The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire: Volume V

Roman Empire changed the world beyond all recognition. Its reach was all-encompassing, and its effects and influence can be seen everywhere in the modern world. To adequately document the external problems and internal failings that led to its downfall in one volume would be sheer folly. That’s why Edward Gibbon wrote six volumes that have been compiled in one comprehensive book. The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire covers the period from 98 to 1590 AD. Due to the absence of comprehensive written sources explaining the reason for the decline, Gibbon faced a Herculean task. Yet as readers familiar with the work will know, he was more than equal to it.

Gibbon’s primary thesis is that repeated barbarian invasions led to the Roman Empire’s collapse. He contends that Rome’s citizens turned their back on civic virtue that had once made the “Eternal City” a beacon of civilization for the rest of the world. He maintains the Romans sowed the seeds of their destruction. Gibbon also courted controversy during his lifetime for suggesting that the growth and spread of Christianity also weakened the Roman Empire. Yet in his own words, “instead of inquiring why the Roman Empire was destroyed, we should rather be surprised that it had subsisted for so long.”