Originally posted by starshipeleven
View Post
With sufficient army Romans could have repelled the invasions but they could not even deal with Goths properly - they were granted autonomy after they settled in Empire but not subjugated to direct Roman rule like traditional way would have been, because internal power struggles, weakened economy and problems inherent from either had weakened also it's military. It had no military might left over for this. Weak military contributed directly to Empire's fall. Legions of the time were pale shadow compared to Legions of Caesar. Legionaries were often drafted by press gangs or forced to become ones because sons of former legionaries had no rights left for picking another occupation, whether they liked it or not.
Rotten internal policies and power struggles contributed remotely but were bigger reason.
Comment