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The Fall of the Western Empire

Main Idea Activities 7.6CHAPTER 7

Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.

Holt World History: The Human Journey 65 Main Idea Activities

VOCABULARY Some terms to understand:

• sole (173): only

• inefficient (173): wasting time, energy, or materials

• plundering (175): robbing or taking by force

• triggered (175): set off; started

• corrupt (176): evil, dishonest, and rotten

ORGANIZING INFORMATION How did Emperor Diocletian try to solve the empire’s problems? Fill in the chart using three of the following solutions. One problem has twosolutions.

• He tried to control prices and wages.

• He collected more taxes.

• He appointed a co-emperor and two assistants.

• He drove out invading barbarians.

SolutionProblem

The empire had grown too large.

There was lawlessness within the empire.

The economy was in crisis.

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Monotype Composition 410-467-3300

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Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.

Holt World History: The Human Journey 66 Main Idea Activities

EVALUATING INFORMATION Mark each statement T if it is true or F if it is false.

1. By granting citizenship to all free people of the empire, the governmentgained more taxpayers.

2. Because wealth continued to flow into the empire, there was a shortage ofsilver for coins.

3. The efforts of Diocletian and Constantine slowed the empire’s decline.

4. Diocletian was successful in improving the economy by controlling pricesand wages.

5. Constantine banned Christianity throughout the empire.

6. The Germans who invaded the West set up a united empire.

7. Because of the German invasions, knowledge of the world and the pastdeclined.

8. A government designed for a small city-state effectively controlled a vastempire.

REVIEWING FACTS Choose the correct items from the following list to complete thestatements below.

Constantinople inflation Germanstransportation Mediterranean Attila

1. When the prices of goods increased but the value of the silver coin decreased, Rome

experienced .

2. , Rome’s capital city in the East, served as a base fromwhich to defend the eastern empire.

3. When , the Hun, overthrew Romulus Augustulus, theRoman Empire ended.

4. The most troublesome of Rome’s invaders were the .

5. Among the many causes of the decline of the Roman Empire was growing too fast in

an age of slow .

6. Rome governed the entire with a system designed for acity-state.

Chapter 7, Main Idea Activities 7.6, continued

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DRAWING FROM EXPERIENCEII

What economic problems has the United States faced during your lifetime?Have there been any recessions? Have there been any periods of inflation?

In the last section, you learned about the development of Christianity dur-ing the Roman Empire. In this section, you will learn about the decline andfall of the Roman Empire. Economic problems contributed to this decline.

ORGANIZING YOUR THOUGHTSII

Use the diagram below to help you take notes. List three factors that led tothe decline of the Roman Empire.

Glencoe World History 89

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Chapter 5, Section 5

For use with textbook pages 175–178

DECLINE AND FALL

KEY TERMS

plague an epidemic disease (page 176)

inflation a rapid increase in prices (page 177)

Reading Essentials and Study Guide

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3.

Decline of theRoman Empire

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A Roman Historian Describes the German Tribes

Germanic tribes lived on the frontiers of the Roman Empire for cen-turies. Most of what modern historians know about the customs,appearance, and beliefs of the Germanic tribes comes from a

Roman—not Germanic—historian. Cornelius Tacitus, a Roman lawyer, official,and historian, wrote Germania, excerpted below, in A.D. 98. Tacitus describesthe Germans along the Rhine River frontier of the empire. In part, thehistorian used the Germanic tribes as moral examples of upright, if primitive,people who still held on to the simple virtues that many Romans hadforgotten. He also had sources of factual information about laws, customs,and fighting methods gathered from nearly 100 years of Roman wars andother contacts with the Germans.

Guided Reading In this selection, read to learn how German men and women lived, dressed, and worshiped.

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For myself, I accept the view that the peoplesof Germany . . . remain . . . distinct and unlikeany other nation. One result of this is that theirphysical characteristics, insofar as one can gener-alize . . . , are always the same: fierce-lookingblue eyes, reddish hair, and big frames—which,however, can exert their strength only by meansof violent effort. They are less able to endure toilor fatiguing tasks and cannot bear thirst or heat,though their climate has inured [accustomed]them to cold spells and the poverty of their soilto hunger.

. . . The appearance of the country differsconsiderably in different parts; but in general it iscovered either by bristling forests or by foulswamps. It is wetter on the side that faces Gaul[modern France], windier on the side of Noricumand Pannonia [Austria, Hungary]. A good soil forcereal crops, it will not grow fruit-trees. It is wellprovided with livestock; but the animals aremostly undersized, and even the cattle lack thehandsome heads that are their natural glory. It isthe mere number of them that the Germans takepride in; for these are the only form of wealththey have, and are much prized. . . .

