History Books Review: Recent Episodes
Colin Sanders
I am a professional scientist, but in my spare time I read history books and I review them. I am mainly working through Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire at the moment, but will slip in a few other titbits from time to time. I normally get a show out every Thursday.
In this unscripted episode I speculate about why the Holy Roman Empire tends to be written out of European history, and suggest it is time to take it a bit more seriously.
In the Victorian world women were subservient to men. It sounds great in thery, but how did it actually work?
Belisarius had done well to capture Rome, but could he hold in the face of a determined counter attack by the Goths?
Belisarius invades Italy and captures Rome. But the Goths soon regroup and lay siege to him.
The basic thesis of the book is that post war governments have used the emergency war powers to issue state funded Propaganda to win support for their political objectives.
Justinian constructs one of the great buildings of history, the church of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. But what did he mean by it?
The early reign of Justinian and Theodora was challenged by an outbreak of rioting that nearly led to them fleeing the city. But Theodora was made of sterner stuff.
Justinian was responsible for one of the most remarkable bits of economic espionage in history, giving him an edge on his enemies and creating the basis of the lingerie industry at the same time.
Byzantine history starts in earnest with the end of the western Roman Empire, but events in Italy remain important.
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire is permeated from beginning to end with the atmosphere of the Enlightenment. But at the end of the third volume, he comes out and says directly what he believes in.
The extent of the continuity of institutions in Roman Gaul during and after the barbarian invasions is something that has been widely debated and will no doubt continue to be debated. But in Britain there is no argument. The Romans pulled out and their state was completely destroyed and replaced by invaders from the continent.
Towards the end of volume 3 of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Gibbon speculates about the reasons for its fall. And so do I
The last remnants of Roman authority are swept away by the Visigoths and the Franks, while Clovis the Frankish ruler establishes the basis for the kingdom of France.
The fall of the empire, perhaps paradoxically led to greater religious uniformity than had ever been achieved before or since. Paganism was eliminated. Heresy was repressed. Before long, the only people left to persecute were the Jews.
Simeon Styllites was a major celebrity in the fifth century, gathering attention from the public and the court alike. What does Gibbon make of him? I find out in a reading from the book.
One of the effects of the growth of Christianity into a mass religion was the development of monasticism. The early monks were rather different to later ones, but even so their fanaticism was evident early on and meets with Gibbon's most extreme disapproval.
The collapse of the Western Empire took around 80 years from the invasions at the beginning of the fifth century to the deposition of the last emperor in 476. It was a grim tale of failure and disaster, which got steadily worse as things went along. In this episode we track the last events in the empire's history.
Even after the sack of Rome by the Vandals, there was still some fight left in the western empire. A series of emperors tried to turn the tide back in favour of the Romans. They largely failed, and are largely forgotten by all but historians who specialise in the period. But it is instructive to remember that their failure was not inevitable.
Rome had been saved from Attila by luck. Genseric's Vandal kingdom in Africa should have been easy to deal with. In fact, it was the Vandals that did most to destroy the empire in the west.
Attila is surrounded and trapped by the Romans, but escapes or rather is allowed to escape. He soon regroups and resumes his persecution of the Western Empire by an invasion of Italy.
The invasion of Gaul by the forces of Attila the Hun is one of the great turning points in history, and although he was repulsed really marks the last major event in the history of the western half of the Roman Empire. This was the last time the Romans would defeat barbarians in a large set piece battle.
Faced with the arrogance of Attila, the court at Constantinople found some courage to face down the demands he continued to place on them. But this didn't alter his overwhelming military advantage. They might have found their backbone but still lost their empire had Attila not chosen to start his conquest of the Roman world in the West rather than the East.
The Romans having failed to beat the Huns on the field, resort to dirty tricks.It didn't work out well for them, but it did give us a superb account of what life was like in the camp of Attila.
The Huns swept into the Eastern empire and crushed the Romans, driving them back to their capital.
