Rome debased its silver denarius until the empire collapsed. Byzantium clipped its gold solidus until trade froze. The Ottomans diluted their akçe until the economy shattered. Spain flooded the world with silver until it drowned in debt. Weimar Germany printed until money became worthless and the republic fell. Every single empire in history destroyed its own currency before it fell. And every single one believed it was different.
This video exposes the 2,000-year pattern of currency collapse that no civilization has ever escaped. From ancient Rome to modern America, the cycle is identical: overspending leads to desperation, desperation leads to debasement, and debasement leads to collapse.
You’ll discover:
– How Rome’s denarius went from 95% silver to worthless copper wash over 500 years
– Why Byzantium’s 700-year-old solidus couldn’t survive systematic debasement
– The Ottoman Empire’s fatal mistake with the akçe that triggered military revolts
– How Spain’s New World silver created the Price Revolution and destroyed an empire
– Weimar Germany’s hyperinflation nightmare and its connection to the rise of Hitler
– Why the dollar has lost 87% of its value since 1971 and what comes next
This isn’t about one country or one currency. It’s about a pattern that repeats across every civilization that gains the power to debase its money. The mechanism changes—clipping coins, mixing metals, printing paper—but the outcome is always identical: inflation, loss of trust, economic collapse, and the fall of empire.
The dollar has been fiat for 54 years. US debt exceeds $35 trillion. Money printing accelerates with every crisis. And the same forces that destroyed Rome, Byzantium, the Ottomans, Spain, and Weimar are at work today.
History doesn’t repeat, but the pattern is unmistakable. And if you’re holding currency—any currency—you need to understand what happened to every empire that came before.
This isn’t financial advice. This is financial history. The kind that shows you what’s coming by revealing what always happens.
📍 Comment below: Where are you watching from? And do you think your country’s currency will escape the pattern?
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Imagine holding a coin in your hand. It’s heavy, solid. You can feel the silver. You trust it because it has intrinsic value. Now imagine that same coin 10 years later. It’s lighter. The edges are clipped. The silver has been mixed with copper. 20 years later, it’s mostly copper with a thin silver wash. 30 years later, it’s worthless. That’s not a hypothetical. That’s what happened to the Roman dinarius, the Byzantine Celitus, the Ottoman oxay, and countless other currencies across history. And it’s what’s happening to the dollar right now. Not physically, but through inflation and money printing. The mechanism has changed, but the outcome is identical. Governments always, always destroy their own currency before they fall. Not because they’re evil, because they’re desperate. And desperation makes the same mistakes every single time. Before we dive into the pattern, I want to hear from you. Drop a comment below and tell me where you’re watching from and what time it is. This isn’t just history. It’s a warning that applies everywhere money exists. And if you’re already seeing the connection between ancient Rome and your own savings account, hit that like button. Because what you’re about to learn will change how you see every currency in your wallet. Now, let’s go back to the beginning. To understand why empires destroy their own money, you need to understand the trap they fall into. A trap so seductive, so politically convenient that no government in history has ever escaped it. ACT1 Rome, the original sin of currency debasement. The Roman daenerius was first minted around 211 BC. It was a silver coin, nearly pure, about 95% silver content. For centuries, it was the most trusted currency in the ancient world. Roman soldiers were paid in dinari. Merchants across Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East accepted it without question. The coin wasn’t just money. It was Rome’s promise stamped in metal. But running an empire is expensive. Legions had to be paid. Roads and aqueducts had to be built. Borders had to be defended. And as Rome expanded, the costs exploded. Tax revenues couldn’t keep pace. So, emperors faced a choice. raise taxes and risk rebellion or find another way to fund the empire. They chose debasement. Under Emperor Nero, around 64 AD, the Daenerius began its slow death. Nero reduced the silver content from 95% to about 93%. Not a massive change. Most people didn’t notice, but the precedent was set. The coin that once represented pure value now represented political convenience. Over the next two centuries, the decline accelerated. By the time of Emperor Septimius Seis in 200 AD, the Daenerius contained only 50% silver. By Emperor Galenus in 260 AD, it had fallen below 5%. The coin that Roman citizens held in their hands was now mostly copper, coated with a thin wash of silver to maintain the illusion. This wasn’t accidental, it was systematic. Every time the empire faced a crisis, war, famine, political instability, the answer was the same. Reduce the silver, mint more coins, and hope no one noticed. But people did notice. Merchants began weighing