Why did Rome fall and what was the short term and long term effects of their demise?

The Roman Empire succumbed to barbarian invasions mainly due to the loss of the traditional Roman civic virtues by its citizens. These would have become weak, delegating the task of defending the Empire to barbarian mercenaries who became so numerous and rooted in the Empire and its structures that they were able to take it at last. The Romans, after the fall of the Republic had been gradually becoming "effeminate", unwilling to live a military life, harder and "virile", in the manner of their ancestors. This would have led to the progressive abandonment of their liberties in favor of the tyranny of the Caesars, and would have led to the degeneration of the Roman army and the Praetorian Guard. In fact, one can see as the first catalyst of the decline of the empire the Praetorian Guard itself, which, instituted as a special and privileged class of soldiers encamped in Rome itself, did not cease to interfere in the administration of power. He offers continuous examples of the interference of this guard, which he called "the praetorian hosts", whose "licentious fury was the first symptom and first cause of the decadence of the Roman Empire", highlighting the calamitous results of this interference that, to include several assassinations of emperors and continuous demands of better soldiers that the treasury could not cope with, would have destabilized the Empire.

The Roman Empire was not just a political unit forced by violence. It was also the combined and civilization of the Mediterranean basin and beyond. It included production, commerce, and architecture, generalized secular literacy, written law, and an international language of science and literature. The Western barbarians lost much of these more advanced cultural practices, but their new development in the Middle Ages by political systems aware that the Roman achievement served as the basis for the further development of Europe.