The Huns were formidable fighters whose skill and numbers meant they were always a potential threat to the empire. But it took leadership for that threat to manifest itself, and that leadership was provided by the famous Attila.
Genseric was one of the German barbarians who did the most to wreck the Roman Empire. Interestingly, he was very far from having the biggest bunch of barbarians to call on. In many ways his career was one of the most unlikely of the age. But it was deadly to the future of Rome in the West.
The death of the hapless Honorius finally allowed some people with genuine talent to reach the top rungs of Roman government. Normally this would have been a good thing, but their internal disputes created even more problems for an empire whose position was rapidly deteriorating.
Theodosius II was a hands off emperor leaving the running of the empire to officials and his sister. This was pretty much down to his lack of ability and ambition, but it was also the case that the imperial system made it hard for a monarch to make a mark.
St John Chrysostom has become an iconic figure in Eastern Christianity, and is very respected in the west as well. His undoubted talents and his perhaps more doubtful sincerity have given his reputation an easy ride, but he had rather more trouble while he was still alive.
Germans were good soldiers and many had risen to very high rank in the Roman army. This posed a risk, a big one. The career of Alaric in the west showed just how risky. But Constantinople came close to having its own Alaric in the form of Gainas, an ambitious Gothic general.
Gibbon is not keen on the Byzantine Empire, although some people have exaggerated how much he disliked it. But it was certainly a very different kind of empire to the one from which it developed. Europe was to draw its heritage mainly from the West, and despite its longevity the theocratic Byzantine state has not been one that has had many admirers.
After the disastrous invasion of Gaul by the barbarians in 405 the Roman Empire hung on in the North largely thanks to the activity of Constantine III. His position was precarious but he survived by quick wits and deft diplomacy. How long he could have kept this up is hard to tell. As it was he wasn't recognised by the official Roman Empire and they killed him.
Paul Kennedy's Rise and Fall of the Great Powers is a fascinating look under the bonnets at the engines of history since 1500.
Alaric had been joined in his invasion of Italy by his cousin Adolphus. It was he who took over leadership of the Goths. He was not interested in Alaric's African adventure and quickly concluded a peace treaty with the Romans and set off to Gaul to found a kingdom.
The death of Alaric prevented him from turning his short term success into something more enduring, but even so he had a remarkable effect on the empire.
Does the growth of huge airports and their associated infrastructure and hinterland mark a change in the world as profound as that which accompanied the growth of cities?
The Gothic chieftain Alaric returned to Italy where he undertook three sieges of Rome and his final one led to the sack of the city.
The elite Romans of the late empire were a privileged group whose wealth was astonishing. Meanwhile the masses lived off of handouts. None of them knew what was about to hit them.
Scottish independence is a big deal for me emotionally and for history as a whole. Here are my thoughts on the issue off the top of my head.
Feeble minded Honorius who was most happy feeding his chickens had been under the protection of Stilicho, and was married to his daughter. But he came to hate him and had him killed, just when the empire needed his skills most. On his own his advisors led him to one misjudgement after another.
Neglected by the rest of the empire and cut off from it by barbarians, the few remaining troops in Britain select a leader with an impressive name and set about conquering the western empire. By now, there is not much left to conquer.
Stilicho holds the Germans back in Italy, but the effort leads to Gaul being depleted of troops. In the winter of 406/407 barbarian tribes pour across the probably frozen Rhine breaching the empire's unmanned defences. The border will never be re-established.
Alaric was the first barbarian to operate in Italy itself for over hundred years. He had some successes but failed to capture anything or anyone of any significance. He ended up retreating after being paid a large sum of cash to make him go away, but he would be back to make an even bigger mark.
Tensions between east and west rise, with possession of Africa being the main bone of contention. Both halves of the empire are run by favourites rather than the emperor themselves. But the characters of these men, Rufinus in the east and Stilicho in the west are very different.
