So... Ehhh... About civilizations, the rise and fall of...?

Question

I was puttering about on one of my long times favorite video games... Sid Meier's Civilization IV... and it got me to thinking about all the great civilizations that have come and go throughout our history... and it brought about this question...

What are the root causes of the eventual decline of every great civilization?

Are they usually particular to a given circumstance?

Or, are there certain roots causes that are common amongst most of these civs?

Answer 1

Civilizations exist by geologic consent...

Answer 2

Boo!

As Will Durant says

"A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself within."

i guess all great civilisations had a weakness, despite their greatness

Anyway you just reminded me of how i first got to know you here.

Answer 3

Greed.

Answer 4

One factor may be that the people who inherit it may

not appreciate the effort it took to build it, and not having

built it never learned the skills to hold it together. Also,

giants of history aren't guaranteed to every generation,

and there's no telling for sure which nation will produce

them at any given time.

Answer 5

Greed works, but so does time. What I mean is, in time, everything changes whether it's good or bad.

Answer 6

Personally I think that the root cause of the eventual decline of every great civilization is human nature itself....primarily man's need either individually or in a collective to control over people, property and/or ideals.

The power structures...what actual motivates those who have the power and those whom are oppressed by it.  Peace can indeed be more violent that war...though not as graphic as war, when peace comes from the actual or threat of persecution of others deemed unworthy, less worthy or unable to govern themselves by those that have the power (military, economic, religious, religious {worth double mention})...it will not stand for longer than those that oppress can enforce those dominions.

OR longer for than those dominions can fend off or conquer other men's dominions over the weaker or less able to defend themselves...BUT when the oppressed stand, the giant has indeed been awakened.

Good People hear me...we all know Abraham's Family IS a Very Dysfunctional ONE...indeed all human beings are Good Children...WE ARE ALL ONE!  The Human Race...is for fools...what are we racing to be human?  No, imho we are or should be racing to be humane human beings...BUT WE ALREADY ARE!!  Those that have never looked into their own heart or maybe have never looked into the eyes of an infant...may never know good...{{this breaks my heart...should it?  {{{{{{{{ evil ill will and evil deeds beget the same and worse {{  have Hope...find Love within and let if flow...can we feed our children but all children...not with greed, not with lust, not by economic oppression NOR HATE!  OWN your own Responsibilities and Duty to work for Good & Truth & Justice &....................liberty?  {{here, well that one is fubar at the moment{{in the name of fighting a word{{{the meaning is lost

...as too terror inflicted upon any is not good and blackhole to the soul, eye for an eye...blood for blood...it hard for any good soul to survive suffering or committing...but there is always hope

My Friends please beware the labyrinths...

GOD IS GOOD!!!

Christ is LIFE & LOVE the Holy Spirit!!!!

Faith is Hope...for all that we know and all that is written...no one knows all the answers nor all the questions for that matter...

Know & Own your Life find/give Love and above all else serve Good & to ALL!!

peace be to you and yours

Answer 7

Devaluation of the currency , political corruption , lack of patriotism and collapse of the armed forces . One other symptom religious hysteria .

Answer 8

It's different things but a common denominator would probably be a weakness of some sort.  Some civilizations collapse because of economic or moral corruption.  Others have collapsed because of disease introduced by outsiders or by being too trusting of outsiders.  The later two examples contributed to the fall of some of the great civilizations of the "New World" when Europeans arrived.

Answer 9

When a civilization or any group no longer serves the people that make it up; it is bound to fall.  When we hear the statements "This is the way we do things.  This is the way my father did it and his father before him and so on.  It has always served as well."  We might as well start preparing the funeral.  Civilizations can either be destroyed from within by the people not being served growing in number and strength to replace the current system. Or externally by others seeing the flaw and exploiting it for either positive or negative reasons.  Warning signs for the fall of a civilization are easy to spot.  They are control of news and media,  imprisonment or death of dissidents, and a rise in theocracy no matter how subtle.

Answer 10

Civilizations thrive only when they have the ability to exploit others to supply what is needed! When they have to rely upon themselves for material resources, and manpower they always fail. The populations will grow and make increased demands until you reach the limits and then must seek else where to resupply. When trade fails to work then military action always takes place. As long as we are limited to residing on this planet alone we will have this situation. We cannot achieve a balanced world unless we can accept that the population must be limited as well! Our only hope is that we can reach out to other worlds before we reach the saturation point!