So I'm here with another episode of The History and Plug podcast.

It took a little more than a single generation for the centuries-old Roman Empire to fall in the West.

In those decades in the early 5th century, while Christians and pagans, legions and barbarians, generals and politicians squabbled over dwindling scraps of power, two men, who were former comrades on the battlefield, rose a prominence on opposite sides of the great game of empire. Roman general, Flavius Delicho, the man behind the Roman throne, dedicated himself to restoring imperial glory in the West, but he was constantly battling against Alaric, King of the Goths, who wanted to be a friend of Rome, but was betrayed by it, and given no choice but to become its enemy. The two fought each other to a standstill, but they overcame their differences to save the empire from enemies on all side. And when Stilichow fell, Alaric took vengeance on Rome, sacking it in 410, triggering the ultimate downfall of the Western Empire. To look in the details of how and why Rome fell in the West,

when speaking to Don Holloway in this rebroadcast episode, he's the author of the book

at the Gates of Rome, The Fall of the Eternal City, 8.4.10. I hope we enjoyed this discussion.

And one more thing before we get started with this episode, a quick break for a word from our sponsors.

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Before we look at the fall of the Roman military and the Roman Empire, let's look at its height.

And there are all sorts of wonderful quotes about it, especially from Edward Gibbon. And I looked up a couple of these before we started.

He said about soldiers that it was an inflexible

maxim of Roman discipline that a good soldier should dread his own officers far more than the

enemy, or that the terror of the Roman arms added weight and dignity to the moderation of the

emperors. They preserved peace by a constant preparation for war. So Rome is going to face challenges in the

5th century that it can't overcome, but these challenges always existed throughout its history.

The barbarians on the outside of the empire, insimulating conquered peoples. What did Rome do

at its height with its military, with its government that made it successful when it wasn't successful

in later centuries? Well, the assimilation part has a lot to do with. As Rome was reaching its

ultimate extent, they were bringing, you know, when they would conquer people, they would

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