lite, disregarding their once owned power and thus causing change on top of the Roman Empire elite. According to Andre Piganiol,”The destruction of the elite handed over power to a new oligarchy of the newly wealthy and of high officials who came from barbarous elements of the population”(3). Piganiol continues to state that”conquered nationalities had in no way lost consciousness of their origin and many were the means of resistance to the unifying will of Rome”(4) Economically wise, the war against the Germans led to terrible financial burdens on the Empire. “To obtain funds for the military, emperors confiscated goods, exacted forced labor, and debased the coinage by minting more currency without an increase in the supply of precious metal.”(5) Through this the citizens withdrew their loyalty to Rome which deeply affected the middle class. In the Piganiol essay, Piganiol clearly emphasis the fact that the “Roman state went bankrupt in the third century because it was incapable of continuing to pay its officials and it was incapable of paying its armies without recourse to confiscations,monetary falsifications requisition in kind, unpaid services.”(6) Another major move the emperor and his empire introduced the citizens of Rome involved the citizenship issue. In approximately 212 AD, recruits had been picked from among provincials, who were attracted by the promise of free citizenship and its advantages. “With citizenship no longer necessary for enlistment, the poor, weak class of the empire were drawn to the army because of the weapons and artillery”(7). Personally I think that the major reasons why loser class societies were drawn to the artillery aspect of the army was so they could steal the empires wealth. This behavior would probably lead to the destruction of Roman cities, and destruction of farmlands and economic trade. Civil war also played a negative role in the Fal...
