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LOL, Romans
13 years ago
I periodically hear talk about how modern nation-states, particularly those with a predilection for perceived 'empire building', are doomed to eventually decline and collapse, ushering forth a violent new Dark Age as a result of our ineffectual, corrupt, and amoral ways. Personally, I think this is silly, as is the term 'history repeats itself'. History never truly repeats itself- historical events are the result of a specific context and the attitudes of specific people, filled with variables beyond our understanding that cannot truly be duplicated. This isn't to say that we can't learn from history and try to avoid some of its horrific examples, but for those people wishing for the moment when modern civilization collapses and we can go back to strapping on reenactment plate and mail armor and running around with swords they'll probably be rather disappointed in the non-historical, non-canon manner in which order actually crumbles.
That said, I have to admit, the decline and fall of the Roman Empire is a bit of a weak point in my historical understanding. I have some general ideas of how I think it went wrong, but I could be off. What do other people think?
1. Technological and Economic Stagnation
Artificial price controls, the counterfeiting and debasement of Roman currency, and a combination of high taxes & tariffs combined with weak technological innovation set the Empire on a perilous course as early as the first years of the Roman Empire (and the end of the Republic). While Rome controlled sea trade and encouraged land trade with its excellent roads, a general lack of reward & opportunity for suppliers ate away at the fortunes of the Empire. Without a basis of money, security became difficult, and with a lack of security the Empire became increasingly vulnerable to barbarians. In the end, this slow-moving model of decline is accelerated by the increasing boldness of Barbarian peoples.
2. Splitting the Empire
By splitting the Roman Empire into the East and the West, any hope of reforming and reorganizing the Empire as a single, powerful entity vanished. By the simple act of dividing the administration and rule of the Empire into two halves, the Romans started on a path of cultural division, dividing what was once an organized whole into two much weaker states bound together only by paper. This sign of weakness definitively changed the attitude of the Barbarians toward Rome, leading to much bolder affronts. When these affronts were rewarded with success and money, the Barbarian problem only became greater and more widespread.
3: Barbarization
After the Roman Empire spread its territory over such a vast area, it had difficulty integrating the conquered cultures into the Roman identity. Despite the violation of 'Barbarian' culture, the destruction of 'Barbarian' religion, and the usurpation of 'Barbarian' technology and wealth, they were unable to diminish or destroy cultural and racial identities. By reducing barbarians to second-class citizens, they actually provoked more distrust and hatred of Roman culture and discouraged others from adopting it. In the later centuries of the Empire, the Romans became increasingly dependent upon their Barbarian subjects to protect the frontiers of the Empire, yet the people they were arming in order to defend them had little interest in protecting Rome-- they were more interested in protecting themselves. With increasing frequency, whenever Rome proved itself vulnerable former Barbarian 'allies' would attack. Because the Romans were particularly adept at getting Barbarians to bleed for Rome without giving them liberties, opportunities, and security in return, the betrayals were fueled by frustration and oppression.
4: Natural Disaster and Disease
The Roman Empire was the victim of a series of unfortunate events that occurred in uncommon frequency and proximity of each other after the year 100 AD. Plagues, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and drought diminished some populations, scattered others to the corners of the Empire, and wiped a few cities entirely out of existence. Poor environmental management, particularly deforestation and erosion, contributed to desertification and the salinization of irrigation water. Without food security, chaos erupted and fortunes dried up, diminishing the economic base of the Empire. With so much to rebuild and so many refugee crises erupting, the Empire proved incapable of maintaining order and began to suffer convulsions. With this weakness apparent to all, the Empire's many enemies became ever bolder and eventually overwhelmed the Western Roman Empire.
5: Political Blundering and Backstabbing
The Roman Empire collapsed because it showed itself increasingly unable to function as a state. The regular assassinations of Emperors, the political maneuvering, and a high level of corruption in the upper echelons of Roman society contributed to an ineffective administration. Without certainty of leadership, effective central government cannot exist. Without effective central government, localities take over and become increasingly distanced from centralized policy. With this argument, the Roman Empire collapses by gradual decentralization, with smaller territories gaining greater power and individual identities separating from the Imperial government. Localized power, in turn, encouraged more candidates to attempt to rebel and usurp the leadership of the Empire, creating a vicious political cycle of assassination, tyranny, rebellion, and assassination again. Sensing the growing lack of confidence in government by the people as well as a reduced ability for the Empire to defend itself, Barbarians attacked, saw rewards in doing so, and attacked again until all semblance of Roman power disintegrated.
