Will we share the the fate of Rome?

We’ve always been Roman buffs at LSS. But the purpose of studying History is to draw lessons from it that might help today. And Sam Webb of the Independent has uncovered a story that does exactly that. Everyone agrees that the mass invasions by Attila and his Hun followers were the final nail in the coffin for the Western Empire. But what caused them? The answer seems to be sudden climate change on the steppes, turning herdsmen into predatory raiders, desperate to feed their families. [1] [2]

Before you yawn and say “all a very long time ago” look at these stats. According to the UNHCR, on average 21.5 million people a year have been displaced by climate change since 2008. By 2050 1.2 billion people will be displaced. At which point our old friend Dave Watford from the Dog and Duck pops up to shout “we’ll yuze the army ter keep ’em AHT!” Sorry, Dave. That’s what the Romans tried all through the fourth century. In the end, they’ll just come and take it. That’s why Attila’s name is a byword to this day.

thanks to P Seymour

[1]https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/huns-rome-climate-wars-un-sudan-b2245981.html

this is much better written than most academic papers, so we thought you’d like a chance

[2]https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-roman-archaeology/article/role-of-drought-during-the-hunnic-incursions-into-centraleast-europe-in-the-4th-and-5th-c-ce/C036810C421F7D

For further reading we strongly recommend The Fate of Rome by Kyle Harper Princeton UP 2017

#romans #huns #climate change #global warming #migration #immigration