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The title of this thread "Who Really Killed the Pax Romana?" refers to a recent post at Gates of Vienna Blog written by Baron Bodissey. The Baron reviews the book Mohammed and Charlemagne Revisited: The History of a Controversy by Emmet Scott. If you have an interest in the subject of the Greco-Roman legacy and Islam as they relate to the sudden decline of medieval Europe this book will expose the linkage between Islam's destructive forces at that time and have you reconsider the implications of current events related to Islam today. Scott argues that the collapse of Latin-Greek civilization...

In his 1938 book, Mohammed et Charlemagne, Belgian historian Henri Pirenne argued in great detail that the Dark Ages of Europe began rather suddenly in the middle of the seventh century; and that this sudden and catastrophic decline in civilization was due to Islam’s blockade of the Mediterranean. Up to that time, Pirenne showed, there was no evidence of a decline in Classical culture. True, the Western Roman Empire as a political entity had disappeared in 476, but the literate, prosperous and urban civilization which we call “Classical” continued virtually uninterrupted. The Goths and other “Barbarian” peoples who ruled the...

A summary of Emmet Scott's painstakingly detailed and scholarly new book, Mohammed and Charlemagne Revisited: The History of a Controversy is posted at New English Review .

Because it is now almost axiomatic for American school textbooks to whitewash all things Islamic (see here for example), it may be useful to examine one of those aspects that are regularly distorted: the Muslim conquests.Few events of history are so well documented and attested to as are these conquests, which commenced soon after the death of the Muslim prophet Muhammad (632) and tapered off circa 750. Large swathes of the Old World—from the India in the east, to Spain in the west—were conquered and consolidated by the sword of Islam during this time.By the standards of history, the reality...

What books are people currently reading? Any particular fiction or non-fiction of note? Any recommendations from some recent reads? I just downloaded the novel Hunter by Robert James Bidinotto for my kindle. It's an indie novel and has received good reviews on Amazon. Will report back once I finish up.

I do not pretend to call the Roman Empire the United States, but it seems to me there are some similarities as if history is repeating itself. Why did Rome Fall? There are some adherents to single factors, but more people think Rome fell because of a combination of such factors as Christianity, decadence, lead, monetary, and military problems. Even the rise of Islam is proposed by some who think the Fall of Rome happened at Constantinople. Since not all viewpoints are available on the Internet, this list of theories about the Fall of Rome is limited: *Decay *Financial Problems...

<p>Too many observers look at Iraq as if it were a boxing match. Invasion-one up for the West, well at least for the United States and Britain. Sabotage an oil pipeline-one down for the West. And so it will go on. Only one thing is clear: In the cold, searching light of history, each of these incidents that absorb us will not even rank as footnotes.</p>

In the 1938 Mohammed et Charlemagne by Henri Pirenne, a Belgian historian, was published posthumousy. In it he developed the thesis that a people, the Arabs, credited with saving Western civilization had in fact destroyed it. This book that I wish to review, Mohammed and Charlemagne Revisted: the History Of a Controversy by Emmet Scott (2012) is not, as it says itself, history in the normal sense, but rather the history of a controversy, one that has raged for many years: What ended Roman civilization and brought about the Dark Ages? To start off, I wish to say upfront that...