Roman Empire History Question

[Pineywoods]

I'm a history geek and have been fascinated with the similarities between us and the Roman Empire. Anybody familiar with the particulars of the events that lead to their demise, and how long it took to play out? I know in the age of information and technology, it's not a great comparison but I'm still curious to know the answer.

[Playa]

I'm a history geek and have been fascinated with the similarities between us and the Roman Empire. Anybody familiar with the particulars of the events that lead to their demise, and how long it took to play out? I know in the age of information and technology, it's not a great comparison but I'm still curious to know the answer.

I posted a really good article on this topic a few years ago. But basically multiple foreign wars and lack of assimilation is what brought the Roman Empire to its knees. We are fighting multiple fronts, but our assimilation problem is because we leave the back gate open.

And if memory serves, we have outlived our expiration date by 25 years or so, i believe the Roman Empire was 250 years which is about as long as any of the great empires

[BarBBar]

As a history major, I was required to take a course on Roman history and hated every minute of it with having to learn the names of all the leaders/emperors/generals/dictators and wars. My now vague impressions from what I read was that Roman citizens preferred to farm out their security to mercenary "barbarian" armies, let Roman generals who defeated their rivals govern as long as they paid their armies, and somehow put in power feckless emperors. A constant struggle for power, with knives in the back for those too ambitious.

[donpablo]

Too bad we allow so many self-serving snakes in Congress. If not for them and their kind, we might could make it as long as the Ottoman Empire.

[Etxbuckman]

The Romans were ****ed, and so are we. Thats it in a nutshell.

[El General]

The better comparison is between us and the Roman Republic. The eastern part of the empire lasted for 1400 years until the Ottomans showed up.

Bigger causes of the fall of the Empire were the fact that they did not understand inflation, various pandemics, and that the size of the empire outgrew its technical ability to defend it.

[Bassdeer]

Was wondering this myself after watching The Chosen. BTW great series.

[muzzlebrake]

We are approaching 40 trillion in debt and no way to balance the books. Bottom line is the Roman Empire went broke.
Sound familiar?

[Drycreek3189]

We are approaching 40 trillion in debt and no way to balance the books. Bottom line is the Roman Empire went broke.
Sound familiar?

Very !

[Tbar]

Devaluation of the currency...

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/currency-and-the-collapse-of-the-roman-empire/

[CEO]

We are approaching 40 trillion in debt and no way to balance the books. Bottom line is the Roman Empire went broke.
Sound familiar?

My whole life I've heard the quote about a Democracy only lasting until people realize they can vote themselves "largesse from the public treasury". It seems politicians spending us into oblivion on crap the average voter cares nothing about is going to be the real downfall.

[WItoTX]

I posted a really good article on this topic a few years ago. But basically multiple foreign wars and lack of assimilation is what brought the Roman Empire to its knees. We are fighting multiple fronts, but our assimilation problem is because we leave the back gate open.

And if memory serves, we have outlived our expiration date by 25 years or so, i believe the Roman Empire was 250 years which is about as long as any of the great empires

250 years for the Roman republic I believe. That was before Caesar decided to overrule the senate, and then they shifted to Emperors. Then there was another two hundred years of Roman empire, followed by 1000 years of decline.

Don't quote my numbers, but generally I think that is the story.

[El General]

The Roman Republic is traditionally dated from the overthrow of the last king in 509 BC (this date might be mythical, but is probably close) to 27 BC with the ascension of Augustus to emperor. The western roman empire dates from 27 BC to 476 AD when Romulus Augustulus was deposed by Odoacer. That is a little more than 500 years.

The eastern roman empire dates from 27 BC to 1453 AD when the last eastern emperor (Byzantine) was overthrown by the Ottoman empire.

If you are interested in Roman history, there is a great podcast called the History of Rome that goes from the mythical founding of Rome through the last western emperor. It is outstanding. The period of the late republic with the Gracchi brothers to Marius and Sulla through Julius Caesar has quite a few parallels to our current political situation.

[ThisLadyHunts]

The Roman Republic is traditionally dated from the overthrow of the last king in 509 BC (this date might be mythical, but is probably close) to 27 BC with the ascension of Augustus to emperor. The western roman empire dates from 27 BC to 476 AD when Romulus Augustulus was deposed by Odoacer. That is a little more than 500 years.

The eastern roman empire dates from 27 BC to 1453 AD when the last eastern emperor (Byzantine) was overthrown by the Ottoman empire.

If you are interested in Roman history, there is a great podcast called the History of Rome that goes from the mythical founding of Rome through the last western emperor. It is outstanding. The period of the late republic with the Gracchi brothers to Marius and Sulla through Julius Caesar has quite a few parallels to our current political situation.

Sounds like an intriguing podcast. Thanks for sharing.

[WItoTX]

The Roman Republic is traditionally dated from the overthrow of the last king in 509 BC (this date might be mythical, but is probably close) to 27 BC with the ascension of Augustus to emperor. The western roman empire dates from 27 BC to 476 AD when Romulus Augustulus was deposed by Odoacer. That is a little more than 500 years.

The eastern roman empire dates from 27 BC to 1453 AD when the last eastern emperor (Byzantine) was overthrown by the Ottoman empire.

If you are interested in Roman history, there is a great podcast called the History of Rome that goes from the mythical founding of Rome through the last western emperor. It is outstanding. The period of the late republic with the Gracchi brothers to Marius and Sulla through Julius Caesar has quite a few parallels to our current political situation.

The history of Rome I've heard started with Marius, it would be interesting to get more background prior to him. Is there more to the name than "History of Rome"? Is it hte podcast by Mike Duncan?