(1) more has been written on the fall of rome than on the death of any other civilization (2) while scholars are still
debating this issue today, most agree that a number of factors led to rome's demise at the hands of germanic attackers
in 476 ad (3) first, rome was vulnerable to outside attackers because of internal political instability (4) the roman
constitution did not have a clear law of succession (5) as a result, each time a ruler died, civil war would break out-
killing thousands and causing great political struggle (6) another factor that made rome ripe for conquest was severe
economic turmoil (7) rome's economy relied heavily upon slave labor (8) however, years of harsh work and poor living
conditions reduced the population of rome's slaves (9) fewer slaves working on farms meant that the empire had
tewer goods for trade and less food for its citizens (10) rome was also weakened by a lack of manpower (11) the
empire's long borders required more soldiers than were available to protect it from attack (12) in addition, the need for
soldiers abroad meant that there were fewer people to keep peace and order within the empire
a2. the major supporting details of this passage are
a events
effects

Read the passage, then answer the question that follows. no one could have seen it at the time, but the invention of beet sugar was not just a challenge to cane. it was a hint—just a glimpse, like a twist that comes about two thirds of the way through a movie—that the end of the age of sugar was in sight. for beet sugar showed that in order to create that perfect sweetness you did not need slaves, you did not need plantations, in fact you did not even need cane. beet sugar was a foreshadowing of what we have today: the age of science, in which sweetness is a product of chemistry, not whips. in 1854 only 11 percent of world sugar production came from beets. by 1899 the percentage had risen to about 65 percent. and beet sugar was just the first challenge to cane. by 1879 chemists discovered saccharine—a laboratory-created substance that is several hundred times sweeter than natural sugar. today the sweeteners used in the foods you eat may come from corn (high-fructose corn syrup), from fruit (fructose), or directly from the lab (for example, aspartame, invented in 1965, or sucralose—splenda—created in 1976). brazil is the land that imported more africans than any other to work on sugar plantations, and in brazil the soil is still perfect for sugar. cane grows in brazil today, but not always for sugar. instead, cane is often used to create ethanol, much as corn farmers in america now convert their harvest into fuel. –sugar changed the world, marc aronson and marina budhos how does this passage support the claim that sugar was tied to the struggle for freedom? it shows that the invention of beet sugar created competition for cane sugar. it shows that technology had a role in changing how we sweeten our foods. it shows that the beet sugar trade provided jobs for formerly enslaved workers. it shows that sweeteners did not need to be the product of sugar plantations and slavery.