Midterm Exam Papers
History 200 – D01. Medieval History.
February 25th, 2021
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Question 1
When examining the demise of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century, most
historians highlight internal political strife, civil conflicts, and governmental shortcomings as
the culprits that weakened the empire and ultimately allowed external threats to facilitate its
decay. Conversely, Kyle Harper posits that environmental factors such as disease played an
integral role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire.
In contrast to the common narrative which emphasizes internal issues within the
empire as the causes of its eventual fall, Harper highlights the role of ecological disaster in the
empire’s fall. Specifically, he posits that disease was a significant factor in the empire’s
decline. Harper is not the first to assert that environmental factors had significant impacts on
ancient societies as Thomas Malthus proposed that with societal - growth, the scarcity of
resources combined with population increases inevitably resulted in environmental calamity namely, famine and disease. 1
However, Harper explains that in the Roman empire’s case, population was not the
sole or primary instigator of ecological disaster, simply a contributing factor. This is because
due to increased trade and technological advancements, Roman society overcame the “limits
of the land’s productivity” 2. However, while famine as a result of population increase was
avoided, this increase did lead to increasingly unhealthy city environments in which disease
spread easily. 3 This was problematic as Harper explains that with continued Roman
1
Kyle Harper, The Environmental Fall of the Roman Empire (Daedalus, 2016), 104.
Harper, The Environmental Fall of the Roman Empire, 106.
3
Harper, The Environmental Fall of the Roman Empire, 107.
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expansion, trade and military conquests exposed Romans to foreign pathogens; one of which
was smallpox.4
Therefore, throughout the AD 160’s the Roman Empire was ravished by smallpox
which was named the “Antonine plague”. 5 Ironically, the expansive roads and structural
developments which had allowed the empire to flourish facilitated its demise as smallpox was
able to spread quickly throughout the empire’s territories. 6 As Harper highlights, this
pandemic caused widespread death and affected every aspect of Roman life from the economy
to the military. 7 The Roman Empire never reached its pre-small pox heights again after this
pandemic, however it did return in “recognizable form” 8. However despite the empire’s
recovery, the Roman’s faced another mass plague named the “Plague of Cyprian” beginning
around AD 249. 9 Despite a lack of attention from historians, this plague was the most intense
and longest one endured by the Romans as it lasted for almost twenty years and caused
extraordinary death tolls. 10
Harper argues that despite the empire having endured previous plague’s effects of
economic deterioration, “dynastic conflict, external invasion, class violence, and … famine”
the intensity and length of these effects pushed the empire beyond its recoverable threshold. 11
4
Harper, The Environmental Fall of the Roman Empire, 107.
Harper, The Environmental Fall of the Roman Empire, 107.
6
Harper, The Environmental Fall of the Roman Empire, 107.
7
Harper, The Environmental Fall of the Roman Empire, 107.
8
Harper, The Environmental Fall of the Roman Empire, 108.
9
Harper, The Environmental Fall of the Roman Empire, 108.
10
Harper, The Environmental Fall of the Roman Empire, 108.
11
Harper, The Environmental Fall of the Roman Empire, 109.
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Ultimately, Harper concludes that “The struggle for dynastic legitimacy” caused by the plague
resulted in the fall of the Roman Empire.
In summary, Harper contends that the common narrative surrounding the fall of the
Roman Empire is too focussed on internal strife and fails to recognize the role that
environmental calamity – principally disease, played in the empire’s eventual demise.
4
Bibliography
Harper, K. (2016). The environmental fall of the roman empire. Daedalus, 145(2), 101-111.
doi:10.1162/daed_a_00380