Excessive Military Spending

Excessive Military Spending

By Jordan Peel

           One major factor that led to the fall of the Roman Empire was excessive military spending. The government felt that it was necessary to spend money on the military to pay for food, shelter, pay, weapons and housing. The money spent on the military left low resources for other vital activities such as providing housing and maintaining the quality of public foods.So, the military had to share resources with Rome's other needs.

Soon, the government found it necessary to rely on hired soldiers. This meant that the military was not only unreliable, but very expensive. The emperors were forced to raise taxes on the people. This made the empire weak and left low resources for the empire to build upon.