Some scholars have suggested that progressive destabilisation was caused by warfare on the Continent, part of the factional fighting that erupted there as Roman authority declined. This pattern is familiar from more contemporary conflicts, as units long accustomed to lucrative employment and active combat find themselves adrift, sometimes turning against the same authorities who hired them, or returning home looking for trouble. Such situations risk creating a world of petty warlords and a kind of gangster culture— part bandits, part small but effective armies—undermining the work of social
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