How Rome Fell: Death of a Superpower by Adrian Goldsworthy. I have always wondered why in terms of the causes of the fall of Rome, we hear about demographic changes, the rise of Christianity and even lead-lined pipes, but little about the innumerable civil wars that plagued the empire. Those civil wars sapped the strength of the army, left the Roman political class fearful of having too large an army that would turn on them, and even disrupted the army's organization by leaving the bulk of Rome's best troops (the comitatenses) in field armies under the direct control of the emperors, except those field armies were never where they were needed when invasion came, meaning the empire was damaged before the army could even respond.
Goldsworthy tries to address this issue. From Amazon's review:
Goldsworthy's eye turns to the forces that ultimately destroyed the Roman Empire, challenging the traditional assumption that Rome was sacked by ultimately irrepressible foreign armies. Goldsworthy asserts that Rome's foes in the death throes of empire weren't any more formidable than those at its peak, but that the cutthroat nature of its political system fractured and diverted forces better spent maintaining the integrity of provincial borders--it was civil war and paranoia that destroyed the empire from within.This cautionary note:
Drawing parallels to modern societies might be tempting, but Goldsworthy is interested in Rome and resists foreboding or moralistic tones--even making a point of acknowledging the different dynamics that drive the rise and fall current powers.That may be true for Goldsworthy, but I am quite willing to draw such parallels, such as the virtual civil war in American society, as the far left in America uses the courts, political institutions and media -- from the New York Times leaking defense secrets to Valerie Plame and Joe Wilson trying to undermine the Iraq war to cities and colleges blocking military recruiting -- to act against the interests of the United States.
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