The Byzantine Empire has a well deserved reputation for intrigue,plots and corruption in high places. Much of its history is that of court politics and behind the scenes power struggles. None illustrates this as well as the story of the able, energetic and utterly self serving scoundrel Rufinus who for a time managed the affairs of the eastern empire with a view to his own selfish ends.
The destruction of paganism was one of the greatest acts of cultural vandalism in human history. A centuries old tradition that went back before recorded history was wiped out by the order of the emperor Theodosius. It would never be reversed.
Theodosius extinguishes the rebellion of Maximus to become the last man to rule a united Roman Empire that would be recognisable geographically to the emperor Augustus. But the nature of the empire had changed beyond all recognition.
St Ambrose was one of the most powerful figures in the declining empire of fourth century Rome. He was as much a politician as a churchman and did a great deal to promote the influence of Christianity in the empire.
The increasingly theocratic Roman Empire starts to take measures to stamp out heresy, and the first Roman citizen has his head removed because of the ideas it contains.
Gregory of Nazianzus started the process of redefining Christianity to make it more suitable to the commanding role it was coming to play in the Roman Empire. He also battled the heretics against the odds - but only won with outside support.
Theological wrangles were a big issue in the late Roman Empire. The orthodox form of Christianity did not immediately win everybody over, and for some time it was in danger of being replaced by what are now considered to be heretical views. This episode is a quick field guide to some of the alternative forms that Christianity might have taken.
The Nature of Things is a superb hymn to Epicurean philosophy that echoes a lot of what we believe today. It is stunning in fact, to find just how modern it is.
The early years of the reign of Gratian, who came to the throne at the age of 19 were very promising. He defeated the Lentienses at the battle of Colmar freeing Gaul from the threat of German invasion. He also solved the problem of who should rule the Eastern empire by the canny appointment of the very able Theodosius. If that was the measure of the youthful Gratian,things seemed set for a glorious reign as he matured. But it soon turned out that the early successes were down to good advice from the people placed around him by his father. They didn't reflect the character of Gratian himself.
With the emperor dead and two thirds of his army destroyed Adrianople was one of the major setbacks in Roman history. In fact it has often been regarded as one of the decisive battles in the decline and fall of the Roman empire. It was certainly regarded as extremely serious by the people at the time. Accounts of the battle and its aftermath take on apocalyptic tones, almost literally so in the case of Saint Jerome. Jerome is recognised as one of the founding fathers of both the Catholic and Orthodox churches. His writing on the issue comes with a rather biblical tone. He describes the entire area of the Balkans being depopulated, not just human beings but animals as well and even the fish in the rivers leaving nothing between the Earth and the sky but barren wasteland. Serious and harrowing stuff indeed.
Since the time of the first emperor. Augustus, there had been a rough equilibrium between the empire and the German tribes. The empire had been too big for the Germans to defeat, but too overextended to threaten their independence. But with the Huns now about to wipe out the Germans the position had changed. The equilibrium was wrecked.
The origin of the Huns is obscure. Gibbon traces it back to early first century when they were known as the Tanjou and lived on the borders of China just north of the Great Wall. This was not a coincidence. The Tanjou were a force to be reckoned with. They had put together a vast coalition of steppe peoples via diplomacy, war and straight forward intimidation. They had become powerful enough that they threatened to overthrow the ruling dynasty in China itself. The first wall built by the Chinese was a specific response to this threat.
Gibbon was not alone in his fascination for the Roman Empire, and in the following generation Napoleon Bonaparte expressed his interest rather more practically by attempting to effectively refound it with himself as the new emperor. So it is quite fitting that in one his first battles as emperor, at Eylau, he should find himself up against Cossack horsemen armed with bows and arrows. They probably looked much like the Huns, also steppe nomads, who had played such a big role in the destruction of the empire that he was trying to revive.
It would be poetic if they had played a major role in his defeat, but history doesn't work like that. They were only deployed by the Russians in desperation to cover their retreat. Armed with muskets, the French were able to cope with them with ease. It was a bit of a sad end of a tradition going back many centuries of mounted tribesmen inspiring fear and panic in their victims.
