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Notes -
Rome always had issues with civil wars but the real crisis was a loss of the will to fight on and win, no matter what. The Battle of Adrianople was a bad defeat but nothing compared to the walloping Hannibal delivered, wiping out a whole bunch of (much larger) armies. The late Roman empire simply could not field large armies to win decisive battles in the field, in civil wars or otherwise. There was some population decline due to plague and mismanagement but it's inconceivable that Punic War-era Italy and Sicily were richer or more populous than the entire Eastern Roman Empire as of Adrianople, or the West when it was just getting crushed.
The Roman Empire went from being able to mobilize resources very effectively to a basket-case, that's the key change.
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