The Roman Empire and the USA: A Comparison

by kbusby

Over the last several posts in my blog, I have discussed some of the defining moments in the history of the Roman Empire. They say all good things come to an end, and whether you accept historian Edward Gibbon’s date of September 4, 476 AD (when Augustus Romulus was deposed by Odoacer), or May 29, 1453 (when Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks), or a number of other dates proposed by various historians, it’s safe to say at this point that the Roman Empire has fallen by now.

The question at this point (for me, at least) is whether the United States is following in Rome’s footsteps, as many have claimed. Those who forget their past are doomed to repeat it, to paraphrase philosopher George Santayana, and many parallels have been drawn between the Roman Empire (its rise, expansion, decay and fall) and the United States.

Many reasons I have seen given for Rome’s decay and fall are: Antagonism between the Senate and the Emperor, a Decline in Morals, Political Corruption, Fast Expansion of the Empire, Constant Wars and Out of Control Military Spending, Barbarian Knowledge of Roman military tactics, a Failing economy, Unemployment, Christianity, and several others. For each of these, I have seen parallels drawn from contemporary American society pointing to their similarities, stating that we are going down the same path.

My favorite is the “Bread and Circuses” mentality. This came to a height in Rome during the reign of Titus, who had just overseen the completion of the Colosseum, started by his adopted father, Vespasian (and made possible, by the way, by the Roman’s recent development of concrete). To keep people’s minds off of bad economic times, the emperor sponsored free games and spectators were treated to free bread. Whether enjoying gladiatorial fights in the colosseum, or cheering on their favorite charioteers in the Circus Maximus, poor Romans were given a respite from their otherwise hard lives. In fact, the city grew because of rural Romans’ realization that they were breaking themselves with labor to support those in the city, exacerbating the problem even more.

Skip ahead almost 2,000 years and to the other side of the globe, and we see a similar mentality growing in the US today. Mob mentality rules many debates, and the fight for lower taxes while gaining ever-increasing benefits continues to spiral our economy toward an eventual – and rapidly approaching – disaster. Add to this a degeneration of educational values, dumbing-down of our educational system, an increase in violent crime, idolization of crime and criminals, a growing fascination with Jerry Springer-like entertainment and “reality” shows – the list goes on – and we have a situation where society is in some ways ripping itself apart. The question is, can these be growing pains as we evolve into something better, or are we really just killing our society, and our position in the world’s economy? Or are we on a downturn of a cycle that will just start heading back in the other direction, and if so, will we still be the United States? Or is it something else completely different? One thing is sure: our society will continue to change. Can we hold it together through those changes? In the end, Rome couldn’t.

Please follow the links I’ve included here to gain some more information if this topic interests you. There is a lot to say, and I have a limited amount of space to devote to it. Also, feel free to cast your vote in my poll, created for this topic.

For this post I am adding a couple of more widgets to my blog, just to spice things up a bit. I’ve added a button to allow new WordPress readers to follow my blog. This does not show those who follow by email. I’ve also added a widget that displays my most popular posts in the last couple of days.

Fall of Rome links
http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/fallofrome/a/EndofRome.htm
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070331155925AAcMUGx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_Constantinople

USA/Rome Comparison links

Parallels of the Fall of the Roman Empire and that of America Today


http://www.calaveras.k12.ca.us/07%20Schools/chs/teachers/wgissler/similaritiesdifferencesromansandus.htm
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/circusmaximus/circusmaximus.html