Conrad Demarest – Rome

The Conrad Demarest model was created to help understand the reasoning behind the rise and fall of empire. While it was based off of American civilizations, such as the Aztecs or the Incas, it should also fit civilizations in Eurasia and Africa. For Rome, the empire fits the model almost perfectly. The model is an effective way to understand the empire, since the Roman Empire has all the necessary preconditions, critical causes, results, and reasoning for the fall described in the model. The Roman Empire has the conditions needed for the formation of an empire as explained in the model.

Rome, with its copious amounts of farmland and surplus of different environments certainly has the land “[]able to support the initial conquest to begin building an empire. ” Rome was not dependant on trade because of their extensive territory, and thus didn’t have to worry about the potential loss of resources when invading another land. Along with that, there was already a pre-established government with leaders fighting for power after the death of Julius Caesar, creating a power vacuum. Rome also had an extremely large military, with organized troops and superior military strategies.

Rome’s army is an excellent example of the Roman ideology that was critical in creating the empire. Roman soldier received no pay and had to supply their own weapons. Yet, the Roman army was still extraordinarily large, which meant that Roman citizens were exceptionally patriotic, valued loyalty and bravery, and treasured Rome above all other things. This was a perfectly ideology, since it “glorifi[ed] the military and foster[ed] the individual\’s feelings of identification with the state. ” Therefore, when Roman leaders wanted to expand, they had a more than willing army eager to help.

The result of Rome becoming an empire also fits the Conrad Demarest model. The Romans had a peace that lasted 200 years under the first emperor, Augustus. The empire was stable since laws were enforced by the civil services created. More territory was gained as Rome expanded to Gaul and parts of Britain and Germany. Along with that, construction projects like aqueducts and roads were started, creating more efficient systems of transportation. People soon began to be hired based of of their skill level instead of their social class, and the government gained more support from the people.

There was a population increase from the economic stability and territory increase, which led to an increase in the size of the military and even more expansion. Unfortunately, these things would not last. As described in the model, the things that led to the rise of Rome led to its fall as well. Economic deterioration led to an increase of taxes and a population decrease, which made recruitment for the army more challenging. As a result, the empire had to hire Germanic soldier, and the need to pay the troops increased the taxes. As more and more outsiders joined the military, their loyalty to the empire was doubted.

Invaders attacked from all around, and under the burden of social and economic pressures, many citizens actually welcomed them. Warfare became more expensive, “draining resources” until the empire had little money. Government became less efficient, as emperors slowly became more and more corrupt and lost the support of citizens. There were also conflicts due to unclear lines of succession, and eventually the government collapsed. All of those things, along with the preconditions, critical causes, and rewards from the creation of the empire, for the Conrad Demarest model to a “T. ”