted into crops and pastures the floods of the Tiber and the plague devastated the city along with more wars in the area isolated from byzantium when the pope came to govern the city the senate disappeared when the Byzantines regained control they plundered the city for their own purposes and financed Wars in the east hundreds of thousands of Romans left Rome to live in the countryside on their own farms or more preferably under the protection of a powerful landowner hundreds of thousands of Urban Romans became Rural Italians the few legions that had been stationed in Italy and were still staffed by Romans such as the 16th and 22nd legions probably simply dissolved and ceased to exist, Latin began to die out in the 6th century shortly after the fall of Rome, the fall of Rome precipitated the fragmentation of the empire which allowed different local Latin dialects to develop dialects that eventually became the modern Romance languages ​​so in a sense Latin never died it just changed people traveled less frequently Contact between cities was kept to a minimum, although writing did not disappear completely thanks to Christianity. In part, written Latin had less and less influence as fewer people learned to read or write. In short, nothing impeded the development of local dialects.

Little by little, decade after decade, these changes accumulated to such an extent that people living at different ends of the Old Empire could no longer communicate with each other, becoming modern Romance languages ​​such as Romanian , French, Portuguese, Spanish and of course the Italian. The fall of Rome also paved the way for another important part of European history feudalism when Rome fell Europe fell into a constant state of war the new Kings not only wanted to tax their population but also wanted them to fight in times of war this practice was of course unpopular the new Kings allowed the landowners to form their own small armies to which the kings They could resort to defending the kingdom. This system also provided local protection against anyone who wanted to plunder the Earth such as the Vikings or the Magyars.

This eventually became the system of feudalism that dominated medieval Europe. Feudalism helped prevent another system from forming in Europe. strong centralized government like that of Rome although the landowners swore loyalty to the king these landowners subdivided and further distributed their lands among the people who swore loyalty to them naturally this created a decentralized government that was prone to internal conflict feudalism also further weakened trade and economic development in Europe the serfs who worked the land were tied to the Earth and were prohibited from creating economic infrastructure without their lord's permission.

Since serfs had to pay taxes to use their lord's infrastructure and resources it was not It was best for their lord to give them the privilege of developing the land. The European economy of the Middle Ages was nothing compared to that of Roman times, however, a significant improvement and strengthening of religious bodies after the fall of Rome when the law and the order that Rome provided disappeared the people of Europe began to seek guidance in the church some religious leaders such as the pope basically acted as Monarchs other lower religious leaders acted as advisors to Kings and even performed managerial functions in several kingdoms without the defense of the polytheism and the established rule by Rome, the church not only became the last source of faith in the European kingdoms but also became somewhat intertwined in their political affairs. This paved the way for the dominance of the church in Medieval Europe at first Christianity was banned in Rome and Christians were persecuted by many emperors such as Nero and Deocletian, however in the year 313 after Christ Christianity became legal under the rule of Constantine the Great, the first Christian emperor using his influence as emperor Constantine established processes and norms that provided stability to the church Under his protection and due to the various ways he showed towards the church Christianity prospered being a man skilled in politics and Administration Constantine also influenced the internal functioning of the church to make it more stable the Catholic Church became the permanent institution that held Europe together armies roamed the Roman Empire and the people depended on the bishop to protect them the Roman Catholic Church took on the role of Leadership and helped communities by distributing food to the people the Church Also helped preserve Greco-Roman culture by protecting ancient manuscripts and arts the community of monks created monasteries that welcomed travelers and refugees in this way the Catholic Church dominated the way of life of the people the members of medieval society They believed that the Catholic Church was the most important factor in their lives and they organized their towns and cities to reflect this.

The townspeople built their churches in the center of the city or town and travelers could see the bell from miles away since most people lived in small villages the main role of the church in medieval society was to unite people this church forced people to pay 10% of their income commonly known as tithe the church would use money to influence the political decisions of the people as today the pope was the head of the Catholic Church and significantly influenced the decisions of Kings and medieval lords however the pope only interacted with the noble members of society ordinary Christians attended his local church more than 300 years after the fall of Rome the title of emperor revived in the West given to a man called Charlemagne who ruled territories in central and northern Italy, southern France and parts of Germany and central Europe the name that historians have given to this empire is the Holy Roman Empire by Saint simple the Catholic Church was very involved in fact Charlemagne's authority came from the Pope the leader of the church this empire never came close to controlling the same amount of territory that Rome once had but it asserted its power by claiming a connection with Rome of old his argument was Rome never fell it was just reorganizing of course by then many people had moved on or had no interest in being part of the new Roman Empire but its very existence speaks to the influence of Rome even more than 300 years later to rule Europe had to establish links with the power of Rome in the 7th century while Europe was going through the tumultuous transformations of the early Middle Ages, a new religious and political force was born in the Arabian Peninsula, Islam, this emergence not only reshaped Arab society but also would spread rapidly leaving a deep and lasting impact on the world including the territories of the Old Roman Empire Islam began with the prophetic mission of Muhammad in the city of Mecca Around the year 610 AD born in the Qurays tribe that controlled Mecca Muhammad He began to preach on the revelations he received from God which were later compiled in the Quran, the holy book of Islam. His teachings emphasizing monotheism and moral and social reform attracted a growing number of followers but also opposition from the established powers of the Mecca in 632 AD Muslim armies had conquered vast territories including the Sassanian Persian Empire and significant portions of the Byzantine Empire, extending their rule over Persia, the Levant, North Africa and even reaching Spain in the west, this rapid expansion of Islamic power. It marked the beginning of a new political and cultural era.

Many of the regions into which Islam spread were part of the Old Roman Empire and were predominantly Christian at the time of the Muslim conquest, although non-Muslims were allowed to maintain their faith. Under Islamic rule many gradually converted to Islam over the centuries due to a variety of factors including the appeal of its teachings and the social and economic advantages that conversion offered. The period following the fall of Rome was one of extraordinary changes and adaptations of conflict and fusion and of birth and development of the entities and structures that would shape the medieval world.

It was a time in which the old world was transformed into a new one, a world that in turn laid the foundations of The modern era This dramatic historical period serves as compelling testimony to humanity's resilience and inventiveness in the face of monumental change.