We often ask why Rome fell, but we rarely ask why it lasted so damn long given all of these disasters that shook it. There have been dozens if not hundreds of events that shook Rome to its core and threatened to tear it apart, but Rome existed for a thousand years and a thousand more in the East. From the transition to the Republic to the Punic Wars to Sulla's purge to Caesar and Octavian, to even the Crisis of the 3rd century, Rome persevered.

It should tough be noted that most of these problems could relate ONLY to the Western Roman Empire. The East survived in a large part because it had a rich and relatively stable country. It witnessed few large scale revolts, it had no huge problems with economy and it's army was genuinely strong. In fact, when we compare late Western Empire to the Eastern one, you can just see how much actually effort was put into the East. It's army was much bigger that the army of the Western Empire (some 200.000 soldiers in the East in comparison to only 125.000 in the West) and far, FAR better equipped. Western army basically didn't even know what cataphracts are, not to mention that East had much more defendable capital. Another thing is that East was much more richer, especially in the cities. The people of the East actually prospered during the 5 century and continued to do so until about 540, when the Justinian's plague hit the Empire and basically screwed their entire history.

Do you hear that? It's the sound of this channel taking off like a rocketship, headed straight for the sun!

Came for your Roman Emperor Ranking, binged the rest of your channel afterwards. Genuinely great content.

The main reason is that slavery is death for an economy. Great at concentrating wealth in the hands of a few, but an economy is built on a large number of small interactions and not a small number of large interactions. Because of slavery Rome needed a constant influx of tribute and spoils to keep from collapsing. What's astounding is how long it lasted.

Corruption, The Praetorian Gaurd, Plagues, The Praetorian Gaurd, Bad Emporers, the Praetorian Gaurd, The Huns, The Praetorian Gaurd, Did I mention the Praetorian Guards?

Even today‘s societies are heavily dependent on agriculture. Crop failures do not just mean that the 2% agricultural sector is out of money, but also that EVERYBODY STARVES

It was just too damn big. Administering a unitary state of THAT size would be difficult enough in the 21st century, never mind the 3rd.

Normally, KZfaq does not recommend me Roman history KZfaqrs all that often, despite me watching a lot of that sort of content. And then, every 1-2 years, I get a recommendation for a new Roman history KZfaqr who I've not heard of before. And I have not been disappointed with the quality content KZfaq recommended me with this! Love your videos, subscribed

The smallest, most obscure channels weirdly have some of the best content on KZfaq.

You should perhaps mention in a future video how the Romans were in technological stagnation for several centuries, meanwhile the Germanics were progressively expanding. The Germans who Augustus fought had countless weak tribes and swords/chainmail were a rare luxury, while the Germans of 400 had formed into powerful proto-kingdoms and there were no shortage of swords and chainmail (thanks to the Romans).

I'd say the worst part is that these reasons weren't unnoticed during the Late Roman Empire, but due to the state of mind of the politicians, they just wouldn't do anything

Your channel will probably explode in popularity momentarily, so while we have your attention, great job. (Might want to turn your mic up, though.) Finally, a Rome KZfaqr who just admits that the Empire was going to fall, no matter what. Christianity couldn't save it, breaking it in two couldn't save it (the West, at least), not even meme-lord Aurelian could save it. The Empire never recovered after the death of Marcus Aurelius but even if he assigned a better heir than Commodus it would have been some other reason, something else, and you do a great job explaining some of those reasons. The times were changing and Rome was not a medieval kingdom. The East, however, was, which explains it's survival.

Reason number 1: nothing lasts forever and the fact that the roman state continued its existence for over 2000 years is smt unheard of in the history of human civilization(except for china I'm not sure about them)

Really digging this channel man

Love your videos dude, keep up the amazing work

To add on the economy part for centuries under the Romans the Mediterranean basin was bleeding silver and gold for goods from India and China which were desired by the Romans but on the other hand the Romans didn't really had anything to offer besides glass and corral because other goods from Rome weren't necessary in those regions so the Romans just paid so much silver and gold for those goods throughout the centuries.

This is a nice little channel. I hope to see more

damn another historical channel that adds a little special something, I guess ill sub!

I needed a good cry. thanks

Great channel! Growth is guaranteed, I assure you

Your channel is growing...good

Subscribed, nice videos with a good perspective

The subscribe thing seems to have worked

Your channel pfp is honestly the best on youtube lol.

Man, I am very pleased to see that this isn't just another Romanaboo channel and instead uses actual reason and facts.

Congrats on 3k subs!

*Looks at current events, and the goals of our current oligarchs and technocrats.* Buckle up, folks.

