Political structures and institutions—the bedrock of the systems that underpin our world and society—aren’t a given. They can and do evolve and strengthen, or, alternatively, crumble into nothingness. That’s one of many reasons the fall of the Roman Empire is a valuable example for us to bear in mind: All things are transitory. Nothing is destined to last forever, no matter how solid it may seem, not even an empire that had stood for half a millennium or more.
As the Roman Empire fell apart over the course of the fifth century, new political units—the barbarian kingdoms—rose up in what had once been its provinces. A patchwork of tiny territories ruled by native Romano-British aristocrats and Anglo-Saxon migrants and their descendants covered the island of Britain, while Visigoths, Franks, and Burgundians controlled present-day France. Spain had the Sueves in the distant, bleak northwest and the Visigoths in most of the rest of the peninsula. The Ostrogoths controlled a prosperous, resurgent Italy and the Vandals owned the rich North African coast from a kingdom centered around Carthage.
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