The emperor Valerian was a strong and effective emperor, marred by a massive temper. And in the event it was his temper that got him in the end.
From the fall of Carthage in 146 BC to the arrival of Christianity at the end of the 2nd Century nothing much happened in the Roman province of Africa. But although it was uneventful it was far from unimportant. The Romans used Africa as the name for the area around Carthage, modern day Tunisia, and the southern shore of the Mediterranean to its east - the northern part of modern day Libya. At that time it was highly productive and fertile. The bread dole that formed part of the bread and circuses that kept the population of Rome fed and entertained was largely from this region.
The absence of this area from the history of the early period of the empire is simply because the Romans had it under control. The population were busy producing the food that Rome needed and weren't allowed to do anything else. History starts again with the arrival of the 'Good News' and the resulting warfare between different Christian factions. Why were the Christians so violent? It is tempting to blame it on a sort of cosa nostra style battle between competing gangs of religious syndicates. To get control of the spiritual revenues they needed to wipe out their rivals. But maybe there was something a bit deeper behind it?
The governement of Roman Britain suffered a catastrophic collapse when someone stole the troops' wages. The deserted and pillaged the country and allowed the Scots, Picts and Saxons to raid far and wide. Theodosius led a major operation to restore order.
Gibbon must have understood the early empire well, but probably not the later one so much. I think this gives us a clue as to why the empire fell.
The wide waters of the Rhine separated the rich and peaceful provinces of Gaul from the violent barbarians of Germany. But it was no barrier. The warlike tribes were only prevented from helping themselves to the property of the empire's inhabitants by the Roman army.
Valentinian was a brutal soldier, but did have a soft spot deep down. He had a no nonsense approach to religion. His brother had a lot more trouble with religious dissension, particularly in Egypt.
Procopiuswho w as the cousin of Juian and the last person with any connection with the house of Constantine made a bid to take over the empire and very nearly succeeded.
Jovian's reign was promising but in the event was short lived. But it did mark the final establishment of Orthodox Christianity.
Jovian comes from nowhere to ascend the throne of the Roman Empire, then proceeds to make the first territorial concessions in hte empire's history. Julian is buried to widespread grief.
Julian the Apostate was the last pagan emperor of Rome. He didn't directly persecute Christians, but he had the most effective response to them of any of the emperors. Could he have turned the tide with a longer reign?
Julian invades the Persian Empire. Nobody knows why, but it was probably motivated by his dislike of the Christians.
Like a conversation with an educated, intelligent and erudite friend who refers frequently to his equally clever friends. It is an enjoyable experience and you learn a lot and feel better, and maybe a little cleverer. In a random and unpredictable world, I can think of no greater recommendation.
The Byzantine empire was finally ended in 1453 some eleven hundred years since Constantine moved the capital from Rome. For most of that time it had looked weak, often catastrophically so. It had been on its knees many times. Somehow it always managed to come through against the odds. Edward Luttwak's book goes a long way to explain how it managed it. If you are managing a declining superpower, this is a must read book.
During the Middle Ages the sophistication and size of China dwarfed anything in Europe or the Middle East and an impartial observer would no doubt have confidently predicted that it would be the Chinese who were destined to rule the world. But they had achieved this by default thanks to problems and instability at the other end of the huge Eurasian continent. Later it was to be the Chinese that succumbed to problems leaving the West to forge ahead. Today the situation is that both are stable enough for development to proceed. They are also very well aware of one another and interacting like never before. This is a new and unique situation in history. What will happen next? Morris can't and doesn't answer this directly. But what he does do is tell the story in enough detail to give an idea of where we are now. And it is quite a story. The economic history is used as the backbone of the book, but we get a lot of insight into how most of the time people are simply working to solve the problems they are faced with. We don't see the big picture on a day to day basis. You have to read a book like this to see that.
