Below is the third and final installment in a series of essays on the fall of Rome by our Dutch correspondent H. Numan. Previously: Part 1, Part 2.

How Long Before the Dark Ages Return?

Part 3

by H. Numan

In the first two essays I showed the similarities between our problems today and Rome’s problems in the past. One of them was multiculturalism. Rome was a truly multicultural society. It didn’t matter where you came from. As long as you behaved Roman, it was good enough. That went wrong disastrously during the final 75 years of the empire. Another problem was inflation and lack of money. We face exactly the opposite: deflation. Rome couldn’t afford to pay for its defense anymore, we simply don’t want to.

Caveat lector: devout Christians may want to ignore the following section. Some American Christians seem to me to be exceptionally sensitive here. Almost as sensitive as another religion… if it doesn’t agree with their perceptions.

One issue I haven’t discussed is religion. Until the middle of the 2nd century Rome was polytheistic. The more gods, the merrier! They had no problem at all in accepting different gods into their pantheon, and often did. History shows that when societies intellectually develop they need fewer gods. You start of with a multitude of gods and deities, each with a specific task. Those many ‘little’ gods merge into fewer but more powerful gods, supervised by a supreme god. And finally in monotheism those gods are merged into or superseded by a single supreme deity.

Christianity wasn’t the only monotheistic religion coming on the scene. There were many more, for example the Isis religion from Egypt, the Cybele cult from Asia Minor (Anatolia, Turkey) and the Mithras religion from Persia. The advent of Christianity wasn’t certain at all. Mithras was a far more likely candidate, but eventually Christianity became the dominant religion in the empire, and within Christianity the orthodox version of it. This would later evolve into the Roman Catholic church.

Most monotheistic religions claim they are immutable, and have universal rules that never change. At best (or worst) this only applies to mohammedanism. Definitely not to Christianity, and that is a compliment! Without those changes we wouldn’t be where we are today. Very early Christians wouldn’t recognize Christianity as the Roman state religion. Late Roman Christians wouldn’t recognize their religion in Renaissance times. All of them would be aghast how it has developed today. For example, the current pope would have been burned at the stake for his preaching in medieval times. When that went out of fashion, he’d be murdered. Until about 25 years ago excommunicated. Today he is the head of the Roman Catholic church, preaching the gospel according to Marx. People lap it up as if it were honey.

Monotheistic religions in general haven’t much interest in science or freedom of speech. For example, it isn’t that long ago that Roman Catholics weren’t supposed to the read the bible. The catechism, yes. But the bible? Not really. The church allowed it only after WW2. Not being allowed to read the bible was one of the main reasons for the protestant reformation in the 16th century, a thousand years after the fall of Rome.

Now we return to where we left off. You know now it takes about three generations for knowledge to completely disappear. That is not 3 x 25 years, but at best 3 x 15 years. That ‘best’ is only under peacetime conditions, and those do not apply today. Under aggravated circumstances (such as war, civil war or serious disasters) those periods are much shorter. Five to ten years for a generation is a good estimate. For example, the generation right before WW2 had a very different outlook on the world than the generation directly following them. When left-wing appeasers point out that our problems are at least three generations in the future, that is technically true but very different from reality. Instead of 3 x 25 years = 75 years away as they infer, we’re looking at possibly 10-15 years in the future. That is not when the process begins, but when it ends. In 15 years, in 2035, the dark ages aren’t going to begin slowly. That’s what is happening right now. In 2035, the process will be completed. And that is the latest date I think possible. Don’t be surprised if it happens within a couple of years.

There is a huge difference between the barbarians in Roman times and ours. In Roman times they very much looked up to Roman civilization, and merely wanted a piece of the pie. As much as possible of course, but not all of it. Our barbarians don’t look up admiringly. They despise and hate us. They don’t want a piece of the pie, they want it all. In both cases they have the necessary force to back up their demands. The Roman barbarians were effectively the army itself. The current barbarians also have military force: first of all their ‘angry young men’ that terrorize our society. Angry young men can be as young as 6 years old. We can see on the telly 6-year-olds doing beheadings in Syria. Raping and armed robberies are committed daily by +12-year-old mohammedan boys in Europe. Egged on by their community, and tolerated by our authorities. They are fully supported by their own religion and of course there is mohammedan terrorism world wide.

Back then the church wasn’t really interested in preserving scientific knowledge and wisdom. That happened by accident. One place was Ireland, which was in those days further away than the dark side of the moon. The other place was Constantinople, which couldn’t be taken in war. When the Western Roman empire fell, the light went out. If you knew the Lord’s prayer and the catechism, that was enough. Reading and writing weren’t important anymore.

It took a thousand years before the light slowly went on again. Most of the lost knowledge had to be rediscovered or invented again. Concrete, for example. Romans invented it, and used it extensively in very large building projects. Very quickly after the fall of Rome that knowledge was lost. Not immediately, but simply because the demand for it disappeared. Architects and engineers of the first generation of course knew how to make it. But without demand for it, it was useless knowledge to pass on to the next generation. Most of the next generation of architects and engineers who did learn how to make concrete didn’t use it either. So there wasn’t much need to pass that knowledge on. The knowledge how make concrete was completely lost after the third generation. It remained lost for 1200 years. Modern concrete was only reinvented around the 1850s. That is about 150 years ago. Can you imagine what 1200 years of development for something as simple as concrete would mean today?

