For over two thousand years, Rome was a vast, powerful and dominant empire. The ancient kingdom seemed invincible, but a few centuries later, Roman power fell and was wiped out. No one knows exactly how the empire's demise occurred and is still debated today, but some major factors are recognized that caused the fall of Rome. The barbarians' lands were located beyond Rome's western border, along the Rhine and Danube rivers and would slowly become a serious threat to Rome and ultimately led to the fall of the empire. At first, they posed no danger as they were purely nomadic German farmers due to their poor agricultural skills. The barbarians also could not develop a political structure, so they were small and weak compared to Rome. In fact, Rome gained the loyalty of the tribes by using money, trade, and military honors and turning them against each other. By the third century, however, the barbarians changed and became more complex, due to garrisons and merchants who stimulated the economic and sociopolitical growth of the border tribes. Farmers were introduced to Roman agricultural techniques which stabilized their population and the tribes increased in size which led to the creation of cities. As the population grew, the tribes created a more organized and complex political constitution. The barbarians soon had stronger and larger armies and posed a threat of border raids and mass migration to Rome. Another major factor that caused Rome's demise was the recurring civil wars between emperors and the usurpers, who are rebels who try to take over Rome. illegally take power, such as generals or other officers. These frequent civil wars resulted in thousands of deaths, disorderly training...... middle of paper ......e barbarians. While all this chaos was happening in the western part of the empire, the eastern empire was functioning well and was still considered dominant by the rest of the world. They were protected from attacks because they owned the Bosphorus Strait which gave the advantage to the Romans because it forced the barbarians to fight on the sea which was not their strong point. They also had mountains that made it difficult for tribes to pass through, and the mountain tribes already living there negotiated with the Eastern Empire and agreed to defend them. The army had a limited number of barbarians allowed, which also prevented mass migration of tribes. The people also had a national identity and considered themselves Romans and therefore easily protected the country. Nevertheless, even though the Western Empire was indeed destroyed by flames, it did not collapse easily and put up a good fight before passing..