How do you only have 1.9 million views on total your videos are great!

climate change not only ended the western roman empire but the eastern as well Climate change made the Turks migrate from the steppes into the middle east

Awesome video Spectrum, I think the greatest problem of the Roman Empire was the political inheritance system and a bad financial system.

Holy damn my man you have skyrocketed, didn't you have like 360 subs two weeks ago

Love the videos keep it up

Thanks mannnnn ive always loved roman empire history but am lazy so thankkkkkkkkk you for this channel

Very good video, though I personally think the ‘Barbarization’ of the Late Roman Army has become something off a distorted myth. The idea that the government could not find enough willing citizens to join the army so had to contract barbarians isn’t really accurate, as the Roman Army after the 4th century was maintained by conscription. As it was the wealthy landholders who provided a quota of recruits they used the army to siphon off their most least productive workers from the fields, while keeping the strongest fittest men who would otherwise join the army on their own accord. Accept they couldn’t, because they couldn’t leave their occupation as farmers or labourers without permission from their landholders. Overall 3/4’s of the Roman Army probably remained comprised of conscripted ‘Romans’ throughout the collapse of the West. Don’t forget as the Visigoths, Franks and other Germanic groups took over lands inside the Empire they likely would have recruited soldiers from the local Romanised former citizens of the empire. I’m also not that convinced that the Late Roman army’s equipment or training was inferior to its predecessors. Motivation would most certainly have been an issue as these were conscripts and not volunteers, but otherwise the late Roman Army was tailored to fit the enemy of the day. The late Republican and early imperial legions were tailored to fight primarily Celtic and Greek enemies. The Late Roman Army was fighting primarily Germans and Persians, who made much greater use of light and heavy cavalry and missile troops. So this is what the Late Roman Army was tailored to fight. The Roman Army of Caesar and Trajan’s day tried to fight the Germans, Parthian’s and insurgencies using large but inflexible legions with minimal support troops in the 2nd and 3rd centuries. They got their arses kicked more then once. By comparison the Late Roman Army still won most battle it fought when pitted against the Germans, who were now very ‘Romanised’ themselves. They just couldn’t be everywhere at once, and particularly in the west as the 5th century rolled on their leadership was riven by civil wars that allowed the Germanic Barbarians to exploit weakened borders.

man how old is your channel, like 2 weeks? and you're already this big? congrats man

“America is going to end up just like Rome” Yeah, the hell we are.

Good video. Subbed.

did this man jump to 100 subcribers go 3.26K? Great work.

The ground reason was that, gradually, more and more prominent figures rose to power but were ignorant of any moral bond to Rome, and I mean the "the idea of Rome" and its core values. (Even among those living within the city itself) This happened because way too many peoples, who knew nothing but the name of Rome, were annexed in such a short amount of time. (Roman values began to fade away) Rome's relentless success eventually mined her own loyalty. This is also why, despite having powerful lands (Gaul in the West and Anatolia in the East), late Roman Empires lived their lives voluntarily paralysed. Without any loyalty your greatest strength is also your greatest threat.

Everyone loves top ten lists and Roman history.

Damn those last scenes of tumbled architecture : ( Beautiful

I think an interesting video idea could be what reforms you think would of stabilized the late empire.

This video made me cry

Good content. You have much much future.

Their biggest mistake was to make all roads leading towards Rome, giving away the position of the capital to the barbarians.

You should do a video where you pretend to be in charge of Rome in like the 400s ad and attempt to save it, like say what reforms etc you would implement

Your next big step is getting a new, good microphone. That will greatly enhance your growth

Man do a video about the punic wars or events during the roman republic before caesar

THIS MAKES ME SAD, CITIZEN

A hereditary succession may not have helped much, because it often results in weaker candidates for leadership and Rome desperately needed good leaders in the late period to survive. Consider who got to be emperor because they were sons (or relatives) of the previous emperor. Names like Commodus, Caracalla, Elagabalus and Honorius come to mind. Hereditary succession may prevent some civil wars, but arguably having those four as emperors might have been worse than having another civil war or two. The good emperors were mostly either adopted and/or rose through the ranks of the army or Senate. Imagine what might have been if Stilicho or Aetius had been emperors instead of Honorius and Valentinian III... In terms of the economy, it should be noted that the problems largely started when Septimius Severus and then Caracalla each raised the salary of the legionaries to astronomical levels to ensure their support (since the Severans were generally hated by the Senate, they had to solely rely on the army to keep their power. They also started stationing legions near Rome where it would have previously been unthinkable). I think this is important to mention because the problem wasn't that the money had too little precious metal in it, it was that too much money was competing for too little produce. With the nonexistent economic knowledge of the time, it was impossible for them to know that putting that much extra money in circulation without significant growth in available goods would lead to an inflation loop which would ruin the Roman currency. Same goes for Diocletian-it is easy for us to see today that his Edict of Maximum Prices would not work and lead to even higher inflation and black market activity, but all of this wasn't known back then.

