Floods, Tides and Pools

By August Pointneuf

Floods, Tides and Pools.

Prologue: Human communities have spread and retreated since pre-history, often into the domiciles of other humans, for shorter or longer periods. That is their nature. These migrations have often been resisted by warfare. The outcomes have depended upon battleground success, together with factors such as distance from the migrant’s base as logistic access became progressively more difficult.

The results of such migration have, at times, caused one group, (and therefore that culture) to overlap the pre-existing culture with varying degrees of smothering. At other times, the invading forces have withdrawn leaving very little residue, as demonstrated by the Roman invasion of Britain and to a lesser extent the Norman invasion of Britain. On other occasions the invasions have been no more than short forays, as in the Franco-Prussian War, with prompt retreat and very little residual cultural or genetic trace.

These extensive conquests of lands, which could be considered as "tides" and comparable to floods. Like water, these eventually subsided either by absorption into the land, drainage back from whence the tide originated or spilling over into other drainage areas.

Of the many tides that have occurred within the historic area, four stand out in relation to European history:

First Tide: the Roman Empire. This ultimately failed because of loss of central control and political failure, ending in a combination of retreat and absorption.
The Roman Empire was destroyed by Barbarian invasions. "Barbarian" was a general term, and included a variety of people from different origins such as the Angles, Burgundians, Franks, Goths, Huns, Lombards, and Vandals, to quote a few.

The Roman Empire was in economic decline, primarily because it had lost its empire. The corn it consumed had previously been supplied as a tribute (for that read tax) from Africa and Sicily. As the empire was eroded, payment for corn was demanded from the Barbarian-controlled North Africa. Rome did not produce manufactured goods and the population lapsed into enjoying the bread, wine and circuses. Its chief trade was money-lending. The emperors struggled to pay the army. The easiest, but disastrous, solution taken was to debase the coinage. The value of the denarius fell in 150 years to one 40th of its original value. The prudent invested in land, which produces an agricultural return, and so countered the inflation.

In Rome the state continued with its social handouts, distributing bread, wine, oil and pork, either free or at nominal prices.

The Roman armies became infiltrated with Barbarians and became relatively impotent in their role of protecting the Empire. Sidonius Apollinaris recorded the "heavy burden of hospitality" which he had to provide for the infiltrating Barbarians. He disliked their language, their songs and their smell and his house was invaded.

The Roman citizens shut their eyes to the immensity of the changes about them. They could not fail to realise that they were living in a time of crisis, but they could, if they chose, ignore the extent and permanence of the barbarisation that had already taken place. Various factors kept the Barbarians apart from the Romans; at once they were both outsiders and intruders. Amongst these two factors were religion and law. The Barbarian Law differed significantly from the Roman law and eventually the law ceased to be territorial, and instead was divided amongst the Barbarians. The Franks lived by Frankish law; Visigoths lived by Visigothic law and so on, while the Romans continued to live by Roman law. The situation of law became intensely complicated as happened when one group went to law against another and this doctrine of "personal law" was disastrous for the Empire. Ultimately Roman law ceased to have any real meaning when rival systems of law jostled with each other within the frontiers of the Empire.

Because the Barbarian invasions were gradual it was possible for many Roman citizens to ignore their significance. Although they bewailed the fact that times were not as good as they once had been, they tried to go on living as if nothing had changed. But every now and again a sudden shock would wake them up to reality and force them to acknowledge the extent of what had already decayed or been destroyed. It was only the more insightful, like Salvian, who insisted on reminding everyone that the Barbarians were not no longer at the gates but were within them. Most people tried to imagine that things were not as bad as they seemed. Nevertheless it was necessary for everyone to adjust to a new circumstance. Many people reacted without any coordinative response. St Augustus wrestled with the central problem of his time, which was why God had allowed the Roman Empire to fall. The pagans were convinced that the Empire had been destroyed because it had deserted the pagan gods and become Christian.

The Romans were forced to admit that military power had passed to the Barbarians, and Rome "the unconquerable" was sacked by the Goths and then the Vandals. If the Romans were to save anything of their civilisation, the Barbarians would have to be absorbed into Roman society and educated. This could only be a practical policy if the Barbarians wanted to educate themselves and discipline themselves according to the rule of law.

The most dramatic penetration into the Roman Empire was by the Visigoths (376 A.D.) who had implored Rome to offer them asylum from the Huns. The Roman Emperor Valens granted this asylum. Unfortunately the imperial authorities found the task of regulating and feeding these refugees beyond their resources. Because of the failure of the Romans to deliver, the Visigoths took to arms. The emperor’s army was defeated and Valens was killed (378 A.D.).

