Can anthing make a difference?

 

The collapse of the Roman Empire in the West has fascinated me. Especially lately, as I've found a YouTube channel that covers the entirety of Roman history.

There was something on that channel that I found today that fits in with what I think about a particular historical event. Not everything that this guy does follows what I think, but this does. It was about the sack of Rome in 410 AD. It was completely unnecessary and avoidable.

Basically, as the story goes, if Emperor Honorius would have just given the barbarians what they wanted, it would have been a good deal for the Empire. Instead of doing that, he had his best, most loyal commander assassinated. At the same time, the barbarian king Alaric was negotiating to get a place within the Empire for himself and his people. If Honorius had granted that, instead of having Alaric sacking Rome, he would have had an ally in the North. He killed off his right hand man, Stilicho, and it was all so unnecessary.

Would this have staved off collapse? Probably not, but it sure didn't help. In this case, it was Alaric who sacked Rome; and if he was far away, in the North as requested, he couldn't have done that.

There were plenty of problems, and this wasn't the key thing. Even at this point, there could have been a recovery. Rome had crises before. But the fundamental problems remained, and this failure to address them was one reason the Empire in the West collapsed.

There are those who look at this and think that it was all inevitable. But this one thing might have been avoided. If one thing could have been avoided, then perhaps a lot more could have been avoided as well.

History can turn on the decisions of leaders at critical times. I guess that is what I'm theorizing here. A good decision at the right time can make all the difference. The fate of nations always seems to rely upon just a few of those that are in the positions of power.

I think about our modern times, and ask what can be done to affect the course of history? Maybe there's nothing. Things will follow their due course, and there's not a damned thing you can do about it. Some jerk in a high position may do something really stupid, and it will ruin everything for everybody. What can you do? Maybe nothing.