About those barbarians who defeated the Ancient Roman Empire. They are presented by mass media as retarded orcs who defeated advanced elves.
But it's not that simple. The empires had autocracy. The emperor's power was absolute (divine or heaven-given as they believed). Laws were made by emperor's will, and any opposition was destroyed.
And now think about this: the barbarians had military (!) democracy.
Also, military service in the empire was forced, and the imperial soldiers weren't really motivated to win. Meanwhile, the barbarians fought because it was easier to grab things from others than to produce them themselves. Barbarians were also running from climate change and attacks from hostile Northern tribes. It was like a domino effect. And if the empire refused to accept barbarian refugees, the barbarians would simply attack.
