One explanation for Roman imperial decline links the absence of peer threats to pressure for cheaper government. Short-term savings weakened the reliability of the armies. At times, soldiers went unpaid. When a peer threat appeared, the empire could find that its forces lacked the equipment, training or reliability needed to meet it. NATO's experience after the Cold War supplies a brief modern analogy for the danger of reducing military readiness when a major threat seems absent.
Chapter · 2:16-3:01
Imperial cost cutting and military reliability
A proposed explanation for Roman decline connects imperial cost cutting with unreliable armies when peer threats returned. NATO after the Cold War supplies a brief modern analogy.