Rome - Byzantine Economic History (Volumes I and II)

Author: Li Yining
Publisher:
Publishing Time: Not available
Features: This book discusses the socio-economic changes during the period from the height of the Roman Republic to the fall of the Byzantine Empire and presents a series of the author's viewpoints. These include: the conflict and struggle between small landowners and large landowners are the main thread running through Roman socio-economic life; the prosperity of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire relied on the support of rural self-sufficient farmers and urban craftsmen and merchants, but the late Roman Empire severely struck and deprived these farmers and craftsmen and merchants, ultimately leading to the fall of the Western Roman Empire; after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire (Eastern Roman Empire) was able to continue to exist and even experience a period of revival, not only because the eastern regions of the Roman Empire had remained relatively stable but also because the government gradually adjusted its economic policies starting from the 7th century; the Byzantine Empire ultimately could not escape its fate of collapse, just as it had destroyed the foundation on which it relied for survival, causing small landowners in the countryside and craftsmen and merchants in the cities to go bankrupt or flee one after another, resulting in the exhaustion of both military resources and tax revenue. The Ottoman Empire destroyed the Byzantine Empire under these circumstances.