What I don't understand is why the east survived. They went through very similar situations as the west. The goths, Huns, Alans all ravaged the east before moving west. And just as the west had to deal with Germanic tribes, the east had to deal with tribes beyond the Danube. And in terms of prosperity, both were similar in 395 ad. The east had Egypt and Libya while the west had the rest. Both sides were comparable to each other. Iberia and Anatolia are comparable and so are gaul+ brittania with the Balkans. Not to mention that the east also had to deal with great, organized empire like the Sassanids which the west did not deal with. So I think both halves were pretty equal. Why then did only the west fall?

You can understand the main cause of the fall by looking at it's eastern counterpart where despite having fewer problems than the western side, it still got destroyed due to internal problems. As it was not the invaders who destroyed Rome, but the very title of the Emperor as the excessive concentration of power brought every reason for a civil war even in times of crisies.

The overstretching was thankfully ended by Theodosius "the great" (One of the few things he did right), Then the empire had a very large stepback by the death of Aurelian, then had an even larger stepback by the deaths of Stilicho and Aetius (not saying that those two are better just saying it was in a worse time) and then put a nail in the coffin by the death of Majorian because fucking Ricimer. Also Valens fucked up by letting the barbarians in, Same for Theodosius "the great", I wouldn't say that Christianity changed much of the empire except the religion, the pagan religion changed a few times (first time by Caligula who worshipped himself, then by Elagabalus who worshipped Deus Sol Invictus, And also Aurelian who also worshipped Sol Invictus, of course Christianity by Constantine the above average and finally by Julian the Apostate, who failed in converting the empire to Christianity). And to the heroes that saved or almost saved the empire go also terrible people who did that/who followed. Honorius, Valentinian, that guy who forced some people who killed Aurelian and Ricimer

Subbed at 3.6k on August 22, 2021. (Just leaving a record here so I can brag when you blow up!)

Always interesting to me why people think it's astounding the empire fell. All empires fall.

Do a video on fixing the Roman economy

I think when it comes to military tech, the real problem is that all of their adversaries have finally catched up with the Roman.

which video game are those graphics from?

Ok, let's get facts straight about Bonifacius. We know that he "invited vandals to Africa" from works of Procopius and Jordanes whou lived and wrote 50-100 years after the event. Prosper of Aquitaine and Hydatius, who were contemporaries and of the events don't support this. Also Cassiodorus wrote that Vandals were pushed to Africa by Visigoths, who started conquering Iberia at that time. So my money on that poor Boni was falsely accused and these accusation are capt by Aetius' fanbase (that on average are as levelheaded and unbiased as typical K-pop fangirls) ever since Renaissance.

Great video, but turn up your volume

Why is the sound so low? I have to turn it way up and then when a commercial comes on, the sound is BOOMING! Fix your sound recording Bro.

They seem to have always been low on manpower at this time. Does anyone have any info on the birthrates? Any info on this for either the Romans or barbarians, as well as either before or after AD 300 would be very interesting to look at.

I thought Emperor Aurelian stopped corruption at the Roman mints? Well done!

Gallic tribes sacked Rome in 387 BC, not AD

The main reason the roman empire fell, it was an empire.

Next time I play Rome Total War the Parthians will be conquered first.

I dont know what it is but i always recognize the portuguese accent haha, but good video.

the notion that the barbarian rule is better than the Roman one is not true at all. That's true only in Italy when Ostrogothic rule is better than Easter Roman, but for the most part especially in Spain, France, and Britain, the international economy collapsed. Half of the elites were replaced by their new barbarian overlords, most of the people were Orthodox Catholic Christians and were therefore not happy under the rule of Arian Christians. Most middle classes suffer as their products can no longer be exported to other markets, and the lower class no longer has the support of the central state which maintained the basic infrastructures like roads, baths, entertainment, hospitals, monasteries, churches, and schools.

Ranking every Holy Roman Emperor, when?

Maybe I missed something, but the Gauls didn't sack Rome in 387. It was almost 800 years prior in 387 BC. That sacking wasn't influenced by the weather in the late Roman Empire. But fun video regardless.

