Rome question

[Ofaloaf]

Anyway, when Rome converted to Christianity, it's fate was sealed. The old Stoics and pantheism were part the enablers for conquest on philosophical grounds, whereas Christianity allows you to concede defeat without recompense. It would be as if Hitler didn't have his misinterpretations of Nietzsche telling him to constantly play the offensive for fear that losing the momentum would lose him the war.

Seriously? Edward Gibbon is so last millennium. There's massive differences between the Germania of the Five Good Emperors and the Germania of Theodosian times. Up until the fourth century there were few modest settlements at all; most of the region was sparsely settled and there was little economic or demographic activity going on. By the time the Goths were on the Danube, though, continual contact with the Romans and reaction to Roman frontier politics had meant that trade had boomed, populations exploded, and Germanic kingdoms were beginning to form. If Trajan had to face the Germania of 400 AD instead of the Germania of 100 AD, he would've lost just as badly.

 

[Ofaloaf]

Keep in mind that the Romans weren't hellbent on proselytizing under the influence of the old gods, and the threat of having their religions outlawed is a major factor in why the Germanic tribes fought a much more galvanized fight in the 4th-5th centuries.

State-embraced Christianity didn't function much different from state-embraced paganism, though. Roman Christianity pretty quickly managed to find a way to explain how the Emperor was still on top and how he was God's Chosen instead of the Gods' Chosen, but that's about it. Hell, gladiator fights were held at the state's expense well into the fifth century.

I know it's not exactly what they teach you in history class, but the religious shift in the empire caused enormous internal strife and introduced new dynamics in political and military philosophy that were a death knell almost as soon as they had taken hold. Christians can certainly make claims that their religion was for the general betterment of society at the time, but they definitely weren't for the betterment of the Romans.

That internal strife was endemic to the Empire long before Christianity was ever embraced. Look at the Crisis of the Third Century-- that had next to nothing to do with Christianity. The Roman Empire itself was always poorly-organized at the top (the constant lack of succession laws didn't help) and suffered bouts of bad rule and utter calamity from the moment Brutus' knife jabbed Caesar's ribcage.