The Roman Empire lasted for over a thousand years; from 756BC to 476AD. But from 180 to 476 Rome began to lose its stronghold as the dominant empire. There are numerous reasons why this happened. At one point it was said that Rome was "more respected than feared." That was said only 42 years before Rome began to decrease .How did this world domination go from being the most powerful empire in the world, to completely nonexistent? .
The last emperor before the decline of Rome began was Marcus Aurelius. He was one of the three most successful emperors in Rome's history. He was kind, benevolent, and humane. But during his reign the Pax Romana ended. The Pax Romana is the 200-year period of peace in Ancient Rome. It was said to be "the greatest gift Rome gave to the ancient world." This was one of the first events that started the decline of the empire of Rome. .
One of the most important reasons for the fall of Rome was the economy. There were many economic problems in Rome. I"ll first start with the prisoners of war or the lack there of. When Emperor Hadrian drew the boundaries and said Rome could grow no more in 121 AD, the empire lost one of the three largest sources of income, prisoners of war Prisoners of war or slaves contributed greatly to Rome's social system. Slaves provided wealthy Romans with help around the household. "Imperial conquests and expansion eventually strained the native Roman workforce, so great numbers of foreign slaves had to be imported to fill agricultural labor needs". (1) Other sources for slavery were debtors selling themselves into slavery to make up for what they owe. As you can see here Rome was very dependent on slavery, making it an important reason in the downfall of Rome. Another major source of income was trade. Rome acted like the middleman in trade between the provinces. The provinces were told what to produce, and they produced it, sold it to Rome, who would then sell it to the other provinces for a higher price.