The empire's biggest problem was that it never definitively settled the issue of succession.
All emperors were either usurpers or they had acquired their title to the throne by descent from or adoption by a usurper.
Thus any successful soldier had inherently as good a title as any other, and for that matter as good a potential title as the guy on the throne.
This led emperors to, understandably, be nervous about successful soldiers and kill them on a regular basis. Which led some good generals to revolt in self-defense who might otherwise have been perfectly content to remain loyal.
Contrast this with the French or Ottoman empires, where no general, no matter how successful, had any hope of gaining the throne by revolt. Thus he could remain loyal without worry of being executed for winning battles.
Hereditary succession to absolute power has its own problems, but probably fewer than the constant succession and civil wars of the Romans and Byzantines.
Wish I had time to read the book. Sounds more like a script than a history.
This has a familiar ring, doesn’t it?
correction: “204 AD” should be “244 AD”
The New Chronologists would say that human history is something like 1500 years old at most. Past historical events just get re-told and are assumed to be new and separate events. I think they would point to the Trojan War (1100 BC) and the Crusades (1100-1300 AD) as the same event, just told differently and assumed to be separate events.
I find it mildly amusing that the Roman Empire reached a point of mixed power and decline when The Arab became emperor. A New Chronologist might almost argue that Barack Obama and Philip the Arab are exectly the same man and that the tale of his ascension is just being re-told in a different way.
Crackpot theory to be sure, but the world sure is a funny place.
My pet economic theory is that by the time of Teddy Roosevelt’s progressive movement America had built up a massive treasury of wealth and resources. From that time until today we’ve added very little to the storehouse of wealth, but have taken a lot out. We’re living off the principle and not the profit. Each successive regulation and bureaucrat kills the innovation and the destruction of the old regime, now proven useless by said innovation. If we had today’s regulatory regime during TR presidency you’d still be riding a horse (for safety and sustainability). That’s what kills empires - they lose their will to win through merit and politics trumps proficiency.