The Battle for Rome documentary

The Battle for Rome is an english narrated, german documentary about the rise and fall of the Rman Empire capital, and how it slowly declined from the inside.

Now, I picked this up in one of those "1 euro bins" as I love to do with crappy movies or documentaries, as both of them seem to make up the bulk of those bins.

While I can understand this with the real crappy movies (though sometimes, you get gems out of them, I also picked up Bridge to Terabithia from those bins for example, or the Wizard of Oz miniseries remake), I alwas find it kind of a pity documentaries are in there as well. 
Well, not pity for my wallet at least...

The DVD, who lets a lot of mostly german scientists and archeologists do the talking, details how Rome was founded in legend (Romulus and Remus), but also how the Empire gained it`s might by conquest.  Or how it started to show cracks by it`s inability to overcome the wartribes of the Teutogen Forest region.

Slowly, as decadence but also civilisation overtook more and more of the populace, the armies where filled out with immigrated troops and how this led to the loss of discipline in the ranks.  In the meantime, you had christianity on the rise, causing a sort of paranoia and mistrust within the city walls, resulting in further decline in security.

And how all those things factored in at the end towards the "barbarians" sacking the mightiest city of the world and ripping the crown of the head of the then child emperor...

At 60 minutes, it`s the length of your average documentary, and it gives some nice insights, like how the romans could have been thought to suffer from lead poisoning for example.  So if you come across it, pick it up, spend an hour and maybe learn a thing or two as well!