Thursday, April 14, 2011

The Roman Empire's Fall

The Roman Empire was a benefactor of many great emperors who led the way to a prosperous era.  However, the emperors took a turn for the worse and failed in leading Rome as well as other people had.  Rome suffered a huge blow form these new, terrible emperors, this was when Rome began to fall.  Despite efforts of recovering from the damage done by the awful emperors, it was nearly impossible for Rome to recover and rise from this major blow; as a result, the Roman Empire declined greatly.  The Roman Empire suffered a great fall from which it could never fully recover.
There was much conflict within the empire that contributed to its fall.  These conflicts included many military issues, “An entirely different story played out in the west, where the empire was wracked by internal conflict as well as threats from abroad--particularly from the Germanic tribes now established within the empire's frontiers--and was steadily losing money due to constant warfare” (Ancient Rome — History.com Articles, Video, Pictures and Facts.)  Rome was being attacked constantly due to their weakened state.  Enemies would not give up and eventually Rome was at its weakest point.  There were many issues within Rome too.  The political leaders of Rome were making decisions that the people who lived in Rome did not agree with, so a rebellion began.
            During the fall of the Roman Empire, Rome’s emperors only lasted for a few months, weeks, and even days, During the next 100 years, Rome had 37 different emperors - 25 of whom were removed from office by assassination. This contributed to the overall weaknesses, decline and fall of the empire.” (Rome, info Fall of the Roman Empire, Decline of Ancient Rome) Originally back when Rome was at its peak the emperors were phenomenal and knew what they were doing.  During the fall these emperors were replaced with people who had little to know experience and would only rule for a little at a time before they were assassinated because of their poor leadership.  Rome began to realize what was happening around them and they became very nervous.  Immediately they began throwing the blame on one another and the poor leaders.  The empire began to crumble due to the chaotic government. 
       A major factor in the Roman Empire’s decline was the suffering they had due to loss of land.  Rome eventually collapsed under the weight of its own bloated empire, losing its provinces one by one: Britain around 410; Spain and northern Africa by 430” (Ancient Rome — History.com Articles, Video, Pictures and Facts.) Massive fights and mayhem broke out in the empire but Rome did not seem to see it.  Other places were completely aware of what was happening.  They either attacked or fled from the empire. Many countries left the falling empire and became their own independent empire.  Rome was not even able to again any of this land back due to their weakened state.
            The Roman Empire suffered a terrible collapse due to various reasons.  A major factor in the decline was the government.  There was no knowledgeable and skilled leaders who were helping Rome, instead they all brought Rome down.  The government was probably the root point of the fall.  Rome also lacked a skilled military to fend off enemies who conquered Rome’s land and took it away.  The decrease in size Rome suffered caused more tension within the Empire.  Other countries could see this and broke away from Rome.  Rome suffered so greatly that it was not able to recover from what happened; it was never the same again.

"Rome, info Fall of the Roman Empire, Decline of Ancient Rome." Rome.info Rome Tourist Information,             Ancient Rome Travel Guide. Web. 14 Apr. 2011. <http://www.rome.info/history/empire/fall/>.
B.c., Around 300. "Ancient Rome — History.com Articles, Video, Pictures and Facts."History.com —    History Made Every Day — American & World History. Web. 14 Apr. 2011.           <http://www.history.com/topics/ancient-rome>.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Rough Draft


  
            The Roman Empire was a benefactor of many great emperors who led the way to a prosperous era.  However, the emperors took a turn for the worse and failed in leading Rome as well as other people had.  Rome suffered a huge blow form these new, terrible emperors, this was when Rome began to fall.  Despite efforts, it was nearly impossible for Rome to recover and rise from this major blow; as a result, the Roman Empire declined greatly.  The Roman Empire suffered a great decline from which it could never fully recover.
There was much conflict within the empire that contributed to its fall.  These conflicts included many military issues.  “An entirely different story played out in the west, where the empire was wracked by internal conflict as well as threats from abroad--particularly from the Germanic tribes now established within the empire's frontiers--and was steadily losing money due to constant warfare” (The History Channel Website, 2011). Rome was being attacked constantly due to their weakened state.  Enemies wouldn’t give up and eventually Rome was at its weakest point.  There were many issues within Rome too.  The political leaders of Rome were making decisions that the people who lived in Rome didn't agree with, so a rebellion began.
            During the fall of the Roman Empire there were little to no emperors.  The Roman empire in western Europe - a centralised superstate which had been in existence for 500 years - had ceased to exist, its single emperor replaced by upwards of a dozen kings and princes” (Heather, 2011).  Originally back when Rome was at its peak the emperors were phenomenal and knew what they were doing.  During the fall these emperors were replaced with people who had little to know experience and would only rule for a little at a time before they were assassinated because of their poor leadership.  Rome began to realize what was happening around them and they became very nervous.  Immediately they began throwing the blame on one another and the poor leaders.  The empire began to crumble due to the chaotic government. 
       A major factor in the Roman Empire’s decline was the suffering they had due to loss of land.  Rome eventually collapsed under the weight of its own bloated empire, losing its provinces one by one: Britain around 410; Spain and northern Africa by 430” (The History Channel Website, 2011).  Massive fights and mayhem broke out in the empire but Rome didn’t seem to see it.  Other places were completely aware of what was happening and they either attacked or fled form he empire.  Many countries left the falling empire and became their own independent empire.  Rome wasn’t even able to again any of this land back due to their weakened state.
            The Roman Empire suffered a terrible collapse due to various reasons.  A major factor in the decline was the government.  There was no knowledgeable and skilled leaders who were helping Rome, instead they all brought Rome down.  The government was probably the root point of the fall.  Rome also lacked a skilled military to fend off enemies who conquered Rome’s land and took it away.  The decrease in size Rome suffered caused more tension within the Empire.  Other countries could see this and broke away from Rome.  Rome suffered so greatly that it wasn’t able to recover from what happened; it was never the same again.