The fall in knowledge was phenomenal. What wasn’t strictly necessary for staying alive disappeared. Knowledge became a luxury. Reading and writing are great, but staying alive takes priority.

I focused in my essays about the similarities between the fall of Rome and the coming fall of Europe. Yes, the Roman elites made a deal with the barbarians. Out of sheer necessity, because they hadn’t another choice. The number of outright Roman traitors was minimal. The very idea that a Roman would or could collaborate with barbarians was for Romans preposterous. Not so for us. Our elites work as much as they dare to support and promote our barbarians.

Barbarians in Roman times looked up to Rome, and what it stood for. They wanted to become Romans themselves. They even took over the religion. Most Germanic tribes converted to Christianity, and the ‘correct’ version of it: Roman Catholicism. Not all, though. For example the Visigoths in Spain had converted to the ‘wrong’ version. They became Arians and didn’t convert to Catholicism. This had later on disastrous consequences. The lightning conquest by the Moors of Spain was a direct result.

The original population remained Roman Catholic, while their Visigoth overlord remained Arian. There wasn’t much social interaction between the two groups. The Visigothic elite ruled as conquerors, and the Iberian population felt oppressed. When the Visigothic elite began murdering each other in a real game of thrones the disaster happened. Mohammedans lead by Tariq saw an opportunity and grabbed it in 711 AD. Within one year flat they conquered most of Spain and Portugal. Very much assisted by the Visigothic elite who used them to murder the other half. The local population didn’t give a hoot who oppressed them. Being oppressed by Visigothic Arians or mohammedans, who cares? If anything, the rule of the mohammedans was less oppressive. Certainly during the first few decades. (That’s when the Al Andalus myth began.)

The Reconquista took 700 years. We aren’t done yet. The last mohammedans were kicked out of Spain in 1492 AD. That is definitely not the end of the story, because right now mohammedans are reclaiming their Spanish possessions. Once mohammedan, for ever mohammedan. They regularly lay claim to churches that once upon a time were mosques. Especially the cathedral of Cordoba is regularly targeted in demonstrations to demand back their ancient mosque, now a cathedral.

It is not mutual though. No mohammedan even dreams of ever giving back the Dome of the Rock in Israel, or the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, now Istanbul. Far from it. Erdogan almost certainly will have that (now) museum reopen as a mosque pretty soon. I’m willing to bet that within a maximum of five years the Hagia Sophia is a mosque again.

Back to the beginning of the Dark Ages: it didn’t matter too much for the common man. His life was very harsh anyway. Religion wasn’t really an issue; only in Spain, and to a limited extent. Their barbarians were Christians as well. Ours aren’t, and that is a huge difference. Roman law slowly deteriorated into Germanic law. But that didn’t affect the common man too much either. Both forms of law were pretty harsh as the were. If anything, Germanic law was easier to apply and understand. Our law is firmly based on Roman law* — which we had to reinvent to a very large degree — and differs vastly from shariah law. Shariah law is an extremely crude and biased form of tribal law. Think Nuremberg laws, but much, much worse. The Nuremberg laws probably were based or at least influenced by shariah law, as far as the Nazis dared to go.

Germanic barbarians merged into and with the original Roman population. After another couple of generations the two were indistinguishable from each other. The parts on the border of the old Roman empire were more Germanic, those closer to Rome more Latin. Of course it wasn’t a painless process, but as painless as the times allowed for.

We don’t have that luxury. If luxury is the right word here… Mohammedans want to take over the world. They very clearly state that. Hitler could have been stopped if people actually had read Mein Kampf, and (much more difficult) decided to do something about it. Mohammedans are much more open about what they want. In a nutshell: lie on pillows, be waited on by Western slaves (you and I), who will do all the necessary work. As slaves. Not as dhimmis, not as second-rate citizens, but as real slaves. They have tried it many times in the past, this is just another attempt. So far, the most dangerous one.

The big difference between Christianity and mohammedanism is logic. Ask a Christian if their god can make a square circle or lift himself by his own breeches. Of course not, the reply will be. The laws of logic apply to God as well. A mohammedan will answer you very differently. He will say, of course he can. If he wants to he can do anything. Including squaring circles and lifting himself by his breeches. After that answer he will immediately cut your throat you for your horrendous blasphemy. Logic is what very slowly made the dark ages go away, and build the Christian religions into what they are today. This will never happen in the mohammedan world. Debate was never possible, will never be possible and simply cannot ever happen in that religion.

How far are we into the period of three generations? Awfully far. Go back to my earliest articles I wrote for Gates of Vienna. Read the first year of post of the Gates. Weep. We are that far. What was unthinkable less than ten years ago is now almost allowed. For example, rape. A daily occurrence in Western countries. Child marriages. Not debatable less than five years ago. Today mohammedan ‘refugees’ legally claim their 9-year-old wives, to be transported at the expense of Western governments to their place of refuge. Once those children (‘wives’) are here, they get full support as legal wives. Many mohammedans, refugees and earlier mohammedan colonists as well openly claim four wives and get away with polygamy. They get benefits for having four wives. Doesn’t apply to you though, so don’t convert to Mormonism.

We are that far on the way to our dark ages.

— H. Numan