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Re: I am talking about one of the plagues not THE plague lyringlas Send a noteboard - 07/04/2010 08:45:26 PM
I would make it not happen.

Rome doesn't resort to tactics which would result in their fall and the dark ages never happen. Europe doesn't go through the intellectual lull it did and religious dogma and irrationality isn't able to take over.

As a result, mankind is much further along today.


Didn't the Plauge happen several hundred years after the fall of Rome? Or am I just being an idiot and not quite getting what your saying?

In some cases, the same diseases were responsible for multiple instances of plague, and it's hard to accurately diagnose each of them hundreds or even thousands of years later. "Plague" killed Pericles and a host of others when Athens was besieged in the Peloponessian War; WHICH plague remains an open question.

I don't agree the Romes plague near the end is what killed it though; overextension and complacency during the Pax are more attractive candidates. Christian unity and the assimilation of so many "barbarian" German tribes kept Rome on life support and hid the decline for at least a century after its peak, but had the Empire been sustainable Constantinople would never have been founded.


The plague that came through Rome crippled its army, killing most of the young Roman soldiers. This eventually forced them to try and assimilate barbarian tribes and resort to the measures that kept it on life support.

Without the plague, Rome's population might have been strong enough to sustain Roman troops and a Roman identity, instead of seeding power to outsiders.

Of course, the reason Rome fell can be debated endlessly. I'm one of those that thinks it was the plague.

Either way, if Rome hadn't fallen like it did, I think we'd be better off by a lot today. But "Have Rome not fall like it did" doesn't sound like a very good reply ;)



What are you talking about? This was how Rome thrived through its glory days: expansion, and delegation of military service. The amount of *actual* Romans from Latinum, and later even from the Italian peninsula serving in the provinces armies was negligible. The main principle of Roman military strategy was: conquer place A, take men and armies from place A and make them serve in place X, while having people from place X guarding place A. Then, after colonizing place A with people from place V, then conquer place B to give land to people from A...and continue in such a fashion to appease everyone. The heart of the empire, Rome, much like America, didn't really grasp the idea of warfare and the hardships that came with it, because the people living there were as far from the borders as possible.
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I know I just did a survey, but this was too good to pass up. - 07/04/2010 12:44:15 AM 778 Views
Myself: World War I. - 07/04/2010 12:45:57 AM 639 Views
I don't think it's that simple. - 07/04/2010 12:57:16 AM 595 Views
I see your point. - 07/04/2010 01:02:33 AM 586 Views
Sometimes sooner is better than later. - 07/04/2010 01:10:11 AM 554 Views
True. - 07/04/2010 01:14:45 AM 544 Views
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*nods* A small war is usually preferable to a big war. - 07/04/2010 01:49:06 AM 540 Views
The Plague - 07/04/2010 12:52:33 AM 530 Views
Re: The Plague - 07/04/2010 01:05:35 AM 430 Views
Maybe; there were episodic plague epidemics before and after that time. - 07/04/2010 02:05:18 AM 574 Views
I am talking about one of the plagues not THE plague - 07/04/2010 02:50:25 AM 521 Views
Re: I am talking about one of the plagues not THE plague - 07/04/2010 08:45:26 PM 519 Views
I'm so glad you have the time and inclination to type up these replies. *NM* - 08/04/2010 07:09:22 AM 347 Views
...? - 08/04/2010 07:51:14 PM 431 Views
Sounds like he was thanking you for saving him the effort of writing a similar reply. *NM* - 08/04/2010 09:28:55 PM 367 Views
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The spread of Christianity - 07/04/2010 12:55:29 AM 604 Views
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Re: The spread of Christianity - 07/04/2010 08:47:06 PM 421 Views
Re: The spread of Christianity - 08/04/2010 09:29:17 AM 441 Views
Why would that have an impact on Judaism? - 08/04/2010 01:40:47 PM 523 Views
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Re: But wasn't Christianity the inspiration for a whole era of art? - 08/04/2010 01:44:36 PM 572 Views
precisely. - 08/04/2010 05:37:26 PM 546 Views
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Any paticular reason why? *NM* - 07/04/2010 01:34:54 AM 345 Views
Agreed. *NM* - 07/04/2010 01:59:02 AM 453 Views
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Internet spam sucks indeed. - 07/04/2010 01:08:23 AM 608 Views
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This whole topic is wild, it's something I sometimes think about. - 07/04/2010 01:17:50 AM 522 Views
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NOOOO1111 - 07/04/2010 01:11:33 AM 454 Views
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Yeah that's one of the small annoying things - 07/04/2010 07:34:52 AM 380 Views
An interesting point - 07/04/2010 02:57:03 AM 552 Views
That's usually my reply to this question too *NM* - 07/04/2010 11:42:55 AM 321 Views
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"FOR" global warming? Now there's a phrase I never thought I'd here! - 07/04/2010 01:16:04 AM 379 Views
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Fair enough. - 07/04/2010 12:51:16 PM 522 Views
I read the Bernard Lewis article referred to at Wikipedia... - 07/04/2010 01:19:03 PM 502 Views
So it's borrowed propaganda. - 13/04/2010 09:30:39 AM 488 Views
Re: The spread of Islam - 08/04/2010 09:24:31 AM 600 Views
Haha, are you kidding? - 08/04/2010 07:59:39 PM 357 Views
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Ask yourself the question... - 08/04/2010 09:33:33 PM 355 Views
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I'd better not touch this one - 07/04/2010 03:12:00 AM 573 Views
The spread of Judaism. - 07/04/2010 04:30:37 AM 497 Views
Re: The spread of Judaism. - 07/04/2010 07:31:02 AM 442 Views
I...do not know. - 07/04/2010 07:18:13 AM 432 Views
Amusing that the underlying expectation seems to be more along political history lines - 07/04/2010 12:56:49 PM 612 Views
Considering the way history is taught, is it surprising? *NM* - 08/04/2010 07:11:03 AM 314 Views
Nope, not really - 08/04/2010 10:24:54 AM 526 Views
Here's one that'll be more to your liking... - 08/04/2010 10:40:53 AM 369 Views
Yes - 08/04/2010 10:52:11 AM 504 Views
Re: Here's one that'll be more to your liking... - 08/04/2010 11:58:27 AM 403 Views
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I know - 08/04/2010 02:46:41 PM 535 Views
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Quote Pyramids of Destiny FTL *NM* - 08/04/2010 10:16:21 PM 336 Views
me being born mega rich *NM* - 07/04/2010 02:15:34 PM 356 Views
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Re: I know I just did a survey, but this was too good to pass up. - 07/04/2010 09:04:02 PM 407 Views
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just as you thought it would be? *NM* - 08/04/2010 08:44:49 PM 308 Views
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The 1987 Rugby World Cup Final - 13/04/2010 12:23:17 PM 574 Views

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