This channel is dedicated to Julius Valerius Maiorianus, the hero emperor who almost managed to restore the Western Roman Empire, against all odds. He truly deserves a channel, that has the goal to increase his legacy so that his deeds shall be remembered. In many videos, we shall explore how and why the Roman Empire fell, and how it could have been saved by heroes like Majorian, many times.
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Aeticus Donaster ( from Romania😂) might have been the first, before even the wikings. Or it might be an immaginary story but just the geography of Canada he described...
Very interesting. Especially appreciated the observations on the cleanliness, or abject lack, in an age without chlorine. Thanks for preparing and posting 👍🏼
Another channel called Fire of Learning made an episode on who a Roman Legionary transported to today would be able to relate to the most and he argued that it would be the Catholic authorities within Vatican City as they still do speak a form of Latin. So in a sense, the Romans were not only in the Americas, but took over most of the Americas under the Roman Catholic Church.
He missed the part about how Constantine Paganized the church and thuse why we have roman catholics and that's some ungodly evil stuff. Also the Christians first came to popularity after being dipped in tar and burned alive...there is alot missed in the video.
Civil war might be the best explanation for the fall of the Roman Empire. Civil wars divide and weaken nations making them vulnerable to outside invasions. The many civil wars after Marcus Aurelius drained the Romans of money, resources, and soldiers needed to defend their territory. It also brings instability and uncertainty in society, and it negatively affects trade. This should serve as a stern warning to our current western civilization, which has become increasingly divided for a number of reasons. We are already living in a multipolar world.
It's certainly possible that someone from the Western Roman Empire, specifically the northern parts, could have travelled to the Americas with the Vikings in 1000AD as well.
They recently found pottery sunken off the coast of Brazil dating to the 100-200 C.E area. The barnacles growing supposedly tell scientists that it was a legitimate crash left there that long ago...
The German-speaking Holy Roman empire insisted during the middle ages it was the real Roman empire and that the eastern one was ethnically Greek not just "greek speaking".
Si parte de la estrategia romana de la resistencia la copian o por convergencia evolutiva cultural una especie biológica inteligente mamíferos de canidos usa su estilo de resistencia en batallas pero con su cuerpo canidos hechos mejor para la resistencia qué el ser humano y tomando culturas del grupo local de galaxias de esos tipos de compatibilidad de comportamiento cultural con su realidad de su fisonomía lo hará mejor que el ser humano, imaginate que en triangular ab la galaxia más europeos qué los europeos en el espacio y más bélicos consigan dejar en ridículo la concepción humana de romana, pues sus cuerpos canidos y estilo de juego hace mejor sinergia en durabilidad, resistencias y resiliencia qué el humano con sus pobres cuerpos de simios y su cultura nueva a diferencia de otras del grupo local de galaxias, es mejor pensar humilde occidental o medio occidental ateo realista y futurista de tercer fundacion y la cuarta fundación colapso del bronce en el espacio como club de la pelea que creerse únicos y especiales, sugerencia.
Buen short, sería interesante ver que tan capitalista fue Roma comparado con el capitalismo de hoy de occidente para ver si fueron mejores en que y que no los tiempos pasados y así como estados unidos no es 100% capitalista al usar parte del comunismo en el super bowl con los equipos que pierden y eligen los mejores jugadores la siguiente temporada demostrando un jungla y jang entre occidente y oriente qué hay poco negro en el blanco y viceversa este caso capitalismo y sería interesante entre Roma y China para ver si la historia de verdad se repite o rima, sugerencia.
That is a very fascinating hypothesis. However, I’ve heard more recent research that the Portuguese may have reached both Brazil and North America long before they ever announced it. There is some evidence that they were here even before the Vikings.
