This article will be partly a response to another article I read recently, but also a discussion on a topic I have thought about before.
The topic in question is the similarities between the Roman Empire and the United States, particularly surrounding the empire’s ultimate fall and dissolution.
The article I read tried to draw many false or faulty comparisons between modern-day America and 5th century Rome. For one, the author compared the split of the empire among East-West lines to Donald Trump’s plan for the Mexico border wall and various travel bans.
A split did occur within the empire, but for very different reasons. In 285 A.D., the empire had become so large that it was practically unmanageable. To help alleviate the burden this created, the empire was split into the Eastern and Western Empires.
The West would be ruled still from Rome, while the East would now be ruled by a separate emperor residing in Byzantium.
The author also tried to make the claim that language and religion had some factor in the split, again trying to draw a comparison between some of Trump’s controversial policies and comments.
In reality, the linguistic and religious differences between the two halves of the empire only became prominent after the formal split.
The author then claims that extreme military expenditures and incompetent leadership, two more swipes at the current administration in America, were also factors in Rome’s fall.
The true reasons for Rome’s fall are extremely complex and I’m sure there are many books that attempt to explain it. With that said, I will try and give a brief overview of the fall from my understanding while also relating it to current American politics.
If anything could be remotely comparable to the split between East and West in Rome, it may be the split between Democrat and Republican today. Both the East and West had dissimilar views of how the empire should be run, similar to modern day America’s toxic partisanship.
Ultimately, it would only be the Western Empire that would fall. Byzantium lived on for another 1000 years, when in 1453 it was destroyed by invading Ottoman Turks.
The West, similarly to the United States and Western Europe, had fell victim to rampant corruption and unchecked migration. Inept leadership surely contributed as well, tying into governmental corruption.
And when I talk about immigration, I am talking about the German “barbarians” who moved into Roman territory en masse for at least a century or more before the fall. These Germans and their descendants had worked their way into all facets of Roman society.
Thus when the marauding Germanic armies returned, Rome’s perpetual enemies, the empire was full of individuals sympathetic to their cause.
Keeping track of comparing modern times to ancient Rome, the Eastern Empire could be said to be comparable to eastern Europe today (and potentially East Asia).
These nations have retained their traditional cultural and national identities through strong leaders and tough immigration and trade laws.
So yes, I do believe the fall of the Roman Empire and the current state of the United States (and Western culture in general) are comparable. It seems to me that we are, and have been since the 1960’s, on a steady decline.
This decline is not only in our culture but in our economics, our ability to assert power around the world, the integrity of our national borders, the security of our citizens, etc., etc. The list goes on an on.
I think that this is an important conversation to have. More people need to know about historical instances like this.
So if you go looking for similarities between a historical entity and a modern one, make sure that your facts are correct and the comparisons you draw are relevant.
