there is a reason eastern rome survived

and its because of the balkan shield

to keep the goths and alans out

visigoths raided balkans but the byzantines could always retreat to constantiople

That was circumstantial

if it wasn't for their defenses they would've succumbed as well

yeah thats what I'm saying

but the byzantines had tons of foreign fighters as well

which is a tradition that went well into the high middle ages

here is a great song

https://youtu.be/1x-5ZkTMyMc

This was centuries afterwards

after the fall of rome

the Greeks were fairly integrated into roman culture

and thus they clung onto it

varagians were like 900s to 1200s or 1300s

but the point is they were foreign fighters

and it didnt cause them any problems

was quite a benefit actually

They were influenced by money

they had no real reason to care for the stability of the state

they had no connection to the empire

other than a contract

yet they sustained it until the crusades destroyed it

the byzantine empire that is

They weren't truly the roman empire

they were just a bastard offspring

the real empire, the real thing died in the 400s

yes but my point is that its not fair to just say foreign fighters (like roman allae) were the reason for rome's downfall

it was that combined with the circumstance of a mass migration and woefully ill prepared geography to repell it

Yep

Culture clash

two words

sums that whole thing up

and that is what delivered the blow

Multiculturalism is a culture clash

albeit more subtly

you know rome is the oldest state in world history

but sometimses it can be extreme

except for like switzerland I guess

oldest large power