Rome encountered this issue many times but it did inevitably solve it in the Eastern Empire by allowing people to adopt someone and declare them their successor if they lacked a son or daughter that was not up to the task in their opinion. As such they could groom anyone they wanted to be their successor, not just their children.
That empire lasted until the 1400s, only falling because it was crippled by the 4th crusade, and only failing to retake the west because of the Justinian Plagued that lasted for several hundred years. Once the plague was over, Rome had the Muslims to deal with, and as I said above, were eventually backstabbed in the 4th crusade.
The plague was half the reason why he couldn’t retake Italy. Justinian needed to send more troops, plus some blunders gave the Ostrogoths the will to launch a counter attack. They could’ve easily retaken Italy and Illyria before the plague hit.
There was also the issue of that major volcanic eruption that shifted the climate in Europe for several hundred years making it harder to grow crops. (Which I hypothesize also gave rise to the Nobility hunting games in Europe)
Some believe that a lot of apocalypse stories, particularly Norse Fimbulwinter is actually based on that event.
I’ve heard of that too but the more immediate causes where Belisarius’ lack of troops+mundus losing a battle and dying after his sons died in a victorious battle. This allowed the goths to reorganize and retake most of Italy. Then the plague hit. Which screwed everything up even more. This caused the war to last 20 years and ruined Italy for about 500+ years.
4 th Crusade is an eternal stain on Christendom. However the Battle of Manzikert set the decline and fall in motion. Emperor Romanus Diogenes went to fight Alp Arslan, a Seljuk, and was abandoned in the thick of fighting by generals loyal to members of the Court and Anatolian Military Aristocracy. Think Bureaucracy and Military Intelligence abandoning their Commander in Chief to their most hated foe. He had tried to curb the Court's influence and introduce reform to help the small land owning class (bulk of troops, food, taxes) against the wealthy military Aristocracy. From there Central Turkey (manpower, taxes, food) was lost and not even the Comnenus revival could save it.
Rome encountered this issue many times but it did inevitably solve it in the Eastern Empire by allowing people to adopt someone and declare them their successor if they lacked a son or daughter that was not up to the task in their opinion. As such they could groom anyone they wanted to be their successor, not just their children.
That empire lasted until the 1400s, only falling because it was crippled by the 4th crusade, and only failing to retake the west because of the Justinian Plagued that lasted for several hundred years. Once the plague was over, Rome had the Muslims to deal with, and as I said above, were eventually backstabbed in the 4th crusade.
The plague was half the reason why he couldn’t retake Italy. Justinian needed to send more troops, plus some blunders gave the Ostrogoths the will to launch a counter attack. They could’ve easily retaken Italy and Illyria before the plague hit.
There was also the issue of that major volcanic eruption that shifted the climate in Europe for several hundred years making it harder to grow crops. (Which I hypothesize also gave rise to the Nobility hunting games in Europe)
Some believe that a lot of apocalypse stories, particularly Norse Fimbulwinter is actually based on that event.
I’ve heard of that too but the more immediate causes where Belisarius’ lack of troops+mundus losing a battle and dying after his sons died in a victorious battle. This allowed the goths to reorganize and retake most of Italy. Then the plague hit. Which screwed everything up even more. This caused the war to last 20 years and ruined Italy for about 500+ years.
4 th Crusade is an eternal stain on Christendom. However the Battle of Manzikert set the decline and fall in motion. Emperor Romanus Diogenes went to fight Alp Arslan, a Seljuk, and was abandoned in the thick of fighting by generals loyal to members of the Court and Anatolian Military Aristocracy. Think Bureaucracy and Military Intelligence abandoning their Commander in Chief to their most hated foe. He had tried to curb the Court's influence and introduce reform to help the small land owning class (bulk of troops, food, taxes) against the wealthy military Aristocracy. From there Central Turkey (manpower, taxes, food) was lost and not even the Comnenus revival could save it.