On Economic Reasons For The Decline And Fall Of The Western Roman Empire

The decline of the Western Roman Empire can be attributed to multiple factors, among which the economic factors are of prime significance. Currently, political and military factors are research hotspots in domestic academia while studies about economic factors, especially the comprehensive analysis of the hidden dangers in economic policy and the consequences of its interventions in economic crisis during the early and late period, are relatively less. Therefore, discussions about this topic will have a certain academic value.Despite of the former economic prosperity of the early empire, there remained hidden dangers in its economic policy. The crisis of the third century was firstly an economic crisis, followed by political crisis and interactions with economic crisis in a vicious cycle. The empire government had been an institution that exploited both the ruling class and the ruled class. The economic crisis is the fundamental reason of the end of slavery society.The late empire was once resuscitated. However, its interventions were nothing but quenching a thirst with poison and resulted in a weaker empire, which made it suffer continued domestic and foreign troubles till its final collapse.The economic crisis is based on the agricultural crisis, which then leads to the crisis in industry and commerce as well as politic and military. Thusly, the economic crisis, more than the damage caused by rebellion and barbarian invasion, is the primary factor that contributes to the decline of the empire.