Lecture 4
Explaining the Fall
from Different
Perspectives
• Internal moral causes
• External causes (Barbarians)
• Economical causes
• Environmental causes
HC4
, Studying General
Decline of Societies
Contemporary Studies on
Why Empire/Societies End
Why do societies collapse in the first place? Why do some survive, and why do some not?
J. Diamond looks at several societies and argues that it has to do with a choice, namely a
society’s willingness to adapt. Societies that are not willing to adapt, will fall
For example: We know the Vikings settled in Greenland at some point. However, evidence suggests they could not
sustain themselves and disappeared again. Jared Diamond argues this is because the Vikings that settled there were
unwilling to change their ways, to try and learn from- and live like the local Inuit had survived there for centuries.
Maybe it was because the Vikings looked down on these people who hunted only sea-creatures. Maybe they
thought it not manly to not eat meat anymore. So, because the Vikings wanted to keep to their own old ways, they
took farm animals with them to Greenland. However, in the long term having farm animals did not work as well in
Greenland as the ways of living the Inuit had ! so, the Vikings disappeared from Greenland again (died out), while
the intuit survived.
The unwillingness to adapt meant the end of the Vikings in Greenland.
P.S. Jared Diamond doesn’t talk about Rome in this book.
J.A. Tainter has a different argument, saying, as societies grow, they grow more
complex; this complexity causing its eventual collapse – He defines ‘collapse’ as
‘involuntary disappearance of complexity from society’
For example: Tainter takes Rome as an example: Rome began as a city-state. LATER, they GREW into an
empire. But a big empire requires more complexities, such as: more resources; a big complicated
infrastructure; huge army (= biggest pressure on the treasure chest); a complex bureaucracy system; etc.
Because of this complexity, Rome eventually collapses ! the complexity disappearing from society
again.
HC4
Explaining the Fall
from Different
Perspectives
• Internal moral causes
• External causes (Barbarians)
• Economical causes
• Environmental causes
HC4
, Studying General
Decline of Societies
Contemporary Studies on
Why Empire/Societies End
Why do societies collapse in the first place? Why do some survive, and why do some not?
J. Diamond looks at several societies and argues that it has to do with a choice, namely a
society’s willingness to adapt. Societies that are not willing to adapt, will fall
For example: We know the Vikings settled in Greenland at some point. However, evidence suggests they could not
sustain themselves and disappeared again. Jared Diamond argues this is because the Vikings that settled there were
unwilling to change their ways, to try and learn from- and live like the local Inuit had survived there for centuries.
Maybe it was because the Vikings looked down on these people who hunted only sea-creatures. Maybe they
thought it not manly to not eat meat anymore. So, because the Vikings wanted to keep to their own old ways, they
took farm animals with them to Greenland. However, in the long term having farm animals did not work as well in
Greenland as the ways of living the Inuit had ! so, the Vikings disappeared from Greenland again (died out), while
the intuit survived.
The unwillingness to adapt meant the end of the Vikings in Greenland.
P.S. Jared Diamond doesn’t talk about Rome in this book.
J.A. Tainter has a different argument, saying, as societies grow, they grow more
complex; this complexity causing its eventual collapse – He defines ‘collapse’ as
‘involuntary disappearance of complexity from society’
For example: Tainter takes Rome as an example: Rome began as a city-state. LATER, they GREW into an
empire. But a big empire requires more complexities, such as: more resources; a big complicated
infrastructure; huge army (= biggest pressure on the treasure chest); a complex bureaucracy system; etc.
Because of this complexity, Rome eventually collapses ! the complexity disappearing from society
again.
HC4