coins instead of trusting face value. Prices rose because money was worth less. Soldiers demanded higher pay, knowing their dinari bought less bread. And the vicious cycle began. more debasement to pay the soldiers which caused more inflation which required more debasement. By the late 3rd century the Roman economy was in collapse. The daenerius was worthless. Trade networks that had spanned the Mediterranean broke down. People reverted to barter. Local economies fragmented. And the empire once held together by a common currency began to splinter. Emperor Dialesian tried to fix the crisis in 301 AD with the edict on maximum prices, a desperate attempt to control inflation by law. He fixed the prices of over a thousand goods and services. Violators face death. But you can’t legislate trust. When money is worthless, no decree can make it valuable. The edict failed. The black market exploded. And the Western Roman Empire continued its slide into collapse. The lesson was clear. though no one learned it. Once you start debasing currency, you can’t stop. The short-term relief becomes a long-term addiction, and the empire dies slowly, one clipped coin at a time. ACT2 Bzantium, learning nothing from Rome. You’d think Bzantium would have learned. The Eastern Roman Empire watched the West collapse under the weight of its debased currency. They had the blueprint of what not to do. And for centuries they followed it. The Byzantine solitus introduced by Constantine the Great around 312 AD was a gold coin of remarkable consistency. It contained about 4.5 g of pure gold and maintained that weight and purity for over 700 years. This made it the most stable currency in medieval history. From Constantinople to Baghdad, from Venice to Kev, the Solidus was trusted. But empires don’t last on virtue, they last on wealth. And by the 11th century, Bzantium was bleeding money. Constant wars with Arab caliphates, internal civil wars, and the rising cost of maintaining an empire stretched the treasury thin. Emperor Michael IVth, ruling in the 1030s, faced the same choice his Roman predecessors had faced a thousand years earlier. He chose debasement. He reduced the gold content of the solidus from about 24 carats to 22, then 20, then 18. By the time of Emperor Alexios the first comnos in 1092, the Solidus was barely 50% gold. Once again, the illusion was maintained for a while. The coins looked the same. They bore the emperor’s image and the cross of Christianity. But merchants knew. They tested the gold. They weighed the coins. And slowly, the Solidus lost its power. Trade relationships that had lasted for centuries began to fracture. Italian merchants from Venice and Genoa, who had dominated Byzantine commerce, started demanding payment in their own currency or in pure gold. The empire that had once been the financial center of the world, was now dependent on foreign bankers and traders. Emperor Alexio I tried to stabilize the situation by issuing a new gold coin, the Hyper Pyron with higher purity. It worked briefly, but the damage was done. Trust once broken is nearly impossible to restore. The Byzantine economy never fully recovered. And when Constantinople finally fell in 1453 to the Ottoman Turks, the Solidus had long since ceased to matter. Byzantium’s lesson reinforced Rome’s. Even a currency that lasts 700 years can’t survive systematic debasement. No empire is immune. ACT3, the Ottoman Empire. Repeating the pattern in silver, the Ottomans built one of history’s most powerful empires. At its height in the 16th century, it stretched from Vienna to Yemen, from Algeria to the Persian Gulf. And at the heart of its economy was the Axi, a small silver coin that served as the standard currency for centuries. Initially, the Axi maintained its silver content. It was reliable, trusted, and widely used across the empire and beyond. But the same forces that destroyed Rome and Bzantium came for the Ottomans, too. By the late 16th century, the empire faced mounting costs. Wars with Persia, conflicts in Europe, a sprawling bureaucracy, and a massive standing army all required funding. Tax revenues couldn’t keep up. So, the Sultans turned to the mint. Sultan Morad III, ruling in the 1570s and 1580s, began reducing the silver content of the Axi. What had once been nearly pure silver, became a mix of silver and copper. The debasement continued under his successors. By the early 17th century, the axeli had lost most of its silver content. The result was predictable. Inflation surged. Soldiers who were paid an oxy found their wages worthless. In 1589, the Janiseries, the elite military corps, revolted over debased pay. It was the first of many such revolts. The empire that had conquered half the known world, was now fighting its own army over worthless coins. Trade suffered. Foreign merchants refused to accept debased oxy. The Venetians, the French and the Dutch demanded gold or stable foreign currency. Ottoman exports declined. Imports became more expensive. The economy once vibrant began to stagnate. Sultans tried reforms. They issued new coins with higher silver content. They cracked down on counterfeits. They attempted price controls. But none of it worked. The cycle of debasement continued because the fundamental problem overspending and underfunding was never solved. By the 