This Was What Always Killed Ancient Empires (And We Never Talk About It)
Not decadence, or warfare, or bureaucracy but something else
The discussion and debate over the fall of major empires is a popular thing to do around dinner tables and in classrooms around the world. The role of decadence, bureaucracy, and military failures play prominent roles in these discussions. But there is one thing that crops up time and again in relation to the fall of major empires that needs to be discussed more. Frontiers.
Defending, patrolling, controlling, and taxing vast and distant frontiers put more strain on empires than anything else. The frontier was a place of lawlessness and friction between states. The status of the frontier kept many an emperor up at night from China to Macedonia to Britain to Rome.
China built the largest wall in human history to protect its frontier. So too, did Rome build a series of famous walls to defend their frontiers. Even the ancient Egyptians struggled against Kushite peoples and desert Nubians along their frontiers.
Nearly every famous empire in history struggled with distant and wild frontiers that continually sucked resources away from the central governing body.
- Rome had Gaul and eventually Britain. Rome also struggled with…
