Just like its birth, the destruction of Rome did not happen all at once. On the contrary, many factors contributed to its definitive disappearance. The destruction of Rome began as a disease slowly disintegrating from within. Political corruption, the division between rich and poor, decline of moral values ​​and public health, to name a few, are all major factors contributing to this disease. For the purposes of this article, this disease will be referred to as “the Roman condition.” To understand the Roman condition, we must first understand how it went from a thriving empire to an empty shell in the space of 200 years. From 14 to 180 AD, five good emperors attempted to re-establish a republic-style empire. They restored the Senate and established a new line of succession. Previously, since the creation of the empire, succession was limited only to the Julio-Claudine lineage. These five good emperors established a policy of succession by appointment rather than by lineage. Unfortunately, this posed a much bigger problem for the military. By 190 AD, the Roman army was spread across Western Europe. The army had begun to split into several parts, and each part had its own idea of ​​who the emperor should be. This caused them to war with each other until one side succeeded in establishing their emperor. Between 211 and 284 AD, twenty-three of these emperors were established by different parts of the army, almost all of them were killed by rival emperors. These battles within the Roman army and within Rome weakened the structure of the Roman political system and reduced respect for law and moral order, only furthering the infection of the Roman condition. (Heather) In 284 AD, Rome was divided into an Eastern Empire and a Western Empire, each with...... middle of paper ...... of 8: The Fall of Rome: Facts and fiction. Np, and Web. December 2, 2013. “Fall of the Roman Empire.” Rome.info, Decline of ancient Rome. Np, and Web. December 01, 2013. .Heather, Peter, Dr. “The Fall of Rome”. BBC News. BBC, February 17, 2011. Web. November 30, 2013. Kamm, Antony. The Romans: an introduction. London: Routledge, 2008. Print. Trueman, Chris. “The Fall of Ancient Rome”. The fall of ancient Rome. Np, and Web. December 01, 2013. .Van, Sickle Clifton Edwin. A political and cultural history of the ancient world: from prehistory to the dissolution of the Roman Empire in the West. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1970. Print.