Episode 12 - Structural Failures That Doom Civilizations

This episode explores the structural fragility of civilizations, arguing that long-term internal decay and division often set the stage for external collapse. The fall of Constantinople serves as a prime example, where a politically and religiously fractured Byzantine state, paralyzed by internal debates over union with Rome, was easily overcome by the agile Ottoman Empire. Adding to this paralysis was the self-interest of supposed Christian allies, like Genoa and Venice, who prioritized old financial debts and economic rivalries over the city's survival. The conquest of the Aztec Empire further illustrates this, showing how a highly sophisticated, ritualized civilization—with immense historical depth—was undone by its own cultural rigidity when faced with the Spanish, an enemy operating outside their established rules of sacred warfare.

Internal decay also contributed to the collapse of the Byzantine Empire over centuries, primarily through the destruction of the loyal, land-holding thematic armies and a disastrous reliance on costly, disloyal foreign mercenaries. Similarly, the decay of the Roman Republic stemmed from deep political tensions, as the self-serving rhetoric of the senatorial elite alienated the pragmatic common populace, who saw "liberty" as an alibi for elite self-interest. These internal weaknesses led to a political fragility that was not only exploited by military forces but also by institutionalized banditry, where mercenary companies professionalized extortion rackets and were often paid off by local rulers, further exposing the state's failure to provide security.

Jumping forward, this pattern of internal division was weaponized in the US industrial sphere, where employers actively used newly imported ethnic labor groups to fuel internal conflict, breaking worker solidarity to maintain power. The most devastating forms of self-perpetuating destruction were seen in the 20th-century ideological struggles, which rejected the optimism of the Enlightenment and adopted a distorted Darwinian view that violent conflict was the necessary, inevitable engine of history. Today, the question remains whether modern societies are equipped to recognize new forms of structural fragility, especially if current threats, like surveillance capitalism, are cloaked in the familiar language of technology and progress.