Uploaded February 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
Learning about the end of the Western Roman Empire, in the ffith and sixth centuries, means that the situation of the Late Roman Army has to be tackled eventually--how could the famous Roman military allow the Roman Empire to fall? A popular theory, especially online, is that the Late Roman Army was disloyal to the Roman state, because it recruited too many non-Romans, that is, that it recruited too many barbarian foriegners. But is this really the case? This made a splash some time ago when Tucker Carlson and others brought it up, but what do historians of the Late Roman Empire think?
Learning about the end of the Western Roman Empire, in the ffith and sixth centuries, means that the situation of the Late Roman Army has to be tackled eventually--how could the famous Roman military allow the Roman Empire to fall? A popular theory, especially online, is that the Late Roman Army was disloyal to the Roman state, because it recruited too many non-Romans, that is, that it recruited too many barbarian foriegners. But is this really the case? This made a splash some time ago when Tucker Carlson and others brought it up, but what do historians of the Late Roman Empire think?