How can you say that Christianity was an improvement for women when during classical times there was a thing called DIVORCE, which could be done freely at any given time, whereas with Christianity a woman was sentenced to remain with her husband all her life, because they were united "by God", as the Church would put it? Also, as I recall it was a mob of christians who killed female philosopher and free thinker Hipathia of Alexandria. I doubt she would have been molested at all had she lived a century earlier.. sorry but the premise that Christianity was an improvement for women's rights sounds quite inaccurate to me.
The turbulent power succession didn't cause the collapse of the Eastern half in the 5th century, though. I think the main source of all the problems with the Fall of the Roman Empire as a concept is the term "Fall of the Roman Empire". A better term would be "succession", and "the millennia-long transformation of the Roman Empire" would be even better. "The fall of Rome" was a notion made up by Romans. At first, there were sporadic mentions in intellectual polemics, which proved not to reflect the reality since the ethnic Germans within the Empire by that time considered themselves to be Romans just like Italians in the U.S. identify themselves as "Americans". Thus, it failed to capture minds at that time. It gained momentum in the early 6th century in such works as _Annales_ by Marcellinus Comes, who happened to be a person of influence at the court of Justinian who adopted the premise. "The fall of the Western Roman Empire" is Roman propaganda of Justinian to justify his _recuperatio imperii_ project by wrapping it in twisted history to meet the demand, and religious dogmas (Orthodoxy vs. Arianism), fine-tuning those on a case-by-case scenario.
I think that’s only small part of the reason, byzantine empire’s ability to survive that long lies in many factors such as having spies, well thought military strategies (Strategikon), forming alliances with neighboring empires, avoiding war at all costs, hiring capable mercenaries and I could go on but crucially they were very resilient in difficult times especially during Arab expansion. I love Roman history as whole.
What if not everyone in the late Roman empire, wanted to be part of an empire. There is evidence for local level civil wars in the province of Britannia both before and after the legions left. There is also evidence that Theodosius, when he visited Britain before he became emperor, may have purged (executed) large numbers of Britain's elite for either anti imperial or anti catholic allegiances. There is also increasing evidence of a geographic economic divide in Britain between an imperially aligned west and a more germanic aligned east before the legions left. What if across the empire elites were aligning themselves economically with the local germanic and other barbarian tribes. What was the economic, social and cultural benefit for a member of the elite living in eastern Britain, northern Gaul, and on Rhine and Danube frontiers, of staying (solely) aligned to the imperial system in the 5th century? If we roll forward 200 years, there is almost universal acceptance amongst historians that one of the reasons for the success of the arab conquest of Roman Syria and Egypt was that after 70 years of war between the Persians and Rome, local elites were no longer signed up to the benefits of the 'Pax Romanum.' Yes Ricimer was a duplicitous bastard and Marjorian if he'd lived for another 15 years may well have been able to restore geographical roman boundaries - but to be completely successful he would also have needed to successfully integrate the german elites into the imperial system. So isn't it likely that by the 5th century sufficient numbers of the elites in the western empire just weren't that enamoured by the imperial system - they lost interest in that part of the 'idea that was Rome.'
A lot of conquered nations were unhappy campers in the Roman Empire. They revolted often. Accordingly, Rome always had to maintain a large expensive army.
I agree with all the factors you name as contributing to the fall of the Western Empire. I would also add the expectation of the armies/praetorian guard to be paid off by the candidates they supported as emperor with huge donatives. The problem with this is that there are always other candidates who are prepared to pay more, and they did, over and over again. I hope that the power-sharing structures of our modern democratic societies prevent this. My biggest fear during the Trump presidency was that he would somehow, perhaps with payouts, get the US military to support him, without that, no president could accomplish a coup d’etat. January 6 showed that he couldn’t do it, despite his best attempts. I don’t understand why he’s still a free man, he is obviously guilty of treason against the United States!
