The Roman Empire

The reason, in my opinion, that the Roman Empire is so significant is that it was the foundation upon which western civilization was built. They came up with so many of the fundamentals of democracy that we still use to this day. Yes, they adopted many of their ideas from the Greeks, but in my opinion, they improved upon and fine tuned those concepts. The historical impact of the Roman Empire can't be understated. They conquered and pretty much dominated the Mediterranean sea, they pushed their borders far north all the way to England and they implemented the incredibly smart tactic of incorporating those that they conquered into their ranks. That's one of the most prominent factors that led them to lasting as long as they did. Yes they required their subjects to submit to the emperor, but they for the most part allowed them to continue to practice their own ways of doing things. Rome is a fascinating topic to think about. How they expanded their empire from the Mediterranean sea, to northern England, to the middle east, is absolutely amazing to think about. It's impossible to go over human history without delving into the history of the Roman Empire. Rome, not unlike the United States of today, had many rulers. Many of them were articulate and competent leaders, but many also were ineffective and unpopular. Despite that disparity, the empire lived and flourished for centuries. There's even a term for their prosperity; the "Pax Romana". The volumes of culture they produced, including but not limited to literature, poetry, music, and art has had a monumental impact on humanity. Their military prowess is also absolutely worth admiring. The organization and effectiveness of their legions was, more often than not, unrivaled in their time which is why they were able to so swiftly conquer as much of the world as they did. Obviously they weren't all good. Like most other empires throughout history, they often oppressed their subjects and forced them into submission. Their blatant aggression is the flip side of their military might. I think that with any empire, there comes a feeling of superiority and that's largely the mentality that the romans adopted. That's not to say that those feelings were unwarranted, they absolutely had the grounds upon which to base them. As with all civilizations, we have to take the good with the bad, we have to see all the sides of the story, and from inspect them from all sides if we really want to get the full picture. The reason Rome collapsed, from what I can tell, is that the empire simply became too large to manage. The roads that allowed them to expand their empire as far as they did, could only sustain their superiority for so long. As all historians know, there were more factors than just that that led to their downfall. There was a series of interior and exterior factors that led to the decline. The exterior factor, largely being the persistent invasion by the Germanic tribes to the north, and the interior factor being the rapid division into factions within the empire. With the fall of Rome came the advent of what we know as the middle ages, a time in European history that was considered to be particularly grim. It's sad to think about how Europe went from what would largely be considered a flourishing golden age, to a backwards feudal society, but as with many historical changes, we just have to accept that. The legacy of the Roman Empire needs to be taught throughout the world. We need to be reminded of the mind boggling accomplishments that humanity can achieve, so that we can light the fire underneath us to strive for more, just as the Romans did.