The Barbarians moved to the cities while the wealthy Romans sought refuge in their country villas. As a result there was unemployment in the towns which began to shrink. An aggravating factor was that the total population of the Empire was declining.i Instability began. There was a series of revolutions in the Roman State.

Odovacar (434-493) probably entered Italy about 465, became the first barbarian ruler in Italy and eventually gained possession of Italy in 476 A.D., this ending the Western Roman Empire. Although he appears not to have wished to destroy the civilisation of Italy, he had done nothing to save it.
Theodoric, an Ostrogoth, marched into Italy in 488 A.D. and within two years another barbarian had won control over most of the country.

It was useless for the Italians to try and repel the Barbarians. Ultimately the vast barbarian population caused the barbarisation of the Romans.

By the end of the 5th century the infrastructure of Italy could not be maintained. Bushes and trees grew in the aqueducts and the water supply to Rome began to fail. The Coliseum and the theatres were in ruins. Great blocks of stone fell from decrepit buildings, obstructing the streets. Bands of thieves stole bronze statues that adorned the city to melt them for the metal. Whilst the Romans had the skill and education required by the civilisation, the Goths lacked all these.

By this time Roman laws were being replaced by barbaric laws which were regarded by the Barbarians as their birthright, resting on notions of kinship and a whole complex of values which were totally foreign to the Romans. The varied religions, apparently a policy of toleration, was in effect a policy of racial segregation, founded on the assumption that all Romans would be Catholics and, for example, all Goths would be Arins.1ii

So began the “Dark Ages” when established cultures, as they then existed, disappeared.iii

Second Tide: The Muslim Conquest. The Muslims advanced through the Mediterranean, conquering vast swathes of land, and usurping the civilisations of parts of Southern Europe and the Maghreb. Long and costly struggles to remove the Muslims followed, marked by epic sieges and battles, land and sea. Christians hoped that the sea-battle at Lepanto would mark the end of Muslim intrusion and domination. However the Crusaders, a multinational armed force - the European Union of its time - began to squabble amongst themselves and failed to follow that resounding victory with pursuit and elimination of the enemy. The Muslims regrouped and began invading Europe once more. The Europeans lost vast lands, abandoned to Muslim control, which Muslims retain to this day.

Third Tide: The European Colonial Empires. This was the greatest tide, if measured by land area and people incorporated. This began in the 1500s and spread slowly in many directions. This tide was unique because of its slow, and entrenching, colonisation. Steady advances were systematically consolidated. The Empires increased incrementally over the colonised lands by chain and array. At each stage the colonists established themselves on what they expected to be a permanent basis. Because of this they grouted in their civilisation, establishing churches, schools, health care and communications, patterns of behaviour and supportive law as well as much more. Their belief was that this would be permanent, and for the betterment of the colonised lands, and the world as a whole. Most of this spread was over sparse and uninhabited, never cultivated, fallow lands. Because of its slow pace forward, it sculpted a stable society and a stable expression of European culture. There was repeated reinforcement from Europe with movements of Europeans back and forth to Europe. However the colonists considered themselves as residents in the new lands.

Some have chosen to debate the benefits to the lands so colonised with the amnesia of senile hindsight. Much of this denialism has been designed by the politician to placate their international political peers. However, when viewed objectively there seems little ground for dispute that by most parameters the European – and notably the British -colonisation  was beneficial to the lands which were colonised. Peoples previously living a Stone Age existence were brought forward into educational and other systems. The Europeans hoped that the natives would now aspire towards the standards which the Europeans had set themselves in Europe. The Europeans sought to donate their capacities to the indigenous peoples of the colonised lands. Law was applied where previously custom only, not law, had existed. Communication produced dramatic changes in lands where the wheel and the horse were unknown. This tide slowly moved forward for at least 400 years. In doing so huge tracks, which had previously been uninhabitable were made inhabitable and productive. This tide produced a remarkable, widespread social equilibrium characterised by greater safety of the populations. Orderliness by finely tuned legal mechanisms and sophisticated systems of justice and policing was introduced.

It was the greatest empire ever for another reason. It brought with it the technical and administrative mechanics by which humans were able to forcefully combat the circumstances and chance which entropic nature inflicts upon humans. Humans became better sheltered, warmer, better fed, better protected, safer and healthier than ever in history, as these European empire builders evolved and disseminated their capabilities. So desirable was this that the colonists were often invited into other lands once the existing inhabitants recognised the benefits of being colonised, in order that those lands could also could also benefit from European civilisation.

