Edward Gibbon

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   A huge empire usually does not fall from one single blow, but from a slow buildup of internal problems — corruption, overspending, weak leaders.

   The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire · 1776

   Gibbon analyzed hundreds of years of Roman history and showed the decline came gradually, not suddenly. The army grew expensive to maintain, leaders changed too often, and the borders became harder to defend. Outside attacks were, in fact, the final step of a much older internal weakness.

   “The decline of Rome was the natural and inevitable effect of immoderate greatness.”

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