Hunkered Between Santorum and Paul Lies Peace Through Total War
Rome was morally debased?
That would be by its state religion at the time I take it.
Said religion being, what was it now . . . oh yes, Christianity.
Are you sure about that?
Rome was economically debased?
Because it could no longer pay several thousand pounds of gold every year to the Germanic Tribes not to attack it?
Or because it could no longer pay several thousand pounds of gold every year to the Germanic mercenaries to protect it?
Perhaps it is me, but a country that can dump several thousand pounds of gold every year for one sort of defense program or other seems to be doing rather well economically.
Maybe Rome fell because the political disorder caused by competition to be Emperor made resisting invasion more difficult.
And of course that requires a caveat that virtually all of the invaders were more interested in becoming Romans, or at least sanctioned Roman clients, than they were in merely destroying Rome – they wanted to play the game to be Emperor or reasonable facsimile thereof themselves.
