Western Civilization I / Unit 9 WC1 0802 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Why the East Survived: City, Gold, Identity, Luck
Captions available
The idea
The anchor gives four reasons: Constantinople, impregnable with about five hundred thousand people; revenue the anchor puts at two hundred seventy thousand pounds of gold a year against the West's twenty thousand; stronger Roman identity; and luck, since the barbarians went west.
In practice
Toulouse, the Gothic capital, at fifteen thousand.
Where people slip
The figures are the anchor's, attributed. The comparison is the point.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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