The English playwright, John Heywood used the expression “Rome was not built in a day” to make the argument that great things take time to build. In the song “Clique”, Kanye West boasts, “so I just meditate at the home in Pompeii/about how I could build a new Rome in one day” (101-102). In these lines, the always hubris Kanye accepts Heywood’s challenge and plots how he can build a new Rome in one day. There is no question that Kanye cannot rebuild the Roman Empire in one day, nevertheless the real question is how could one of the most powerful ancient empires fall? Over the years, historians have attributed the fall of the Roman Empire to many different factors. I believe that immigration played the biggest role in the fall of the Roman Empire …show more content…
In the 4th century CE, the Gothic kingdoms had been overrun by the Huns. With no place to go, the Eastern Empire of Rome (at this point in time the kingdom had already been divided into Eastern and Western halves which is another reason some historians believe lead to the collapse of the empire) allowed the Goths to settle on the far banks of the Danube River. Once across the river, Roman officials attempted to limit the amount of people crossing the river and entering Roman territory. This failed attempt at limiting the number of people entering Roman territory along with Provincial Roman leaders taking advantage of refugees lead to a revolt by the Goth. As a result of the revolts, this lead to the emperor of the Eastern Empire, Valens, to assemble his army and try to halt the Goths. This backfired drastically, resulting in Valens and the majority of his army being killed in the Battle of Adrianople. This entire battle and situation could have been avoided if the Eastern Roman Empire would have just allowed the Goths to immigrate unimpeded. Philosopher and court orator Themistios argued that during the period of Adrianople, the Goths could and have been let into the empire and assimilated and become normal Romans. We don’t know for sure if this is true, but if it had been why didn’t they just let the Goths immigrate into the empire? No one knows for sure why the Romans didn’t let the Goths immigrate to their territory however one thing we do know is that in 476 CE the Western Roman Empire fell. Eventually in 1453 CE the Eastern Roman Empire fell, and the Roman Empire was nothing but