6: The Empire Did Not Collapse-- It Moved
Often overlooked in the collapse of the Roman Empire is the fact that the Eastern Roman Empire, which would become the Byzantine Empire, continued to exist until it finally collapsed in 1461, not with the fall of Constantinople as is most famous but with the fall of Trebizond, the last city that identified itself as part of the Byzantine Empire. Even then, the framework and religion of the Eastern Roman Empire continued to live on in two new nations: the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire-- by framework in the former and faith in the latter. Because of a common perception that the Byzantine Empire represents a non-Western civilization in the fashion of the Roman Empire, its importance is often forgotten and overlooked. In a sense, the Byzantines are not regarded as "Romantic", which is actually quite silly considering that their laws, their military, their economic structure, and their religion were very similar to the Western Roman Empire's in the latter centuries.
7: Reapers
Godlike, sentient alien starships descended from space and blew up the Roman Empire with really noisy exploding laser beams that left only drooling knuckle dragging simpletons in its wake. As a result, smart people didn't happen again for about 500 years-- but the Reapers will be back! It's in the rules!
That said, I have to admit, the decline and fall of the Roman Empire is a bit of a weak point in my historical understanding. I have some general ideas of how I think it went wrong, but I could be off. What do other people think?
1. Technological and Economic Stagnation
Artificial price controls, the counterfeiting and debasement of Roman currency, and a combination of high taxes & tariffs combined with weak technological innovation set the Empire on a perilous course as early as the first years of the Roman Empire (and the end of the Republic). While Rome controlled sea trade and encouraged land trade with its excellent roads, a general lack of reward & opportunity for suppliers ate away at the fortunes of the Empire. Without a basis of money, security became difficult, and with a lack of security the Empire became increasingly vulnerable to barbarians. In the end, this slow-moving model of decline is accelerated by the increasing boldness of Barbarian peoples.
2. Splitting the Empire
By splitting the Roman Empire into the East and the West, any hope of reforming and reorganizing the Empire as a single, powerful entity vanished. By the simple act of dividing the administration and rule of the Empire into two halves, the Romans started on a path of cultural division, dividing what was once an organized whole into two much weaker states bound together only by paper. This sign of weakness definitively changed the attitude of the Barbarians toward Rome, leading to much bolder affronts. When these affronts were rewarded with success and money, the Barbarian problem only became greater and more widespread.
3: Barbarization
After the Roman Empire spread its territory over such a vast area, it had difficulty integrating the conquered cultures into the Roman identity. Despite the violation of 'Barbarian' culture, the destruction of 'Barbarian' religion, and the usurpation of 'Barbarian' technology and wealth, they were unable to diminish or destroy cultural and racial identities. By reducing barbarians to second-class citizens, they actually provoked more distrust and hatred of Roman culture and discouraged others from adopting it. In the later centuries of the Empire, the Romans became increasingly dependent upon their Barbarian subjects to protect the frontiers of the Empire, yet the people they were arming in order to defend them had little interest in protecting Rome-- they were more interested in protecting themselves. With increasing frequency, whenever Rome proved itself vulnerable former Barbarian 'allies' would attack. Because the Romans were particularly adept at getting Barbarians to bleed for Rome without giving them liberties, opportunities, and security in return, the betrayals were fueled by frustration and oppression.
4: Natural Disaster and Disease
The Roman Empire was the victim of a series of unfortunate events that occurred in uncommon frequency and proximity of each other after the year 100 AD. Plagues, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and drought diminished some populations, scattered others to the corners of the Empire, and wiped a few cities entirely out of existence. Poor environmental management, particularly deforestation and erosion, contributed to desertification and the salinization of irrigation water. Without food security, chaos erupted and fortunes dried up, diminishing the economic base of the Empire. With so much to rebuild and so many refugee crises erupting, the Empire proved incapable of maintaining order and began to suffer convulsions. With this weakness apparent to all, the Empire's many enemies became ever bolder and eventually overwhelmed the Western Roman Empire.
5: Political Blundering and Backstabbing
The Roman Empire collapsed because it showed itself increasingly unable to function as a state. The regular assassinations of Emperors, the political maneuvering, and a high level of corruption in the upper echelons of Roman society contributed to an ineffective administration. Without certainty of leadership, effective central government cannot exist. Without effective central government, localities take over and become increasingly distanced from centralized policy. With this argument, the Roman Empire collapses by gradual decentralization, with smaller territories gaining greater power and individual identities separating from the Imperial government. Localized power, in turn, encouraged more candidates to attempt to rebel and usurp the leadership of the Empire, creating a vicious political cycle of assassination, tyranny, rebellion, and assassination again. Sensing the growing lack of confidence in government by the people as well as a reduced ability for the Empire to defend itself, Barbarians attacked, saw rewards in doing so, and attacked again until all semblance of Roman power disintegrated.
