Fall of Rome vs. Failure of American Politics

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

The video “Fall of Rome vs. Failure of American Politics” gives two major reasons for the end of the empire. The first reason is Christianity. The video claims that as Christianity began to expand it was given more focus by the Roman elite causing them to either convert or persecute them. One scholar quotes, “Christianity actually saved the Roman Empire during the 3rd century” (Fall of Rome). This caused the focus of government to shift from politics and foreign invaders to Christianity within the empire. For many Romans Christianity was a new way of thinking, but for others it was seen as going against the Roman values. The second reason outlined in the video was the barbarians lead by Alaric. The barbarians wished to assimilate into the empire, but when their leader Alaric was rejected they turned against them. Alaric would soon conquer and burn the city of Rome ending the Western Empire. These two reasons of Christianity and barbarism are the main ideas given for the fall of Rome in the video.
I thought this was a very informative movie and it gave good reasons for the fall of Rome. The video featured many scenes as the narrator discussed various topics. It also had many scholars from different universities talking about the fall of Rome. It was a little confusing at the start when it talked about Christianity, but the main idea was made clearer later on. The video also showed many pictures to help you understand what they were talking about. This video was very informative and easy to understand why they thought Rome fell.
"Fall of Rome vs. Failure of American Politics." Youtube. Web. 15 Apr 2010. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTGNgS1toEU.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTGNgS1toEU