Europeans - the best race.

[Ffactor]

Good thread. Some great responses. I would have to say that definitely for the past 200 years the western culture has been dominant and most advances have been made by the west. However, history is cyclical. If you go back in time you will see that the balance of power shifted between different cultures and will continue to do so in the future. But for now I accept that the western culture is the most progressive.

 

[aurelius]

-Roman (Latin) and Teutonic (Celtic, Germanic) cultures were fundamentally different. They were similar enough to successfully integrate in certain reigons (Central and Southern Gaul) but ultimately, there existed irreconcilable differences. The Germans in ancient Rome had, for centuries, been subjugated and used as slaves, gladiators, and soldiers in unpopular military campaigns. As the Roman elites, people of purely Latin stock, became more comfortable, they imported more and more Germans to perform menial labor within the empire, as well as to stock the ranks of the mighty Roman army. Ultimately, the Barbarian "invasion" of Rome came from within, not from without. The Romans could no longer control the subject population whose loyalty they had taken for granted. Kind of sounds like the USA's relationship with the Mexican population, eh?

An incomplete, but nevertheless fairly accurate account. Have you read Gibbon´s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire?