2023; 268 pages. Book 2 (out of 2, so far) in “The Fall of the Roman
Empire” series. Full Title: The Fall of Rome – End of a Superpower. New Author? : No. Genres : Ancient History; Rome; Non-Fiction. Overall Rating : 9*/10.
I read recently a great book titled The Roman Revolution, (reviewed here) which is part of a planned 4-volume series collectively examining and explaining The Fall of the Roman Empire. That book ended on a relatively optimistic note, despite Rome having endured some empire-threatening crises, thanks to several strong 3rd- and 4th-century Roman emperors, including Aurelian, Diocletian, and most notably Constantine. If they didn't succeed in restoring the Roman empire to its full former glory, then at least they got it on the right track.
Alas, their efforts came to
naught, at least for the western half of the empire. Something unthinkable took place in the early
5th-century, a disaster such as hadn’t occurred for 800
years. The capital city of Rome was
sacked.
How did this happen? How did the Roman legions, and the Roman
leadership—both the military and the government—collapse so fast and so
completely? Well, the reasons are
complex and complicated, and various historians have offered various
explanations, including: too many barbarians, too many Christians, and
even too many baths.
Nick Holmes makes a detailed and updated examination of these various possible causes (well,
not the “too many baths” hypothesis, but that’s okay.), proposes
several new ones, and gives a fresh perspective on how everything led to a new
world order. The book is appropriately
titled The Fall of Rome.
What’s To Like...
The Fall of Rome
covers the history of Rome from 330 CE to 410 CE, a relatively short time span
compared to the first book, which covered about a millennium. But these 80 years are probably the most
critical ones of Rome’s existence, and unfortunately do not turn out well. Ineffectual leaders abound, and those that do show
promise are weakened by jealous rivals (both
political and religious) and external forces far beyond their
control (such as climate and tribal migrations).
The book is divided into 30
chapters covering 268 pages of text. The
first couple chapters overlap the closing section of the first book and focus
on the emperor Constantine and his sons and three other heirs. The internecine fight-to-the-death that follows
immediately shatters the unity of the realm.
Nick Holmes then turns the spotlight on several important figures in 4th-century
Roman history, including Julian the Apostate,
Theodosius, Stilicho, and Alaric. I found Julian the Apostate a particularly
fascinating “what if” study, since he had strong leadership qualities. Alas, he was also pro-pagan, and the Roman
Empire was becoming increasingly Christianized.
By the dawn of the 5th-century,
it looks like the fate of the western empire will depend on the success of
either Stilicho or Alaric, and sadly for the city of Rome, history chooses the
latter. Alaric cares not a whit about
the thousand years of Rome dominating the world, as can be seen in the second
excerpt, below.
Things build to a
historically-exciting climax: Alaric’s sack of Rome in 410 CE. The city itself is ravaged, yet not destroyed,
but it’s role as the capital of an extensive empire is over. In the final chapters Nick Holmes gives an
update about the Eastern Roman Empire, which is somehow doing relatively well;
then closes by recounting the various theories about the causes of Rome’s
collapse, and his honest evaluation of each one.
Ratings…
Amazon:
4.4/5
based on 271 ratings and 19 reviews.
Goodreads: 4.24/5 based on 188
ratings and 12 reviews.
Excerpts...
The immediate threat the Huns presented in
the fourth century was not a Hunnic invasion of Europe (this would come later
in the mid-fifth century, led by Attila) but, like a ripple spreading across a
lake, the domino effect they created by pushing the Germanic tribes west into
the Roman Empire. Bishop Ambrose of
Milan summed this up with impressive clarity: “The Huns fell upon the Alans,
the Alans upon the Goths, the Goths upon the Romans, and this is not yet the
end.” (loc. 1367)
The Romans were holding out, hoping a
relief force from Ravenna or the army based at Ticinum would move south. But no help came. Honorius and Olympius were too worried about
their own precarious position to save Rome.
In desperation, a group of senators sought an audience with Alaric. When they said the people of Rome would fight
just like their ancestors, Alaric laughed.
They asked him what he wanted. He
said all their gold and possessions, as well as freedom of the slaves. When they asked him what he would give them,
he said, “Your lives.” (loc.
2840)
Kindle Details…
Right now, The Fall of Rome sells for $3.99 at Amazon. Book 1, The Roman
Revolution, currently sells for the same amount. Nick Holmes offers a third e-book at Amazon,
also in the History genre, The Byzantine World War; which you can pick up for only $0.99.
Valens would go
down in history as the man who sent the empire into a death spiral at the
Battle of Adrianople in 378. (loc.
1603)
It’s really hard to find
anything to gripe about in The Fall of Rome. There were only two cusswords in the whole
book, one was utilized by the author, and the other, an f-bomb, was apparently
in some graffiti scrawled on the wall of a brothel in Pompeii.
I’m not sure how one determines the Latin word for that bit of profanity, but I bet there’s an interesting anecdote there.
I only spotted one typo: mains/main, so the editing was superb. And be aware that Nick Holmes is an British
author, hence the book is written in English, not American. For us Yanks, that means you’ll see some strange spellings
that are not misspellings, and an odd idiom or two. The word “rooky” was new to me; I’m
still not quite sure if it’s British slang or simply their spelling of our
“rookie”.
Finally, if you’re of the “My Deity, right or wrong” persuasion, you’ll
probably not like the religious intolerance shown by the Christian leaders
here. Spiritual bigotry towards
pagans was a common practice, and if there weren't any unbelievers around to
persecute, Christians of the Nicene sect were more than willing to persecute Christians of the Arian sect. The net result was a further fragmentation of the Empire.
Overall, I found The Fall of Rome to be a fine follow-up to The Roman Revolution, and I’m eagerly waiting for the next book in the series to be published. Thus far I’m fascinated by Nick Holmes' presentation of the historical data concerning the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, and am impressed by the conclusions he draws therefrom.
9 Stars. Nick Holmes the author should not be confused with Nick Holmes the lead singer in the British gothic metal band Paradise Lost, whom I had the privilege of seeing in concert many years ago, as an opening act for the Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish. And a freaking great concert it was, too!