However, this civilisation began to fail. There was too great a central control of the colonies. Political ineptitude and insufficiency was associated with extraordinary attitude changes. Societal integrity began to fragment. Politicians, with pretentious delusions of capability, began to engineer society. The needs of individuals began to be considered superior to those of an integrated society. European apathy descended. Productivity declined, and money-lending replaced industry as Britain’s chief trade. The populations interested themselves in food, alcohol, material possessions and sport. A cabal of politicians (called the “United Politicians of the World”, by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn), motivated by the fantasy philosophy of “Globalisation”, allowed the Empire to be suffocated by the next great tide:

Fourth Tide: The African spread out of Africa. This began in the middle of the 19th century.

The mechanics of this were complex. There were many contributing factors to the sycophantic surrender of the Europeans in the Northern Hemisphere to the invasion. An initial exuberant triumphalism after the Second War led eventually to intoxication with materialism. The focus of concern now rested on the possession of ostentatious dwellings and motor vehicles and “leisure and travel”. Socialist politicians unjustifiably claimed that they would nurture and protect their populations. This tainted their populations with the contentment and trust and belief in political promises. The former prudence, caution and guarded concern were abandoned.  Nothing was perceived to be able to go wrong, nothing could perturb the population. The British had seen themselves as the “conquers of the world”. Fear of intruders into their nations ceased to exist. Indeed such was the arrogance that, with the grandiose gestures of hedonistic millionaires, their heritage was blissfully cast aside, and the European nations appeared to thrive on a misplaced, fallaciously magnanimous and spendthrift scattering away of their control of their land.

The early movement of the Fourth Tide, in comparatively small numbers, was by tribal capture of adversaries and the sale of these slaves in a variety of directions, but primarily to the East.


The main regulating force of large-scale human movements, from time immemorial, was the restriction by poverty. The windfall of hydrocarbon energy, and mechanisms to translate this into travel (which originated in the European Industrial Revolution) allowed expansive migration on a grand scale. Very rapidly, and often without the opportunity to consolidate, this Tide out of Africa became an unregulated flood which spread over the top of the European civilisations.  It spread over the erstwhile European colonies of the Caribbean and into and over North America as well as large tracts of South America. Apart from direct invasion, there were complex turbulent eddies and retrograde flows which also spilled back into Europe. Stagnant pools now remain in the slums of all the large cities of the erstwhile European world, such as Detroit and Bradford, and in every large European city, as derelict ghettos.

Unskilled aliens from failed lands were not only invited into Britain, but paid to do so with employment assured even before arrival. Much of any wealth created by these immigrants did not remain in Europe, but was fed back to disappear into the impoverished regions from which the immigrants came. The political mantra, that “immigration was needed to make Europe economically powerful” has not been supported by objective assessment. Instead the reverse seems to be the case.

The loosening of the ties of poverty allowed not only more invited Africans into lands which promised a cosseted existence, but equally gave lease to marauding bands, some referred to euphemistically as “illegal immigrants”, but which should include the pirates and desperados who now rampage throughout the continents and oceans of the world, lead by “war-lords” and “freedom fighters” with a variety of denominations. The previously colonised, “liberated”, nations failed.iv

The effect of this flood out of Africa was to drown most of the constructs of the European Empire, degrading the economics, and social structures in both hemispheres.2 The European colonists retreated, leaving once magnificent cities to become the bones of the rotting corpses of passed civilisations. Nations once highly prosperous, such as Haiti or Madagascar, became derelict.

Intermingling with the flood out of African was the Muslim flood into the West, not initially confrontational, not so easily visible, and reversing the long-past partial victory over the Second Tide. There is no need for obvious confrontation as this invasion has been invited and encouraged by European politicians. Instead there is a slow, irreversible insinuation of the Muslim into every aspect of European society to include the political, judicial, administrative and military frames.

Epilogue: Floods of water by typhoons, tsunamis and hurricanes draw rapid and immediate attention, and their disastrous effects recorded instantly and graphically. However, these physical calamities, even when they affect hundreds of thousands of people, have had nothing like the destructive effect on so many millions of people as has the emigrant flood out of Africa as it has degraded the great civilisation of Europe and their culture and colonisation. It is improbable now that humans will ever again be as well protected from nature’s vicissitudes as they were at the height on the European Colonising Empire. It is unlikely that there has ever been such a dramatic and comprehensive loss of the benefits of human endeavour and the destruction of human creativity in the history of mankind. The rapidity of this collapse, within a century and a half, is evidence of the power of this destructive force. Progressive erosive excoriation of the relatively small remaining European population, now reduced to 7% of the world population, seems likely to continue. It should be expected that European civilisation will be expunged within the next half century.