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Article: The fall of the Roman Empire: the military explanation.
- Article from:
- National Review
- Article date:
- June 19, 1987
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1987 National Review, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The Fall of the Roman Empire:
The Military Explanation
by Arther Ferrill(Thames and Hudson, 192 pp., $22.50)
IT IS A shame that our children arenot taught classical history any more (being subjected instead to something called "social studies'), because if they were, they would learn many important lessons. Among them, that progress is not inevitable.
Unlike most people before or since, untilvery recent times, the inhabitants of the Roman Empire had ample supplies of fresh water for drinking and bathing, often transported hundreds of miles in the famous systems of aqueducts. The reader should not pass lightly over the word ...