Rome\'s Longest War?

[Timianus]

Well the Romans were extremely adaptable, they were the longest lasting continuous nation in existance (China wasn't continuous, it kept breaking up, but the Roman central government always existed.)

Rome did not collapse to "uncivilized barbarians," they collapsed to "Romanized Barbarians." The Western Empire spurred its own downfall eventually, but there were lots of factors that led to the Roman collapse. It is rather universally agreed that the point of no return was the loss of Africa.

I was using the term "uncivilized barbarians" in jest, hence the quotes. Perhaps I was a little vague in my post, but what amazes me is how Rome had the reserve manpower to come back from multiple defeats. Almost all other nations (and I use that term very loosely) needed a generation to re-plenish their stock of fighting men after a major defeat, but Rome seemed to have a near unlimited supply of pedes to throw at an enemy.