But in fact, on the European continent, Rome alone has a long history of more than two thousand years, and has even become one of the few huge empires in human history that spanned the three continents of Asia, Africa and Europe.
As a brave and skilled general in the late Western Roman Empire, Stilicho not only helped the emperor fight across the country and provided a peaceful and stable development environment for Roman citizens, but also had certain political influence. opinion.
It is no exaggeration to say that Stilicho was the right-hand man of the Roman emperor and had a huge impact on the shaky political situation of the late Roman Empire.
For most historians, the Roman Empire is "the last noonday sun of Europe" - and not without reason. It was one of the most dazzling regimes in the West, flourishing culturally and economically. Second only to the Eastern Han Dynasty.
The history of Rome spans a long time, involving and spanning drastic changes in social situations, which to a certain extent also makes it more difficult to study Roman history.
Judging from the social, political, economic and cultural development of late Rome, although there are inevitable differences from early and middle history, its main characteristics are still "similarity and similarity".
As we all know, ancient Rome was a country with a very early origin of legal awareness. Among them, the enlightenment of legal thought starting from the Twelve Series of Laws, the earliest written legal work in history, had a direct and far-reaching impact on the social system, politics, economy and culture of Roman citizens.
According to the common view in ancient Rome, although only one member of a family had legal status, this "patriarch" was not entirely related to kinship - which is why Stilicho was regarded by the late emperor as As a powerful "regent".
In addition, due to the influence of politics and tradition, the Roman Empire did not have a clear inheritance system. In addition, the imperial succession system of ancient Rome was ambiguous, because the head of state of the Roman Empire was different from the naked and open monarchy in the East, but an autocratic monarchy that "although it did not enter the palace, it did exist."
It is precisely because of the guarantee of this political system that Stilicho had the legal reasons and power to be a regent to realize his political goals and ambitions, which naturally had an impact on the political changes in the later period of the Roman Empire. had a significant impact.
In its heyday, Rome was a country that attracted the respect and enthusiasm of other European countries. The narrow area of ??the European continent lacked the conditions for the development of agriculture. To a certain extent, this was rarely seen in ancient Europe or caused a shock to the world. The strong power, historical experience and strength of Rome will definitely make the European people cheer.
In the early days, the Roman Empire was known as "a poor little village from the Tiber River", but within a hundred years or so, it had become a powerful empire in Asia, Africa and Europe, which was A ruler who was not conducive to the hard work and good decisions of the Roman people.
Even in the later period of the Roman Empire, the legions were still effective, holding high the eagle flag and achieving victory, showing human history the charm of a huge empire, "still fighting despite the collapse of power."
Extraordinary prosperity, they paid attention to food from almost every continent and enjoyed it, and slaves from conquered countries served them. In addition to the abundant material conditions, the cultural achievements of Rome were also very bright, with various types of Books continue to work, and play a positive role in the development of social politics, economy, and culture, and the improvement of the country's comprehensive strength.
Throughout history, the final step in the demise of almost every regime is the defeat of a foreign country. But the main problem is that in the later period of the Western Roman Empire, that is, during Stilicho's life, he had many defeats with foreign barbarians.
As far as Stilicho's personal abilities and beliefs are concerned, he must be loyal to the Roman Empire and have relatively outstanding governance capabilities. But in the study of Roman history, Stilicho was questioned.
The reason is that the Roman Empire did not collapse to this extent before Stilicho came to power. As Stilicho held military power, administrative power and the basic power center of the Roman Empire, the once powerful Roman Empire gradually collapsed after he came to power. Of course, criticizing history is inevitable.
Objectively speaking, although the Roman Empire was vast, it was geographically dispersed, had diverse climates, and had harsh geographical conditions.
This structure, from the inside, posed a serious challenge to the rule of the Roman Empire, and from the outside, it was difficult to defend - this was also one of the reasons why the Romans liked to build walls and later overthrew the regime. Important reasons.