6: The Empire Did Not Collapse-- It Moved
Often overlooked in the collapse of the Roman Empire is the fact that the Eastern Roman Empire, which would become the Byzantine Empire, continued to exist until it finally collapsed in 1461, not with the fall of Constantinople as is most famous but with the fall of Trebizond, the last city that identified itself as part of the Byzantine Empire. Even then, the framework and religion of the Eastern Roman Empire continued to live on in two new nations: the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire-- by framework in the former and faith in the latter. Because of a common perception that the Byzantine Empire represents a non-Western civilization in the fashion of the Roman Empire, its importance is often forgotten and overlooked. In a sense, the Byzantines are not regarded as "Romantic", which is actually quite silly considering that their laws, their military, their economic structure, and their religion were very similar to the Western Roman Empire's in the latter centuries.
7: Reapers
Godlike, sentient alien starships descended from space and blew up the Roman Empire with really noisy exploding laser beams that left only drooling knuckle dragging simpletons in its wake. As a result, smart people didn't happen again for about 500 years-- but the Reapers will be back! It's in the rules!
Damn, I was at least hoping for a better end to humanity than this. Shouldn't humanity explode with at least a little more narrative coherence?
Students of the humanities must believe that humans learn violence because if we believe that we are born violent, there is nothing we can do as a society to reduce it. As a strange coincidence, the exploitation of historical narrative combined with a belief in the "Nature" aspect were key components in the rise and rule of the Nazi Party. We have to believe that we can do better as a society, and we also have to believe that evil can be prevented. Otherwise, we just give in.
Are we all guilty of evil based upon these criteria? Certainly- but that does not make us all evil people. It makes us occasionally malicious, mistaken, or violent, but we should understand our errors so that we can endeavor to protect ourselves and others from evil in the future.
Good write up on what went wrong I would say, as you covered most of the big ones that hit them. Saying that, there are two others.
Weather: Rome sits in a very good spot that it can use to control Europe with, but this can become an issue when a major weather pattern change happens, which occurred with during the little Ice Age from 200AD. This meant less rain fell on some of the major crop areas, and the Empire had to waste more in transporting to those areas that needed the support.
http://www.calacademy.org/scienceto.....-fall-weather/
http://news.discovery.com/earth/cli.....me-110113.html
Lead
This one gets thrown about because the Romans sure did love the taste of lead in things (more so wines). While the impact this would have had on things is debated, it is known it at least would have been bad for them, more so if they might have been likely to drink often and in large amounts (as in, their leaders).
http://www.poweredbyosteons.org/201.....-skeletal.html
Agriculture
Rome was lucky in one sense in a way that helped build the Empire, they had some really good farm land in the area. The problem was that this farm land was not something that is easy to recovery. Hence they over-farmed the land they used, something that happened because they didn't have a culture that could do something to correct the this issue when it was starting to be noticed.
https://facultystaff.richmond.edu/~.....s/farming.html
http://hnn.us/articles/40538.html
http://transitionculture.org/2006/1.....-by-ugo-bardi/
http://www.energybulletin.net/node/50025
Antonine Plague
This event happened in the later years of the 2nd Century, and is believed to have spanned Roman power for a long time afterwards. Mostly because the impact on the Roman population left them with less people to do the required jobs or to defend the Empire. In time this lead to an unstable political system building up as methods put in place to deal with the issue made things more open to collapse/rot.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20046111
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Will say this, even if every idea that has been submitted for why the Empire collapsed ends up as wrong, it is still interesting trying to work out just how the damn thing failed like it did. :D
That Antonine Plague was something fierce, though.
With the lead one, that one has always been debated, but I have seen cases where it was linked to some of the higher members of Rome and a means to explain some of the more insane actions they took (see Nero, etc). True or not in the end, it is good to see issues related to health get discussed. More so in a way that isn't just some group wanting the old eating habits back.
ON the Plague, yeah that one would be something that best falls into a possible reason for the fall of Rome, just on the death toll and where it happened to fall the most. Made them lose so many skilled workers, and made them focus too much on keeping what they had controlled after that. That is why they had a period of wars, civil wars, and other actions breakout after that for a while.
Personally however I think that a question which is as interesting, if not more so, is why the Roman Empire lasted so long. It could have disintegrated under the pressure of natural disasters, plagues, inflation, invasion, etc, many times and yet it survived for around 2,100 years (if you include the Byzantine empire), and was so influential that its symbolism was adopted by everyone from Tsarist Russia, to all three German Reichs, to the United States of America. Even the sultans of Turkey considered themselves the heirs of Rome after the conquered Constantinople.