"Grant unto all men happiness, of which the sum and substance is the knowledge of the gods; and to the Roman people universally, first and foremost to wash away from themselves the stain of atheism, and in addition to this, grant them propitious Fortune, that shall assist them in governing the empire for many thousands of years to come! To myself grant for the fruit of my devotion to thee–-Truth in belief concerning the gods, the attainment of perfection in religious rites, and in all the undertakings which we attempt as regards warlike or military measures, valour coupled with good luck, and the termination of my life to be without pain, and happy in the good hope of a departure for your abodes!"
Imagine some people who had grown up and lived their entire lives chained to the wall of a cave. Their only view of the world comes from shadows cast into the cave. They would have some idea of what the world was like, but would be unable to fully experience and appreciate the full depth of the colours, the sounds and the smells of the world outside. They would have only the haziest notions of the motivations and passions of the people living there.
Alexandria was one of the major cities of the Roman empire, and one that would have appealed to Julian. It was founded by Alexander the Great, who was one of Julian's heroes. It was also the centre of a major pagan cult, that of Serapis. (If you are wondering who Serapis was, he was created by the Greek founders of Alexandria as an amalgam of Greek and Egyptian elements so as to appeal to both ethnic groups. Cynical manipulation of religion for political purposes has a long history.) And the intellectual achievements of the Alexandrians rivaled those of Athens. Basically it was his kind of place, or rather it would have been had it not also been an important centre of Christian thought as well.
Constantine's adoption of Christianity and the ramifications of it triggered off a full scale religious crisis in the empire that was to last for the whole of the fourth century. As Julian came to the throne Christians were already fighting other Christians and it was only a matter of time before other religions resorted to violence as well. What would Julian do about it? To everyone's surprise his first edict was one of tolerance. His approach looked good on paper. Everyone was free to follow whatever spiritual path that suited them. Full religious freedom was good news for most people on a personal level. Jews and pagans had a whole series of irksome restrictions lifted. The previously non-favoured brands of Christianity also were able to worship in freedom.
It is hard not to admire the way that the Jews have succeeded in maintaining their culture and identity for many thousands of years. This has been achieved in the face of some pretty big practical difficulties. They have rarely had the support of a state and have often been subject to some pretty severe persecutions.
For instance, when Julian became the last pagan to come to the throne they were going through one of their bad patches. The Christians had not that long ago broken away from the Jewish tradition and the two faiths had the kinds of issues that might be expected from a pair that had just been through a messy divorce. Prior to the rise of Christianity the Jews had fallen foul of several of the emperors as a result of a number of brave but not tremendously successful revolts. Hadrian had banned them from Jerusalem. The ban was still in force and on top of that Constantius had imposed extra taxes on them.
Not many leaders in history write books. Quite a few don't read books. Those that do put pen to paper rarely write anything of more than historical interest. But even among the small number that do stand up to scrutiny, Julian the Apostate's lengthy polemic 'Against the Galileans', his critique of the Christianity of his time, is a completely unique document. There really is nothing to compare it with.
Religion is often accused of causing most of the wars in history. This is hardly fair. People are quite capable of picking fights without any divine inspiration, even if religion is a handy justification to cover your true motives. And religious leaders sometimes take a role in solving problems, which evens up the balance sheet a bit. But the charge is not totally groundless. Religion itself can be the problem, and the religious trauma of the late Roman Empire is the textbook case.
Julian managed to get a lot done in his short life. It's a shame he didn't write a book on time management, I'd love to know how he was so productive, but he did write a lot. Its a shame that more of his writings haven't survived. They aren't as well written as the works of Caesar or Marcus Aurelius and his choice of subject matter isn't particularly compelling. But nonetheless you can still pick up his intelligence and perceptiveness. I get the feeling that he would have been pretty successful at anything to which he turned his mind. Getting to be the emperor of Rome was a bit of a lottery, but it was the kind of level that Julian was quite capable of handling.
