I'll text you later http://xxx-xxxxx.in.net/ xxx The various contenders for imperial power did not have anything like the tax base of the Romans; they depended on continual expansion to reward their followers and when they hit the limits of expansion they imploded. Empires that did flourish for a time had an effect beyond their frontiers which proved fatal to their longevity. “Over the long term,” Heather argues, “and we are talking centuries of contact – Roman and Frankish imperialism… played a central if indirect role in constructing the peripheral powers which would eventually blunt their imperial spears… The aggregate strategic effect could not have been more profound.” This is the story of the birth of Europe, with its profusion of competitive states.