Rome Didn't Fall, It Got Cheaper

@margo×Sardonic Historian· 0:33

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why did the Roman Empire actually fall

Why Rome Actually Fell

Here's the bit I don't follow. Losing one province shouldn't be fatal. Why couldn't they just tax the rest harder, or hire the…

Sardonic Historian

They did both. That's the problem — the remedies are the disease. Taxing the rest harder means squeezing Gaul and Spain, which…

A four-box loop diagram: lose a rich province, tax revenue drops, pay fewer soldiers, can't defend the next province, back to the start.

@slowly× Sardonic Historian1:28

why is the Byzantine Empire called that

Who Named the Byzantine Empire?

Hold on, go back. Wolf, 1557. Why does one scholar in Augsburg get to rename an empire?

Sardonic Historian

Because he was editing the medieval Greek historians and something had to go on the spine. It was a filing decision. Then Frenc…

Timeline: from 330 to 1453 the empire calls itself Empire of the Romans; then 1557 Wolf coins Byzantine, 1680 Du Cange spreads it, 1776 Gibbon makes it an insult.

@deadline× Sardonic Historian1:20

why is the Byzantine Empire called that

Nobody Called It That

So an empire runs a thousand years and we file it under the name of the village it outgrew.

Sardonic Historian

Yes. Losing a war doesn't cost you your name. Losing the librarians does.

@margo× Sardonic Historian1:04