Common explanations for collapse

The table below shows some of the reasons that have been provided for different examples of decline and collapse.

There are usually several explanations in any particular instance. Scholars often say, in fact, that they do not know why a particular society declined.

Clearly, there is something wrong with the idea that societies decline and fall because of some specific factor. The supposed causes of collapse are simply the kind of problem that societies have to deal with all the time.

If societies go into decline, it is because they stop being able to cope with these common difficulties. The things listed in this table may be the final straw, but they are only harmful because the society is already rotten. The real explanation for collapse is the society's internal weakness.

For example, Rome is supposed to have been toppled by the barbarian leader Odoacer. Yet Rome was subject to barbarian attacks virtually from the day that it was founded. For most of its history, it shrugged them off. The fact that it was eventually destroyed by such an attack shows that something had changed within Rome itself.

	Natural disaster	Drought	Climate change	Silting	Invaders	Disease	Resource exhaustion	Environmental damage	Warfare	Revolution
Minoan	X
Zimbabwe		X						X
East African Coast		X			X	X
Ethiopia		X
Egypt	X		X		X
Mesopotamia	X		X	X	X			X
Roman Empire	X		X		X
Hopewell			X
Meroe			X		X
Chaco Canyon			X
Toltec			X
Mississippian			X
Etruscans				X			X
Angkor				X
Harappa	X			X	X			X
Hittites					X
China					X					X
Teotihuacan					X			X
Maya					X			X		X
Phoenicians					X
Aztec					X	X
Inca					X	X
Greece								X		X
Pacific								X
Easter Island								X	X
Spanish Empire										X

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