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Originally Posted by Winters_Sorrow In my view the Dark Ages happened because of the resentment, jealousy & anger Rome generated to its 'colonies' through 5 centuries of rule. Once the barbarians at the gates destroyed the Roman Empire in the west, anything Roman was reviled and obliterated - even the Latin language was largely abandoned due to its 'roman' connections so the systems of learning were lost too.
Don't forget, the Roman Empire in the East thrived long after Rome fell - it might be a more interesting "what if" to consider what effect on the world had the Eastern Roman Empire regained and re-took the west rather than abandoning them and consolidating in the east.
(I'm sure Brian will offer more input into this time period than I ever could....)  |
Well, all you are saying is true. Still, the point is that Rome however it was hated boasted high life standards and Roman citizenship offered lots of benefits. All barbaric people knew that, some of them even moved themselves under the protection of Rome. In a long run it became quite clear to Roman emperors that citizenship will do much work for Rome, and the son of Septimius Severus, Caracalla granted Roman citizenship to all free people of Roman Empire in 212 AD.
There were also several attempts from Eastern Roman Empire (known as Byzantium in Middle Ages) to regain control over Latin part of the Empire (I should also note here that it was a cultural paradox that those whom we know now as Byzantines called themselves Romans actually being in huge majority Greeks and those western parts of the Empire where Rome was situated they called Latin lands. The paradox is that even Italians called Byzantines "Romei" - Romans) to regain control over Rome. Most successful attempt since' Constantine's was Belisarius' war in Italy during the reign of the basileus Justinian (6th century AD). Had he had stirrup then, Empire would be united once again.
The weak point in my story is that how could Romans in 2nd or even 6th century acquire stirrup from distant Asian tribes until Hungarians came to Europe armed with it in 8th century?