In the late summer of 360 Julian marched across the Rhine near modern day Basel and out of the empire with a mere 3,000 hand picked volunteers. He penetrated the Black Forest just north of the Alps. Travelling light and crossing mountains and morasses by obscure and rarely used routes he was soon out of contact with the civilised world.
In an absolute monarchy much hangs on the personality of the man on top, and the events covered in this podcast are pretty much the result of the emperor's management style. Constantius seems to have been the kind of boss that corridor warriors thrive under. He was far from ineffective as an emperor and I'll be looking at his balance sheet a bit later, but he does seem to have had a bit of a weakness in delegation skills. Time and again we see him letting highly unsuitable people get into positions where they follow their own agendas rather than the empire's best interests. The way things played out with Julian illustrates this. The two men could well have formed a great team that could have done great things. But somehow the intrigues in the court of Constantius always stopped this happening.
Imagine a large chunk of the population suddenly adopted a strange set of beliefs that you couldn't understand, and that they themselves couldn't explain. Then imagine that they started arguing with each other over seemingly insignificant details. And they are very serious about it all. Deadly serious. They are prepared to die for their beliefs. And to kill for them. Then they get control of the state, and start fighting each other. Armies are deployed and full scale pitched battles fought over minor points of doctrine. This was the nightmare the pagans of the late Roman Empire had to face with the rise of Christianity.
Considering that the establishment of Christianity was the most lasting effect of his reign, it is a bit surprising that we don't know exactly when Constantine became a Christian.
Julian set off to Gaul with a guard of 300 men and without any idea of military matters. The plan was simply to give an air of concern to a neglected theatre. The Alemanni were well established and imperial forces were disorganised. The actual running of the campaign was in the hands of Sallust, an experienced general. Sallust and Julian, despite coming from totally different backgrounds, hit it off personally. Throughout his life Julian was to show himself capable of charming people, but this particular friendship was to be crucial because it got Julian into an active role in the army.
Blackadder: Where is the prisoner.
Baldrick: He's dead.
Blackadder: Dead? Are you sure?
Baldrick: Well I cut his head off. That usually does the trick.
In that episode of Blackadder 2, Edmund Blackadder had been put in charge of the Tower of London and had brought all the scheduled executions forward so he could enjoy a long weekend. Unfortunately Queen Elizabeth had changed her mind about killing one of her favourites. When the change of instructions got through, it was too late. With, needless to say, hilarious consequences.
When the sons of Constantine massacred all their close relatives, they spared a couple of their cousins. Gallus and Julian were too young to pose any immediate threat so they didn't have to be killed straight away. But as their parents had been killed something needed to be done with them, so they were held captive. Was there a long term plan for them? It is hard to say. Given that they had an empire to run, probably their captors forgot all about them. They were safely out of the picture and there were plenty of other things going on.
Constantius was the middle of the three sons Constantine had with Fausta. Of the three he was the one that showed the most promise.
Those who occasionally mention the education or talents of
Constantius, allow that he excelled in the gymnastic arts of leaping and
running that he was a dexterous archer, a skilful horseman, and a master
of all the different weapons used in the service either of the cavalry
or of the infantry.
Constantine died in Nicomedia in 337 after a short illness. He had lived to 64, a good age for the time. And he had one of the longest reigns in the history of the empire. His death came just after he had celebrated his thirtieth year as emperor, something only Augustus had previously achieved. It was fitting that he was buried in Constantinople, the city he founded.
If it weren't for Constantine it is quite likely that very few of us would have ever been inside a Christian Church. The city he founded bore his name up until the lifetime of my Grandfather. It is still the largest one in Europe. Ten more emperors were to bear the name Constantine, and when Greece became an independent nation in modern times several of its kings were also called Constantine which remains a popular name there and elsewhere. Aristocratic titles throughout Europe hark back to ranks in Constantine's army. So it is natural to be curious about what a man who had so much influence on history was really like.