Peter Heather

Fields of wheat, as far as I can see.

Oh, yes.

And beautiful gardens and lovely temperatures.

The Atlas Mountains mean there's plenty of rainfall, enough rainfall to generate really prosperous agriculture.

And it's a beautiful place to live.

And more than that, it is the jewel in the crown because there are no enemies there.

You know, Berbers raid from the desert occasionally, but they're not a major enemy.

You've never had to have a large military establishment there.

It doesn't cost the empire a lot, and it contributes a huge amount.

Not anymore, it doesn't.

No, it does not.

Yes.

The best bit is really Tunisia and Western Algeria, and the vandals seize that in 439.

And that is another real moment of crisis because a great flow of revenues is cut off.

And the central army, which is what keeps the empire in being, relies on that flow of revenues.

So the process, at least as I understand it, that brings about the imperial unraveling is the loss of tax base, which then leads to the weakening of the military forces at the center until the center is no longer the center.

It doesn't have that preponderance of force anymore.

It staggers on for about two political generations after... So about 15 minutes.

Well, yes, in Roman terms, yes.

Because they do realise that the way to fight back is actually to retake North Africa.