The fall of the Roman Empire is one of the great stories in all of history. Wars, political turmoil, barbarian invasions, moral decay, and economic decline are often some of the reasons given as the chief causes of the fall of the western empire in 476 AD. However, historian Kyle Harper would argue that climate and disease play a pivotal role in the story as well. Climate change seems to be a difficult topic to discuss in the modern day, so perhaps taking a look at the history of climate change during one of...
The fall of the Roman Empire is one of the great stories in all of history. Wars, political turmoil, barbarian invasions, moral decay, and economic decline are often some of the reasons given as the chief causes of the fall of the western empire in 476 AD. However, historian Kyle Harper would argue that climate and disease play a pivotal role in the story as well. Climate change seems to be a difficult topic to discuss in the modern day, so perhaps taking a look at the history of climate change during one of the key moments in human history will prove useful.
This is the first part in a four part series on how climate change impacted the fall of the Roman Empire in significant ways. It discusses how climate and human interactions play off of each other, and how the Roman Empire during the Pax Romana benefited from the stability of the Roman Climate Optimum. This series of episodes is based in large part on Kyle Harper's recent book "The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease and the End of an Empire."
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