• Rom [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    2 months ago

    Pretty sure there was a point in history when betting against the Roman Empire was a solid investment idk I’m not a historian

    • ourtimewillcome [any]@hexbear.net
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      2 months ago

      which one?

      the unified roman empire lasted till 395 AD, the western either till 476 or 480, depending on your views regarding iulius nepos and the eastern till 1453.

      later on, several powers claimed to be the successors of either the western or eastern ones including, but not limited to, the carolingians (800-887) and the hre (962-1806) in the west and the russians (1453 to 1917) and ottomans (1453 to 1922) in the east.

      • LeeeroooyJeeenkiiins [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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        2 months ago

        depending on your views regarding iulius nepos and the eastern till 1453.

        If you don’t count all the times it fell apart before coming back as an end, there wasn’t much of Eastern Rome left when the crusaders took the Latin empire and Nicaea (just saying it’s a continuation doesn’t mean it is imo)

        • ourtimewillcome [any]@hexbear.net
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          2 months ago

          i mean, this is pretty much true for the west as well. towards the end, the western emperors wielded negligible controll over their de jure posessions and odoacers coup brought little qualitative change for the population, regnum italiae or not. and charlemagne three centuries later and his successors were essentially just larping, lets be honest.

          besides, all this continuation and succession nonsense was really just propaganda and intellectual masturbation by the various ruling classes trying to justify their rule.

  • Wertheimer [any]@hexbear.net
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    2 months ago

    Nately could scarcely believe his ears. He had never heard such shocking blasphemies before, and he wondered with instinctive logic why the why G-men did not appear to lock the traitorous old man up. “America is not going to be destroyed!” he shouted passionately.

    “Never?” prodded the old man softly.

    “Well…” Nately faltered.

    The old man laughed indulgently, holding in check a deeper, more explosive delight. His goading remained gentle. “Rome was destroyed, Greece was destroyed, Persia was destroyed, Spain was destroyed. All great countries are destroyed. Why not yours? How much longer do you really think your own country will last? Forever? Keep in mind that the earth itself is destined to be destroyed by the sun in twenty-five million years or so."

    Nately squirmed uncomfortably. “Well, forever is a long time, I guess.”

    “A million years?” persisted the old man with keen, sadistic zest. “A half million? The frog is almost five hundred million years old. Could you really say with much certainty that America, with all its strength and prosperity, with its fighting man that is second to none, and with its standard of living that is the highest in the world, will last as long as the… frog?”

    (Catch-22)

  • Utter_Karate [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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    2 months ago

    The comparison between betting against the US and betting against the Roman Empire ends up surprisingly apt because they grossly miscounted by about the same amount on both sides of the equals sign.