Societies Change the Influence of Cause and Effect

Societies change | The influence of cause and effect

Cause and effect

Read ‘Part 4: The ancient to the modern world’.

Being one unified empire often meant that people lived in peace, were able to focus on working, producing food and improving the nation. This meant that taxes were paid and the government could afford to maintain a strong army to defend the land and people. So what went wrong?

According to the text, the Roman Empire was split apart at least four times. This happened in 285 CE, 293 CE, 337 CE and again after 394 CE.

a)Use a highlighter to indicate in the text when these splits occurred.

b)Roman leaders divided the Roman Empire and shared leadership to try to achieve peace and stability. This often occurred when there was more than one son. Dividing lands and sharing responsibilities meant that:

large areas of land could be managed and protected
brothers were less likely to be jealous and try to fight each other
leaders felt they were equally powerful with their own lands and therefore less likely to fight.

Do you agree that sharing leadership can achieve peace and stability? Explain the reasons for your answer. You may draw on present-day examples such as shared leadership in sporting teams, within a school environment or in your local area.

c)The splitting of the Roman Empire made it weak and at risk of being attacked. Why do you think having a strong unified army was so important in being able to successfully defend the Roman Empire? Consider if there is any benefit from being part of a much larger empire that could mobilise troops from areas not under attack.

Civil war is when the people within a nation or country fight each other. This is often due to opposing views about politics or beliefs. During civil war:

soldiers and civilians are killed
people are unable to work to earn money and trade goods and services
farming land, buildings, roads and other structures are damaged.

Explain why civil war weakened the Roman Empire.

Discuss why each of the tactics Constantine used (listed below) was effective during his rule. He:

provided strong leadership
got rid of anyone who was going to compete against him
unified the people within one empire
accepted all religious groups to reduce internal conflict and gain support of the people regardless of their beliefs.

The text mentions the names of several countries and cities.

a)Use a highlighter to indicate these places in the text.

b)Locate these places on the map below.

The text mentions the ‘east’ and the ‘west’. In your own words, explain what you think these mean. You may want to refer to the locations shown on the above map.

List the factors that led to the leaders of the Western Roman Empire giving away land as payment for soldiers. You should be able to identify at least eight factors from the text.

What event has been identified in this text as representing the end of the Western Roman Empire?

Review the text and your answers.

a)In the table below, list the main causes or factors that led to the eventual fall of the Roman Empire.

b)Indicate which of the causes you think were the most significant or most important in contributing to the eventual collapse of the Roman Empire using the number scale in the table.

Main causes or factors contributing to the fall of the Roman Empire / Level of significance
(1 = least significant;
4 = most significant)
 /  /  / 
 /  /  / 
 /  /  / 
 /  /  / 
 /  /  / 
 /  /  / 

c)Where possible, compare and discuss your list of causes and level of significance with someone else. Were there any causes or factors that were the same? Did you have causes or factors that they didn’t and vice versa? Which causes or factors did you identify as having a similar level of significance? For which cause or factor did your level of significance most differ? Summarise the conclusions from your discussion in the space below. If you need more space, use file paper.