Im not the biggest fan of your videos just because they are mostly pathetic or exaggerate. Byt in this case... THIS video was great! Thanks for it. Its bringing history alive
Being egoistic is purely natural, even if you think you are acting altruistic the motivating factor will still be egoistic. So the problem of the Roman Empire was not, that powerful people acted egoistic, but rather that the political system allowed them to commit egoistic acts, which harmed the empire. In a good political system egoism strengthens the society, which the political system of the Roman Empire did not accomplish.
I’m listening, for the second time, to Chris Wickham’s The Inheritance of Rome, which is excellent (I often fall asleep if listening at night, so I listen a second time to hear what I missed the first time). Wickham discusses the many factors that prevented the restoration of the Western Roman Empire in the first few centuries after the barbarian invasions, despite many attempts by the Eastern Emperors, the barbarian new kings of the former western provinces, and others. It’s fascinating and I learned so much about the period just after the “Fall” of the Western Empire. The Fall was, I believe, caused by the co-occurrence of many factors, as you say here, Sebastian, but another interesting question is why the West couldn’t be recovered as part of the Empire. Love your channel, thank you so much for your great work.🙂
Hi Kimberly ! Good point ! We also shouldn't forget, that many times, it was just simple good old fashioned bad luck, that caused major events. For instance, had the Plague of Justinian not occured, well then the Gothic war might have been over much faster and more easily, and wouldn't have dragged out into the 550s. It was the weakening of the Roman army by the plague, that was a major factor in the demise of the Empire and why the west couldn't be restored. Sure, Justinian had also made some critical mistakes in how he handled Narses and Belisarius. But overall, it sometimes simply came down to bad luck.
This is a great video of alternate history! I just have to disagree with one point - and that is where you said that Western Romania's legacy would be remembered as "Byzantine". In the first place, there would probably be no such name because Byzantium was coined by the Western Latin Kingdoms who wanted to usurp the Roman title by calling themselves Kings of the Romans (when in fact that idea was only abstract). I think both the West and the East would have hold on to their Roman legacy and would have created a single modern Roman nation-state called Romania.
While the narration is more or less true, what is not mentioned, but might have been, is the fact that Constantinople, was the Western End of the Silk Road Trade Route. So, $.
Answer - If you thin the paint to make it go further, you might achieve the coverage you want but it won’t last as long or hold up as well. End of story .
To answer why Rome fell, you must understand why it arose. Look at a map. Rome arose around the Mediterranean. It became the maritime trading power in the Mediterranean upon conquering and absorbing Carthage and the Phoenicians who had been the maritime trading power in the Mediterranean. Rome made the trade larger and safer with their army and navy. Rome's population and wealth soared and it endured through the Pax Roman. Then what happened? Wars and contact Persia brought pathogens into the Mediterranean from the Far East. In addition to the large plagues spread by maritime trade, a variety of pathogens increased death rates in all Roman Cities. Germany, that Rome was never interested in because it was land locked, was not so impacted by pathogens. Germans drank ale made with boiled water, lived in detached dwellings, did not use public fountains or public baths. They did not attend large public shows. Rome depopulated with all the pathogens spread around the Mediterranean, while parts of Germany were unaffected. The shipping in the Mediterranean was the first aspect of the empire to decline and this put the entire Roman economy in decline. Rome had to maintain their 400k army to deal with Germans but now with a dwindling population and declining economy. First came the economic problems of the Third Century, then came barbarians in the army, then came the barracks emperors and break away republics. Then came the many civil wars. The economic advantages of a maritime trading power on the Mediterranean disappeared with the pathogens now being spread by trade and shipping.
But WHY didn't the Romans, after all, a pragmatic and practical people, solve the issue of a peaceful change of emperor? Yes, the change of king, emperor, everywhere in history caused some confusion, even in our times the USSR did not solve this matter quite well, but nevertheless many countries solved it better than the constant wars of usurpers.
Tbh, at this point I'm not even sure the industrial revolution was a good thing. I would much rather live as a pleb in rome, than a wage slave in London. Working 14 hour days 6 days a week
