The Roman Empire began its reign over the Eastern World in 753 B.C when Romulus and Remus founded their great city. It continued to expand from a small city in the southern part of Italy into a flourishing Empire that eventually controlled all of Europe and parts of Africa. The Empire persevered for almost 1300 years before it fell into the hands of the Barbarians in 476 A.D. The Collapse of this great Empire is one of the most debated issues in all of ancient history. Throughout the centuries there have been many different perspectives of this topic. One historian said, "it has remained a vital question because each age has seen in the tale of Rome's fall, something significant and relevant to its own situation. " Some of the main and more accepted explanations for the fall of Rome include the economic collapse of the Empire, the decay of the once strong and dominating military, the division of the Empire that had grown to large and the poor Emperors that led this once great city to its end.
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Every civilization relies on a good economy for it to survive. When Rome was at its most prosperous it had a successful economy with coinage made out of pure silver that filled all of the city treasuries. However, through time and hardships of the Empire the economy suffered severely helping to push Rome to its collapse. .
To deal with the money problems the Emperors were having in the government, they decided that it would be a good idea to tax the citizens. In the beginning, this system wasn't such a bad idea but the government began to get greedy and the taxation got out of control. The senators had to pay a special surtax of gold on the special occasions that the emperors held. After 364 A.D anyone with a decent job had to make this "compulsory donation " every 5 years or more often. .
The Empire was still not making enough money so they continually devalued their coinage and forced themselves into inflation around 220 A.