           
Work Cited
 Ancient Rome. (2011). The History Channel website. Retrieved 8:26, April 12, 2011, from http://www.history.com/topics/ancient-rome.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Yup.

News Flash: Starting tomorrow, April 7th, we will stop doing dailies. Instead, we will be concentrating on the weekly essays. This week's rough draft we are finishing in class. From then on, every Wednesday you will have a rough draft due for Peer review (you'll receive participation credit: P/F for having the draft ready). On your rough draft, please underline the thesis statement and in a different color prove it is an opinion by writing the opposite side; underline one quote properly cited with in-text citations for each body paragraph; make bold your four-sentence analysis of each quote; analysis should explain how the quote serves to support your thesis. After peer review, a final draft will be due on Fri by Midnight.

Eleven-Point Critique (for peer reviews and grading of final drafts)

1. 5 paragraphs -- 5 to 7 sentences per paragraph.

2 Clear, coherent thesis statement expressing an opinion to be argued in the paper.

3. One quote or piece of sourcable evidence properly cited in APA format per body paragraph / proper in-text citation format

(author, date). APA format bibliography at end of paper. Use top-notch sources (BBC, Met Museum, Nat Geo, Internet History

Sourcebook, school-library based databases, etc.)

4. Four sentences per body paragraph analysis. This is your own analysis demonstrating how the evidence supports your thesis.

5. Solid conclusion demonstrating the validity of the argument.

6. Emphasis: Put strongest evidence in the fourth paragraph.

7. No 1st or 2nd person personal pronouns (I, we, us, me, my, myself, you, etc.)

8. Academic Tone: No slang, no contractions, make it coherent and readable.

9. Avoid generalizations -- give specific information; I'm not looking for you to write an "encyclopedia" article. I'm looking for

your ability to construct an academic argument.

10. Avoid unnecessary information: "more" quotes doesn't mean a "better" paper.

11. Original and honest writing voice and a creative and remarkable take on the subject.


Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Question: Imagine you are a Roman in the year 264 BCE (the year of the 1st Punic War). What does your future look like? Then, look at the world around you today. What does your future look like? Think about politics, technology, culture, dominance, balance.

Question: Imagine you are a Roman in the year 264 BCE (the year of the 1st Punic War). What does your future look like? Then, look at the world around you today. What does your future look like? Think about politics, technology, culture, dominance, balance.
If I was a woman living in 264 BCE I wouldn’t have much of a future at all.  I could pretty much guarantee I would be married off to someone in the army as they were passing through.  Maybe I would even worry that an enemy army would take control of the area where I lived and I could be killed.  Hopefully as I got older and time went on people would treat women with a little more respect, but it would be doubtful.  The technology would progress as time went on and I’m very interested in technology so maybe I could get a job with technology, but because of the way woman were treated that probably wouldn’t have happened.  I would be a hard life to live and I would have to greatly support my family.  I would have to spend my time cooking and cleaning, I probably wouldn’t be allowed outside a lot.  I love the outdoors so not being able to go outside would make me very upset.  Since the war would be going on I’d probably be scared a lot and have to go to further measures to complete my day’s duties.  I would have a very tough time living back then.   

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Question: Do you think Caesar's killers were justified in their actions?

Question: Do you think Caesar's killers were justified in their actions?

II don’t believe Caesar’s killers were justified in their actions.  They had crazed reasons to assassinate Caesar that didn’t really make much since.  Caesar was a great leader and many people looked up to him and respected him.  Some people even considered him to be a role model.  People had a high respect for him and were devastated by his death.  It’s understandable that they feared him gaining power and going power crazy but that was no legitimate reason to kill him.  The senators were a little bit to power crazy themselves and just wanted him killed so they could gain powered.  They didn’t even consider the power he had as a great king and the things he could do to benefit them.  They killed him in 44 B.C.  They stabbed him over 20 times which was no way a great king like Caesar should die.  I understand that some people felt threatened by his power and disliked him but I believe there is no reason at all they should’ve killed him.  I also believed he could’ve helped Rome benefit in many ways and help them to rise.  He could’ve really benefitted Rome.  The senators had awful motives and the act was wrong.  It is unbelievable to me that they would kill someone out of jealousy of power when that person could’ve helped them greatly.  They got what was coming to them though and two of them ended up committing suicide. 

Monday, March 21, 2011

Question: What elements of the Roman Republican political and legal system appear present in the systems of modern democracies?

Question: What elements of the Roman Republican political and legal system appear present in the systems of modern democracies?

The Roman Legal system has a lot in common with today’s system of modern democracies.  One distinct similarity is the amount of power the government has.  The power isn’t all given to one person though it is distributed equally throughout different branches of the government.  The different branches of our modern day government, the Executive Branch, the Judicial Branch, and the Legislative Branch, they all have equal power over different things.  In the Roman government every person was giving equal power and if someone thought they had more power they were taken out of the government.  The Roman system also had a law system every similar to our modern day constitution.  These laws included things such as checks and balances, the ability to veto, giving to the Plebeians, and impeachment.  As you can see our modern day democracy is very similar with these laws.  The Plebeian who had the ability to veto served as the Tribune of Plebs.  The Plebeians ability to veto laws is very similar to our President’s ability to veto laws.  This was a very important position for the Plebeians because before they were giving the Tribune of Plebs they didn’t really have any say when it came to what happened in the democracy.  When  it came to politics they didn’t have much of a say in anything so when they were finally given the power to veto it was a very huge and important thing for them.