"Instead, I think the stronger point here ... is that the collapse of the Roman Empire in the West – while it was a catastrophe for those people living at the time – was less a product of ‘hoards of barbarians’ coming over the frontier ... and instead a product of actors within the political system, within the empire, tearing it apart out of the pursuit of their own interests, deceived by the assumption that something so old could never simply vanish…until it did. The consequences of their decisions and of their failure to recognize the fragility of the clockwork machine that suspended them above the poverty to come (and that it was already damaged) were great and terrible."
But I highly recommend walking through all the data and discussion of exactly what that clockwork machine was. And then think about if/how today's society is different.