<div data-reddit-rtjson= "{"entityMap":{},"blocks":[{"key":"d2ons","text":"Romans of the late empire were well aware that their borders had become porous, that fewer soldiers stood ready to drive out the increasingly bold barbarian tribes, that there was less tax revenue to fund everything, and that they seemed to end every generation a bit worse off than they'd been at the beginning of it.","type":"unstyled","depth":0,"inlineStyleRanges":[],"entityRanges":[],"data":{}},{"key":"97qd5","text":"That is to say that the Romans were very aware of the symptoms of their own decline, but for the most part, they were clueless about the real causes underlying it. ","type":"unstyled","depth":0,"inlineStyleRanges":[],"entityRanges":[],"data":{}},{"key":"5hqbs","text":"Modern historians have attempted to fill this gap, with one academic counting 210 varied and somewhat overlapping hypotheses published by academics and historians to explain what had really happened. ","type":"unstyled","depth":0,"inlineStyleRanges":[],"entityRanges":[],"data":{}},{"key":"1ikqf","text":"Some say taxes were too low, others that they were too high. Some blame too much expansion, while others insist the issues was that the state stopped its incessant conquest. Some blame Christianity, or the loss of old school Roman virtue and grit. Many blame bad emperors, mismanaged battles, and the civil wars that sapped the vitality of the state. Libertarians like to point to price controls and limitations placed on markets as the cause. Most admit that this is a complicated subject, and it was really a host of factors that finally killed off the empire.   The problem with most of these theories is that they're built on one glaring assumption: That the environment and the forces it channels are more or less stable, innocuous, and unimportant backdrops across which the truly important human actions play out.  But modern science has pulled the rug out from under these assumptions, and instead has demonstrated that the earth's wild oscillations gave humanity an incredibly bumpy ride, even just since we started building civilizations around 10,000 years ago. The problem is that few realized it while it was happening because the transformations happened slowly over such long period of time, and often, not enough climatic data as being collected and tracked to notice the shifts.  In this episode, we dive into the two main factors of Rome's fall - one human driven, and one driven by forces far beyond the control of even the most powerful Caesar. ","type":"unstyled","depth":0,"inlineStyleRanges":[{"offset":797,"length":5,"style":"ITALIC"}],"entityRanges":[],"data":{}}]}"> <div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="146a50" data-offset-key="146a50_initial-0-0"> <div class= "public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="146a50_initial-0-0"> <div data-reddit-rtjson= "{"entityMap":{},"blocks":[{"key":"72uae","text":"Romans of the late empire were well aware that their borders had become porous, that fewer soldiers stood ready to drive out the increasingly bold barbarian tribes, that there was less tax revenue to fund everything, and that they seemed to end every generation a bit worse off than they'd been at the beginning of it.","type":"unstyled","depth":0,"inlineStyleRanges":[],"entityRanges":[],"data":{}},{"key":"56huu","text":"That is to say that the Romans were very aware of the symptoms of their own decline, but for the most part, they were clueless about the real causes underlying it. ","type":"unstyled","depth":0,"inlineStyleRanges":[],"entityRanges":[],"data":{}},{"key":"cbb83","text":"Modern historians have attempted to fill this gap, with one academic counting 210 varied and somewhat overlapping hypotheses published by historians to explain what really happened. ","type":"unstyled","depth":0,"inlineStyleRanges":[],"entityRanges":[],"data":{}},{"key":"98s1k","text":"Some say taxes were too low, others that they were too high. Some blame too mu

<div data-reddit-rtjson= "{"entityMap":{},"blocks":[{"key":"72uae","text":"Romans of the late empire were well aware that their borders had become porous, that fewer soldiers stood ready to drive out the increasingly bold barbarian tribes, that there was less tax revenue to fund everything, and that they seemed to end every generation a bit worse off than they'd been at the beginning of it.","type":"unstyled","depth":0,"inlineStyleRanges":[],"entityRanges":[],"data":{}},{"key":"56huu","text":"That is to say that the Romans were very aware of the symptoms of their own decline, but for the most part, they were clueless about the real causes underlying it. ","type":"unstyled","depth":0,"inlineStyleRanges":[],"entityRanges":[],"data":{}},{"key":"cbb83","text":"Modern historians have attempted to fill this gap, with one academic counting 210 varied and somewhat overlapping hypotheses published by historians to explain what really happened. ","type":"unstyled","depth":0,"inlineStyleRanges":[],"entityRanges":[],"data":{}},{"key":"98s1k","text":"Some say taxes were too low, others that they were too high. Some blame too mu

E1.12 Why The Romans Didn't Notice Their Decline

The Turning Wheel covers the pivot points of human history, and the fascinating questions that underlie our civilization. Our special emphases are when civilizations made big shifts, without anyone really realizing it. Humans may fight these changes, but they often lose. 

From Marcus Aurelius's rule during the twilight years of the Pax Romana to city planning errors in the 20th century shaping how we live today, we cover a lot of ground. 

Support the podcast at: https://www.patreon.com/TheTurningWheel

History

The Turning Wheel covers the pivot points of human history, and the fascinating questions that underlie our civilization. Our special emphases are when civilizations made big shifts, without anyone really realizing it. Humans may fight these changes, but they often lose. From Marcus Aurelius's rule during the twilight years of the Pax Romana to city planning errors in the 20th century shaping how we live today, we cover a lot of ground. Support the podcast at: https://www.patreon.com/TheTurningWheel

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E1.12 Why The Romans Didn't Notice Their Decline

E1.12 Why The Romans Didn't Notice Their Decline