. . . Above all other gods they worshipMercury, and count it no sin, on certain feast-days to include human victims in the sacrificesoffered to him. Hercules and Mars they appeaseby offerings of animals, in accordance with ordi-nary civilized custom. . . . The Germans do notthink it in keeping with the divine majesty toconfine gods within walls or to portray them in

the likeness of any human countenance. Theirholy places are woods and groves, and theyapply the names of deities to that hidden pres-ence which is seen only by the eye of reverence.

. . . It is a well-known fact that the peoples ofGermany never live in cities and will not evenhave their houses adjoin one another. Theydwell apart, dotted about here and there, wher-ever a spring, plain, or grove takes their fancy.Their villages are not laid out in the Romanstyle, with buildings adjacent and connected.Every man leaves an open space round hishouse, perhaps as a precaution against the riskof fire, perhaps because they are inexpertbuilders. They do not even make use of stones orwall-tiles; . . . they employ rough-hewn timber,ugly and unattractive-looking. Some parts,however, they carefully smear over with a clayof such purity and brilliance that it looks likepainting or coloured design. . . .

. . . The universal dress in Germany is acloak fastened with a brooch or, failing that, athorn. They pass whole days by the firesidewearing no garment but this. It is a mark ofgreat wealth to wear undergarments, which . . .fit tightly and follow the contour of every limb.They also wear the skins of wild animals. . . .The dress of the women differs from that of themen in two respects only: women often wearouter garments of linen ornamented with a purple pattern; and as the upper part of these is sleeveless, the whole of their arms . . . areexposed.

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. . . Their marriage code, however, is strict,and no feature of their morality deserves higherpraise. They are almost unique among barbar-ians in being content with one wife apiece—allof them, that is, except a very few who takemore than one wife . . . because their exaltedrank brings them many pressing offers of matri-monial alliances. The dowry is brought by hus-band to wife, not by wife to husband. Parentsand kinsmen attend and approve the gifts—notgifts chosen to please a woman’s fancy or gailydeck a young bride, but oxen, a horse with itsbridle, or a shield, spear, and sword. In consider-ation of such gifts a man gets his wife, and shein her turn brings a present of arms [weapons]to her husband. This interchange of gifts typifies

for them the most sacred bond of union, sancti-fied by mystic rites under the favor of the pre-siding deities of wedlock. The woman must notthink that she is excluded from aspirations tomanly virtues or exempt from the hazards ofwarfare. That is why she is reminded, in the cer-emonies which bless her marriage . . . , that sheenters her husband’s home to be the partner ofhis toils and perils, that both in peace and in warshe is to share his sufferings and adventures.That is the meaning of the team of oxen, thehorse ready for its rider, and the gift of arms. . . .She is receiving something that she must handover intact and undepreciated to herchildren. . . .

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INTERPRETING THE READING

Directions Use information from the reading to answer the following questions. If necessary, use a separatesheet of paper.

1. What did German men and women look like in person and dress?

2. How does Tacitus describe the landscape?

3. What were the Germans’ religious beliefs and how did they worship?

4. What kinds of gifts were given at a Germanic wedding ceremony? According to Tacitus, how didthis ceremony indicate the status of married women in Germanic society?

Critical Thinking5. Making Inferences In what ways does Tacitus—a sophisticated Roman city dweller—seem to

approve of the Germans’ primitive frontier life?

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Barbarians at the BordersThroughout its history as a republic and an empire, Rome faced the problem ofinvasion by foreign tribes. They came seeking a warmer climate, better land, ashare of Rome’s wealth, and safety from other tribes. It was not until about A.D. 200, however, that these invasions began to pose serious thr eats to theempire as a whole. By the A.D. 400s, invaders had attacked Italy and even the city of Rome itself, contributing significantly to the fall of the Roman Empir e.

DIRECTIONS: The map below shows the Germanic invasions into the RomanEmpire. Use the map to answer the questions and complete the activity that follow. Use a separate sheet of paper.

Mapping History Activity 5

1. Which tribe came from Asia?2. Which four tribes invaded Italy?3. Which two tribes actually invaded Rome?4. Which tribe crossed the Mediterranean Sea?5. Many Roman colonies, or military outposts, are cities today. Use a map of modern-day

Europe to locate these Roman colonies and add them to the map: Eburacum (Y ork),Londonium (London), Bonna (Bonn), Singidunum (Belgrade), Magontiacum (Frankfurt),Siccia (Vienna), Olisipo (Lisbon), and Aquinicum (Budapest).

Britain

Gaul

Spain

Greece

Egypt

Italy

RomeConstantinople

Alexandria

Adrianople

ASIA MINOR

North

Sea

ATLANTIC

OCEAN

15°W 0° 15°E 30°E

30°N

25°N

35°N

40°N

45°N

50°N

55°N

Black Sea

Mediterranean Sea

Lambert Conic Conformal Projection

0 200

200

400 miles

0 400 kilometers

Battle siteWestern Roman EmpireEastern Roman Empire

FranksOstrogothsVandals

Angles/SaxonsVisigothsHuns

N

S

EW

Germanic Invasions, A.D. 200–500

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