Fall of Rome HW Assignment (11/4/13)

Do you agree with the collapse theory you read about (transformation)?  What does it explain well/where does it fall short?

The Transformation Theory as it relates to the “collapse” of the Roman Empire suggests that the Roman Empire did not collapse, but rather was transformed into another empire. 

The first part to this theory states that even after the Barbarians invaded Rome, Roman methods of society and sometimes government remained the same.  I agree with this part of the theory.  The Romans efficiently governed and maintained their lands, so it would have been beneficial for the Germanic tribes to maintain the Roman way.  Because the Germanic tribes who took over the western section of the Roman Empire maintained the same Roman way of life, the empire can be viewed as almost the same as it was prior to the Germanic invasions.  The only things that changed were the rulers of Rome.  The Holy Roman Emperors that succeeded the rulers of Rome, such as Charlemagne, retained the same qualities of the Roman Empire.  They had sought not to destroy the empire, but use its wealth to their advantage.  By destroying it, they would have been essentially destroying their own economic opportunity.  Because the only aspect that greatly changed was the ruler of the Western Roman Empire, the empire can be seen as having merely transformed, since it retained most of the qualities of the initial Roman Empire.

However, this theory lacks in that it applies to the Western sector of the Roman Empire far more than it does to the Eastern sector of the Roman Empire.  Whereas the Western sector of the Roman Empire.  When the Western sector of the Roman Empire crumbled, the Eastern Empire was intact for a long period of time before the Eastern half of the empire collapsed in trying to reassemble the western half of the empire.  For this period of time, the Eastern half of the empire remained the same as it had been under the initial Roman Empire.  The eastern half of the empire never changed or went through a transformation, because it remained constant for around 1000 years after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire.  In this way, the Transformation Theory only is applicable to the western half of the Roman Empire, where a more accurate theory would relate to the entirety of the Roman empire instead of just half of it.