Originally Posted by
Refugee
The op implies the reason for Rome’s collapse was solely financial.
Again, there is no such thing as a Western Empire. There was a Roman Empire (Italy), The USSR could be classed as an Empire (Russia), Hitler tried to create an Empire (Germany). If we compare Byzantine to the Roman Empire and it had some similarities, the one thing missing is the need for continual conquest and wealth to keep it all going. Had Constantine behaved as the earlier Roman Empire had done, the Byzantine Empire would have collapsed a lot sooner.
Just as an aside, you see similarities between the Roman Empire and America. Over reach, overspend, continual wars, internal social divides and external challenges. All Empires, just like industrial revolutions and attempts to conquest by force eventually decline and end.