Historian's craft would have a word with you

Pain

Honorius wanted your location

The empire lived for 1000 years more what Do you mean

Because it was an empire? They all fail eventually. Pretty sure it’s the longest lasting one in recorded history if you count the western and eastern empires too. Also agriculture is paramount to all Societies now and it’s a self sustaining need. Farming allowed more people to be around and now there are so many that they couldn’t be supported without farming.

wanna do a collaboration ?

Is this just the Tominus Maximus video without wojaks?

To say that a society is not dependent on agriculture because it is “modern” is absurd. The primary reason Empires existed throughout history is to address the agricultural Needs of a particular group who was having a population expansion for their small space.

You need some kind of an outro bro

You already had read Peter heather fall of the Roman Empire?

5:35 The Boss was right, there is no such thing as an absolute enemy.

If you think about it, Rome's greatest enemy, the Germans, could of fallen instead of the Romans, if the Visogoths were integrated properly and moved to the Persian border so the Visogoths dealt with Persia in exchange for sacking their lands, someone who wasn't Honorius took over, for example, the usurper didn't kill Gratian and Gratian had a son who took over the west that listened to good generals and actually tried to fix problems, 406 could of been repelled since Stilicho wasn't dealing with the Visogoths as well as the usurper Constantine. (No not that one) And generals like that Hispanian general and Aetius succeeding the emperor, the Germans themselves could of been destroyed, you see, the Hunnic Empire wasn't actually as barbaric as you think, Aetius for the most part until Attila cooperated with the Huns and the Huns helped them defeat many Germans, Aetius could of been able to get Attila to destroy the Germans and steal their wealth so Attila could build a vast empire with no enemies. Since the Huns' fighting skills and destruction when they attacked someone was so enormous, with alongside the Romans, Aetius could get Attila to attack the Germanic tribes, and force them to become foederati to Rome in their homeland. (Not in the empire) By either their own will or crushing the tribe into submission with the help of the Huns and maybe other foederati. This would stop a Germanic Union from forming, and after all non foederati Germanic tribes were completely destroyed by the Huns, Rome and the Huns would turn on the foederati Germans and crush them when they least expect it, and Aetius lowering the time spent in the army and offering these new lands taken from the Germans to soldiers so they could recreate the middle class and increase the population of the upper class which would stop them from usurping so they don't sack Roman cities to become rich, creating a new coin that's printed along with the empire's population so inflation doesn't happen, and also the British Isles began getting civilized kingdoms during the 400s and 500s which would stop raids from the Picts and Irish, the Hunnic Empire would eventually disintegrate from succession crisis' as historically and slavic invaders, which would result in Rome taking land up to the Elbe River to give to the Roman soldiers and to create infrastructure to make jobs, leaving no real threat to the empire except maybe the Sassanids, but historically the Huns had destroyed a bunch of their lands for some time, meaning Rome would have no enemies until the 600s and thus military spending would decrease creating stability and much less usurpers, also removing proto peasant laws and having poor people work on infrastructure in newly conquered Germania would also help recreate the middle class, also populating the border's lands with experienced soldiers that could call up arms on a local level when a barbarian tribe invaded, would of saved the empire.

they didnt know my buddy alan (hes pretty cool I think he could have saved rome)

Sounds like the UK

reason 11 : "emperor" honorius

11. We failed Rome

Number 1: The Praetorian Guard

remember me when you become famous

The problem of silver could be avoided if Germany would be annex

If you want to know then there are causes in their books. 1. Will Durant 2. Gibbons.

*Happy Old Dutch Germanic noises*

Hello there

Solution to #7: conquer the entire planet! Boom no more borders Probably just have ALL THE REVOLTS to deal with now, but I mean... is that really any different from how it was before? lol

even though i liked and subscribed i have to say you are kinda wrong , Rome wasnt doomed guards murdering emperors was nothing new Honorius and Valentinian III alone were 60 years of record mismanagement you even stated yourself they both killed a guy trying to fix everything heck Stilicho didnt even resist when they wanted to execute him and just like Flavius Aetius both were beloved by their troops with Stilicho and Aetius in charge instead i think eventually they would end up with gaul roman germania and britain becomming the gallic empire as a vassal kingdome to rome and rome itself would have the very easily defensible mountain borders of Spain and italy with the west becoming the Caeser empire to the east Augustus empire that would have probably even stabilized the Byzantines as in now not everything is lost was the Muslims invade Egypt

Rome walked so the west could run

Stop asking me to subscribe, i dont wanna subscribe to every random channel i watch a video on.

What about Christianity?

Now you will have to do a video on why Rome was destined for greatness.

Tree major fack. 1.the god dame civil wars 2: it was to big. 3: the corrupt and the disloyal guards.