In addition, as the civilizational influence of the Roman Empire continued to develop and expand, the cultural level and social organization forms of other European barbarians also developed rapidly under its influence.
The Romanology book "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" once pointed out: "The decline of the Roman Empire, in addition to moral corruption and national divisions, was also inseparable from the rise of Christianity and the invasion of barbarians."
The Roman Empire spread across all continents and was scattered and difficult to manage. In addition to the country's own problems, the demise of the regime also symbolizes the natural law of survival of the fittest, which can be said to be historical progress.
Historical research on Stilicho shows that he did more good than harm to the Roman Empire, and with any luck, whoever framed the paper did a good job. The tragedy of the development of the Roman nation was actually an inevitable event in history.
Anyone who knows a little about history knows that the most profound impact on the historical process is often not a regime that seems to have thousands of troops, but the "seemingly empty" cultural achievements and policy concepts behind the regime.
"Political power considers needs as political services." The direct collapse of the Roman regime and subsequent strong development changed the political system management model of socioeconomic relations, cultural background and economic relations, social habits and historical records. Engraved ancient books are ancient Rome.
As one of the greatest legal works in human history, "The Law of the Twelve Tables" not only avoids damage to the interests of rulers at many levels, gives rulers the right to independent elections, but also strengthens To protect the material property and life rights of ordinary people.
As far as the development of legal thought is concerned, it not only promoted the development of social politics, economy, and culture at that time, but also helped stabilize people's hearts and enhance the cohesion of political forces, thereby achieving lasting peace and stability.
Roman law is different from ancient Chinese imperial power, which is autocratic and above the law. Its role is obviously much greater than imperial power. The main reason is that the two have huge differences in legal management methods and power systems.
To this day, the legal thought of the Roman Empire has become the cornerstone of European law. The rationality and pioneering spirit contained in ancient Roman art and literature have deeply influenced the values ????of Westerners.
It embodies the political characteristics and development concepts of the Roman regime, and can even be regarded as the conceptual source of modern democratic countries. All in all, the policies, administrative institutions, and ideological culture derived from the characteristic political system of the Roman Empire served it and played an important role in the development and acceleration of the cultural process in later generations.
First of all, the collapse of the Western Roman Empire had different impacts on the local area. For some areas where the Roman Empire did not have a high degree of rule, the Roman army left early and hardly interfered with its development pattern. Most of these areas just inherited some of the different legal ideas from the Roman Empire.
In the more Romanized areas of Italy, people's resistance to the new barbarian rulers was very strong. However, for the sake of the stability of the regime, the barbarian rulers adopted a policy of negotiation and took a step back to obtain long-term peace.
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Italy and other parts of Europe fell into the dark Middle Ages due to the weakness of the country and the expansion of the Pope. The Roman Empire had collapsed in political form.
But its profound cultural and religious influence still exists - from the Renaissance in the 15th century to today - with the rise of the new bourgeoisie, the people of Europe are holding high the banner of promoting Roman culture and restoring classical culture , to influence the church.
This promoted the development of science and technology at that time to a certain extent, and also laid a solid foundation for the subsequent development of the bourgeois world. The development of civilization in the late period after the fall of the Roman Empire was not only a change in the social organization system, but also the emergence and development of new classes.
The final fall of late Rome cannot be attributed simply to the incompetence of Stilicho or his government. The change of dynasties is an inevitable objective law since the concept of country was born.
To a certain extent, it can also promote the progress of human culture and improve production relations, because different national cultural constraints, such as geography, history, and ancient working people began spontaneous cultural exchanges. Cultural awareness is the earliest The first bud, the most powerful driving force for human progress.
After all, each theory has its advantages and disadvantages. The political situation in the late Roman Empire was not optimistic, and problems such as economic stagnation and backward production methods were beyond doubt.
But the values ??that the Roman Empire inspired for the Renaissance, the Enlightenment and all of humanity, not just in the Middle Ages, still shine brightly today