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The European Conquest and Rise to Power

 

            Europe was one of the weakest forces in the world after the fall of the Roman Empire. Despite this setback, Europe came to be the one to conquer the new world and turned Europe's situation around. After the fall of the Roman Empire, barbarians invaded due to a power vacuum. This created a culture revolved around fighting leading them to develop new technologies to gain an advantage while in battle. Europe was the one to conquer the world because its warlike culture led them to develop technologies that allowed them to conquer. .
             The main reason why the Roman Empire fell was because the traditional Roman culture started to break down. Before, the Roman Empire was one of the strongest forces in the world. No one dared face them. However, little factors started to add up which ultimately resulted in the fall of the Roman Empire. Rome adopted a new religion: Christianity. This was drastically different from their previous belief of polytheism. This sudden change weakened the power of the emperor because before, the people considered their emperor as one of the gods. However, because people now believed in monotheism, the emperor was no longer considered divine. In 330, Constantine split the empire into two parts. These two empires had their own religion and language that they spoke. The eastern empire thrived while the western empire was on their decline. The east soon was known as the Byzantine Empire. Problems in the east soon arose as well. Economically, the prices increased, inflation occurred, and piracy disturbed trade. Politically, amateurs were in charge of running an empire and the military leaders were corrupt. Money was valued now because of inflation. Because of this, the military hired cheaper soldiers from the Germanic tribesmen. They were cheaper but less reliable with no loyalty to Rome. With these events occurring, the Byzantine Empire, the sack of Rome by the Germanic barbarians was inevitable ("Edward Gibbon and the Theory of Decline").


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