Which civilisation had the biggest impact on history?

[Plotinus]

Rome collapsed because of Christianity...

No it didn't! How do you think Christianity contribute to the fall of Rome?

Rome collapsed because the empire spent all of its energy and resources on civil wars.

 

[PhroX]

No it didn't! How do you think Christianity contribute to the fall of Rome?

Rome collapsed because the empire spent all of its energy and resources on civil wars.

I have to admit, my reaction when I saw the first sentance of CaterpillarKing's post was along the lines of

Unfortunetely the "Christianity and barabarians" narrative is still widely believed.

 

[Thorgalaeg]

https://www.utexas.edu/courses/rome/210reasons.html

Abolition of gods

Abolition of rights

Absence of character

Absolutism

Agrarian question

Agrarian slavery

Anarchy

Anti-Germanism

Apathy

Aristocracy

Asceticism

Attack of the Germans

Attack of the Huns

Attack of riding nomads

Backwardness in science

Bankruptcy

Barbarization

Bastardization

Blockage of land by large landholders

Blood poisoning

Bolshevization

Bread and circuses

Bureaucracy

Byzantinism

Capillarite sociale

Capitalism

Capitals, change of

Caste system

Celibacy

Centralization

Childlessness

Christianity

Citizenship, granting of

Civil war

Climatic deterioration

Communism

Complacency

Concatenation of misfortunes

Conservatism

Corruption

Cosmopolitanism

Crisis of legitimacy

Culinary excess

Cultural neurosis

Decentralization

Decline of Nordic character

Decline of the cities

Decline of the Italian population

Deforestation

Degeneration

Degeneration of the intellect

Demoralization

Depletion of mineral resources

Despotism

Destruction of environment

Destruction of peasantry

Destruction of political process

Destruction of Roman influence

Devastation

Differences in wealth

Disarmament

Disillusion with stated

Division of empire

Division of labor

Earthquakes

Egoism

Egoism of the state

Emancipation of slaves

Enervation

Epidemics

Equal rights, granting of

Eradication of the best

Escapism

Ethnic dissolution

Excessive aging of population

Excessive civilization

Excessive culture

Excessive foreign infiltration

Excessive freedom

Excessive urbanization

Expansion

Exploitation

Fear of life

Female emancipation

Feudalization

Fiscalism

Gladiatorial system

Gluttony

Gout

Hedonism

Hellenization

Heresy

Homosexuality

Hothouse culture

Hubris

Hypothermia

Immoderate greatness

Imperialism

Impotence

Impoverishment

Imprudent policy toward buffer states

Inadequate educational system

Indifference

Individualism

Indoctrination

Inertia

Inflation

Intellectualism

Integration, weakness of

Irrationality

Jewish influence

Lack of leadership

Lack of male dignity

Lack of military recruits

Lack of orderly imperial succession

Lack of qualified workers

Lack of rainfall

Lack of religiousness

Lack of seriousness

Large landed properties

Lead poisoning

Lethargy

Leveling, cultural

Leveling, social

Loss of army discipline

Loss of authority

Loss of energy

Loss of instincts

Loss of population

Luxury

Malaria

Marriages if convenience

Mercenary system

Mercury damage

Militarism

Monetary economy

Monetary greed

Money, shortage of

Moral decline

Moral idealism

Moral materialism

Mystery religions

Nationalism of Rome's subjects

Negative selection

Orientalization

Outflow of gold

Over refinement

Pacifism

Paralysis of will

Paralyzation

Parasitism

Particularism

Pauperism

Plagues

Pleasure seeking

Plutocracy

Polytheism

Population pressure

Precociousness

Professional army

Proletarization

Prosperity

Prostitution

Psychoses

Public baths

Racial degeneration

Racial discrimination

Racial suicide

Rationalism

Refusal of military service

Religious struggles and schisms

Rentier mentality

Resignation

Restriction to profession

Restriction to the land

Rhetoric

Rise of uneducated masses

Romantic attitudes to peace

Ruin of middle class

Rule of the world

Semieducation

Sensuality

Servility

Sexuality

Shamelessness

Shifting of trade routes

Slavery

Slavic attacks

Socialism (of the state)

Soil erosion

Soil exhaustion

Spiritual barbarism

Stagnation

Stoicism

Stress

Structural weakness

Superstition

Taxation, pressure of

Terrorism

Tiredness of life

Totalitarianism

Treason

Tristesse

Two-front war

Underdevelopment

Useless eaters

Usurpation of all powers by the state

Vain gloriousness

Villa economy

Vulgarization

You can chose whatever you like. Being a chemistry myself I will pick lead poisoning.

 

[Lone Wolf]

I chose Bolshevization

 

[Domen]

"Lead poisoning" was the reported cause of non-combat (?) death of one of Luftwaffe pilots (I forgot which one) in WW2.

Allies reported shooting down that aircraft (with that pilot) during combat, actually. So we can imagine what kind of lead it was.

 

[Flying Pig]

'Lead' is quite a common thing for soldiers to write under 'allergies' on medical forms.

 

[Krajzen]

Is this list serious?

Bolshevization

 

[Tee Kay]

I don't think we realise enough the dangers of Byzantinism.

 

[gay_Aleks]

Probably you didn't stay around a Byzanthophile for long enough?

 

[Thorgalaeg]

Is this list serious?

Bolshevization

Absolutely.

Some theories are dumb but others are very reasonable. Gluttony for instance, which is a well known reason for empires falling. look at USA!

 

[Kyriakos]

Sybarite failed (iirc conquered by Elea or some other city in western Greek Italy), but it was hardly an empire; mostly a town filled with obese people who only cared for importing food and wine

 

[Thorgalaeg]

Julius Caesar said (or was it Shakespeare?) that fat people are peaceful and reasonable while skinny people are violent and evil, and you need a good amount of violence and evilness to keep imperial things working.

 

[Flying Pig]

It was written by the University of Texas. Most of it reads like something out of a far-right 19th-century philosopher, written when 'decline of the Nordic race' wasn't quite so... Hitleresque.

 

[Borachio]

Let me have men about me that are fat;
Sleek-headed men, and such as sleep o' nights.
Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look;
He thinks too much: such men are dangerous.

Shakespeare

 

[daft]

Julius Caesar said (or was it Shakespeare?) that fat people are peaceful and reasonable while skinny people are violent and evil, and you need a good amount of violence and evilness to keep imperial things working.

LOL! Funny stuff.
What about those neither fat or skinny but in between?
How about athletic ones?

Not too many votes for Germany, kind of weird. Also surprising is the lack of votes for Scandinavia.

 

[Thorgalaeg]

Athletic ones are too busy getting all the girls.

 

[CaterpillarKing]

I'm athletic and I'm a loser


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