Like clockwork, every time antifa, Black Lives Matter, or some related group, tears down a monument to men far greater than they, someone will compare them to barbarians, namely the barbarians that destroyed the Roman Empire. Leaving aside the more technical definition of someone who spoke neither Greek or Latin, it presents a striking image, one that has been ingrained in the Western imagination for over 1,500 years – that of a dirty, uncouth, and uncivilized person with great hostility to high culture. It was the barbarians that tore down the first great European empire that was able to survive for more than the lifetime of a single ruler and sent Western Europe into a tailspin which would take centuries to recover.
The reasons for the fall of Rome are incredibly complex, and cannot be attributed to a single reason such as a bunch of Germanic tribes crossing the Rhine and Alps. It could be the subject of its own book, let alone article, so, suffice to say, I am not going to labor on why Rome fell. What I do want to focus on is what the historic barbarians did versus what the likes of antifa, BLM, and others are doing. Doing so will show that it is grossly unfair- to barbarians – to compare the two groups.
Yes, it is true that barbarian invaders destroyed the Roman Empire, including many of its monuments. They destroyed the system of trade that connected Western Europe, sending Europe into a decline that it took centuries to recover from. But, they also did something else. Far from being a mere destructive force, barbarian kings looked at the ruins of the Roman Empire and were inspired. They saw what had clearly been a great civilization and dreamed that one day they, or perhaps one of their sons, would be the man to recreate, or perhaps even exceed, the glory of Rome. And from that dream, they set out to do exactly that.
Remember, they adopted the Latin language as there own until it eventually split off, thanks largely to poor communications between different parts of the former Roman Empire, into languages such as French, Spanish, and Italian. They adopted the Roman legal system as their own. More than just adopting the Roman language and legal system as their own, they also conquered territory hoping that they may be on their way to becoming the next Caesar. Such an impulse spread throughout Europe, so even the rulers of nations that had never been part of the Roman Empire shared this same vision – again, conquering in the hopes of one day founding a nation that would be remembered like Rome, building their cities in hopes of recapturing the beauty of Rome, or even stylizing themselves as Caesar, Kaiser, or Tsar.
From the fall of Rome to World War II, all of European history is full of men achieving great things, at least in part, because they were inspired by what Rome had done. It is this same drive that allowed Europe to spread its culture all over the world, eradicating disease, ending famine as a fact of life, stopping abhorrent cultural practices, and spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is something incredible and no other civilization can claim these accomplishments, and while there were multiple factors why those things happened, the shadow of Rome was a very important one.
Now, considering all that, can anyone honestly say that antifa, BLM, or any related group is actually like the barbarians of old? They are only a force of destruction. They do not look at what has come before them and dream of accomplishing something as great, if not greater. Antifa will not to that. Black Lives Matter will not to that. None of the groups on the Left that is targeting the West, and especially Dixie, for destruction will do that. They are too driven by envy and seething hatred. The historical barbarians may have seen greatness and were inspired, these people see the greatness of men like Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and Jefferson Davis and feel existential inadequacy, so they target them. For the Left, “greatness” does not inspire, for it reminds them of “inequality.” Indeed, and on this point they are correct, for there to be greatness there must be inequality or greatness has no meaning. By definition, their society must be a society without greatness and that leaves no room for the great men of the past.
It is common, and not without reason, to cast the barbarians as one of the “bad guys” of European history. But for all the damage they caused, they also built. Without the Franks, Angles, or Lombards, the world would be a vastly different place as the descendants of these tribes would go on to remake the world. These nations would bring an end to diseases that had plagued the world for centuries, such as smallpox. They would, from the ashes of Rome, build a Western civilization that would spread far beyond what even the most ambitious Roman emperor could dream of. And, they knew that they were forever indebted to Rome long after Rome fell, hence the tendency for Dixians to incorporate neo-classical style into their buildings. Dixie was seen as an heir to Rome.
These leftwing groups are none of those things and their decedents (or would be descendants, the vast majority of them won’t be having children), will never accomplish what the descendants of the historic barbarians did.
Don’t call antifa or the rest of them barbarians, it is an insult to barbarians.
-By Harmonica
O I’m a good old rebel, now that’s just what I am. For this “fair land of freedom” I do not care at all. I’m glad I fit against it, I only wish we’d won, And I don’t want no pardon for anything I done.
The Germanic “barbarians” were an aristocratic society led by the prototypical warrior-nobility; they were the origin of the entire European idea of chivalry and knighthood, and admired the Romans largely for how they mirrored those virtues. Dixie is the direct heir to the Anglo-Saxons because we maintained that cavalier ethos, long after the Yankees and even merry old England had fallen into materialistic plutocracy. Aristocracy is the heart and soul of Western Civilization, and the Enlightenment’s abandonment thereof began the soul-death of the West. Inevitable, the body then began to rot, until we now have invaders tearing our own monuments down.
“Aristocracy is the heart and soul of Western Civilization, and the Enlightenment’s abandonment thereof began the soul-death of the West.” True. Democracy (and a republic is simply a variation of democracy) is designed to appeal to the pride and ego of the masses who believe that they are fully as capable of leading a nation as anyone else. Democracy, by design, means decisions are made by the middle of the bell curve – half of the power is in the hands of the bottom half of the people. The most successful form of government throughout history has been some form of aristocracy. Southern culture was largely shaped by those royalists, known as the Cavaliers, who fled England during their civil war. The other side, known as the Roundheads, were Puritans who settled in New England. The South had a very strong cultural and political connection to aristocracy up until Lincoln’s war and the Re-destruction that followed. By the way, that’s where we got the political terms “Left” and “Right” – the Roundheads sat on the left side, while the Cavaliers sat together on the right side.
Wrong. Their fear of us was the reason they invaded, Yankee Aristocracy is what you are living under now, you cannot attribute what you are looking at now to some failure of ours, we are not at the wheel, you are seeing the results of Aristocracy, not our Republic, which they murdered 200 years ago. That we even still exist is a testament to our strength. The people tearing down statues are Yankee peasantry, not some manifestion of the failure of Southerners living in freedom, it is exactly the opposite. Yankees and Yankee Kings are the problem, just making more of them is not the answer.
I learn more here than all of the time I spent in the Yankee “schools” they forced us into. I ignored anything they ever said out of hand as true, its such a relief to get Southern perspectives on history great article, thanks for sharing.
I view us as our own civilization and people, while maybe descended from Europe and all of the rest, we purposely left it behind and free of their chains manifested our own spirit here on Earth. That is why we tend to view England and all the rest with, maybe contempt is too strong of a word, but certainly a healthy distain for people who are so servile, who want to be ruled. That distinction is what separates us as peoples with most of the rest of Europe, that is the major defining characteristic of our people, self reliance and most importantly, self governance, which even that is very limited in its ability to govern others. So while I do admire all of the accomplishments of Rome and all of the rest, I dont feel as though I am one, or any European for that matter and I certainly don’t want another Rome or New York in Dixie. We are built different and I love it, we are worth fighting for as much as any Legionnaire ever fought for Rome.
Have a blessed day y’all, thanks for the history lesson.