So this is more of a historical debate on several topics involving the Legendary Roman Empire. Map of the Roman Empire at it's maximum extent Spoiler Could the Roman Empire have prevented or slowed it's demise. How would the Roman Empire have impacted us today if they survived. Historically there are many reasons for the decline and eventually the fall of the Roman Empire, there is no "single" cause as to the fall of the Empire. These are some the most noticeable aspects that led to the decline and the eventual annihilation of the Western Roman Empire. Political corruption tore away the trust of the Roman citizens to their leaders, the barbarians from the north including Attila the Hun tore away large chunks of Roman lands and even managed to sack the Western Roman Capital. More causes for the decline include. Civil Wars every time a general or political figure was declared leader, these leaders would last for months at a time and then another civil war would break out as the leader was replaced due to being over-thrown or assassinated. Large taxes were placed on the citizens due because the Roman Empire had to hire mercenaries due to the fact that there own army was weakening due to the lack of practice and discipline. The Roman Empire did not literately fall at 476 A.D, in fact the Eastern Side lasted for nearly a millennium being renamed to the Byzantine Empire, but ever since the fall of the Western half the Roman Empire never recovered.
There accomplishments exist with us till this day, a majority of our day to day language has Latin roots, there architecture survives still, as can be seen in monuments and paintings. The United States constitution is significantly based off of the Romans, but I don't understand if that is what you are trying to point out. The byzantine empire which was the last of Eastern Rome collapsed to the Ottoman and while the Ottoman Leader declared to be a Roman ruler he really was not. Off course there is also the Holy Roman Empire which was an attempt to reestablish the glory of the original but that failed as well.
The U.S. measurement for width of standard rail is the same as the ruts in roman roads. The Justice Systems in the UK and US are based on the Roman system. Also, some of their roads and aqueducts are still used by the people in the areas they once ruled. I'd like to see an American road after 1700 years of little maintenence. still the empire, the ruling centralized apparatus, was non-existent. again conceding that the eastern half did survive as something slightly different, western Europe was in darkness for what... 500 years?
Assuming it did fall, it could have benefited through any number of measures, from sprucing up its bureaucracy (removing infighting/assassinations), to treating conquered countries better. Geographically it was too large to properly govern and monitor, so the decentralization of power would splinter the Empire into smaller fiefdoms ruled by a leader with absolute power within his region. Without decentralizing power, the Empire becomes far too unwieldy to effectively govern. The Roman Empire was too large for its own good, it could not govern the whole area effectively. Politically, its head of state, the Emperor had to oversee the entire land, ensure his own safety against assassination, and plan new conquests, (Most Emperors tried a conquest at least once in their reign) or plan how to increase defences along and within borders. A huge task for one man. Too much power rested upon one man. tbh i don't see how the Roman Empire couldn't have failed. It would have failed eventually no matter what.
No, while the size of land does affect the government it does not weaken them if the right leaders are present. Remember, the Roman Empire fell due to causes from the inside, not the outside. Corruption, Civil Wars, and depressions are the real reason for the fall of the Roman Empire. The Empire was split in half due to political corruption and greed. The once powerful army was also being replaced by mercenaries due to lack of patriotism and the legions which were the ultimate units of there time had been diminishing due to lack of training and discipline. The Roman Empire also had one of the most advanced systems of communication for there time period. Roads allowed for easy travel from city to city and although it seems impossible the Roman Empire could have definitely gotten much larger and survived till this day.
The right leaders could have made a difference, but these leaders were also trying to guard their backs against other corrupt leaders. Their attention is divided. The land is and important factor, they could not easily quell the civil wars, as their armies were spread thin trying to defend against outside invaders. As you said their armies were gradually weakening, so what they should have done is gone on a huge recruitment drive. The Roman Empire could have survived to this day in one form or another, but I sincerely doubt it would grow larger or maintain its size.
We didn't do so bad. I know this was a while later, and obviously communication and transportation was greatly improved so the land-coverage wouldnt be as big of a deal, but the majority of these countries were discovered/conquered quite earlier (1700s and 1800s), so you can't say the size of their empire was their downfall.
there were some outside influences. Attila the Hun essentially ran a protection racket against the roman empire