18th century, the Ottoman Empire was in economic decline. By the 19th, it was the sick man of Europe, propped up by foreign loans and European intervention, and by 1923, the empire was gone, replaced by the modern Turkish Republic. The Oxy didn’t kill the empire alone, but it was one of the sharpest weapons in its slow suicide. Once again, the pattern held. Debbase the currency, lose trust, watch the economy collapse, and see the empire follow. ACT4, Spain. Drowning in silver, Spain’s story is different, but ends the same. In the 16th century, Spain became the richest empire on Earth. Not because of wise economic policy, but because of new world silver. The mines of Possi in Bolivia and Zakatkas in Mexico flooded Spain with precious metal. Ships arrived in Seville loaded with silver bars and coins. For a while, this seemed like infinite wealth. Spain financed wars across Europe. It built palaces and cathedrals. It funded the largest navy in the world. The Spanish piece of eight became the global currency accepted from Amsterdam to Manila. But infinite silver created infinite problems. The influx of metal caused massive inflation, what economists now call the price revolution. Between 1500 and 1650, prices in Spain increased by 300 to 400%. The silver that should have made Spain wealthy instead made everything expensive. Why? Because the value of money isn’t just about quantity. It’s about trust and stability. When Spain flooded the market with silver, it debased the currency just as surely as Rome clipped its coins. More silver meant each coin was worth less. And as Spain spent its silver faster than it minded it, on wars, on luxury, on empire, it became dependent on a resource it couldn’t control. By the 17th century, Spain was borrowing from foreign banks to fund its wars. The silver flowed in, but immediately flowed out to creditors in Genoa, Amsterdam, and Augsburg. Spain became a conduit, not a beneficiary, of its own wealth. And then the mines began to decline. Production dropped. Costs rose and Spain, which had built an entire empire on silver, found itself broke. By the 18th century, it was a shadow of its former self. The empire fragmented, territories were lost, and the piece of aid, once the world’s reserve currency, was replaced by the British pound. Spain’s lesson is subtle, but brutal. Even real money can be destroyed if you flood the market with it. Debasement isn’t just about mixing copper into silver. It’s about destroying the balance between supply and value. Spain drowned in wealth and emerged bankrupt. ACT5 VHimar Germany. The modern nightmare of ancient and medieval empires debased slowly. VHimar Germany did it at light speed. After World War I, Germany faced crushing reparations imposed by the Treaty of Versailles. The government needed money it didn’t have. So, it did what every desperate government does. It printed. At first, the printing was modest. A few billion marks to cover deficits, then tens of billions, then hundreds of billions. By 1923, the Reichkes Bank was printing trillions of marks. The currency became so worthless that people used it as wallpaper, burned it for fuel, and carried it in wheelbarrows to buy bread. A loaf of bread that cost 250 marks in January 1923 cost 200 billion marks by November. Prices doubled every few days. Workers demanded to be paid twice a day so they could spend their wages before they became worthless. Savings evaporated. Pensions became meaningless. The middle class, which had trusted the system and saved in marks, was wiped out. This wasn’t slow debasement over centuries. It was hyperinflation in months. But the mechanism was identical to Rome, Bzantium, the Ottomans, and Spain. A government that couldn’t live within its means, destroying its currency to cover the gap. The social consequences were catastrophic. The chaos and despair of hyperinflation fueled extremism. A decade later, Adolf Hitler rose to power partly on the resentment of Germans who had lost everything. VHimar’s currency collapse didn’t just destroy wealth. It destroyed a society. And here’s the terrifying part. Germany wasn’t stupid. It had economists, advisers, and institutions. But it fell into the same trap every empire falls into. Short-term political survival trumped long-term economic stability. Print now, deal with the consequences later, except later came fast. ACT6, the modern dollar. The pattern continues. Now, let’s talk about the present. The United States dollar has been the global reserve currency since 1944. After World War II, the Bretonwood system pegged global currencies to the dollar and the dollar to gold. It was stable, trusted, backed by the world’s largest economy and military. But in 1971, as we covered in another video, President Nixon severed the dollar’s link to gold. From that moment, the dollar became pure fiat currency, money backed by nothing but trust in the US government. And what has happened since? Exactly what happened to Rome, Bzantium, the Ottomans, Spain, and VHimar. The money supply has exploded. In 1971, the US had about $60 billion in circulation. Today, it’s over $21 trillion in M2 money supply. Debt has skyrocketed from under $400 billion to over $ 35 trillion. And the dollar has lost 87% of its purchasing power. This isn’t a conspiracy. It’s publicly available data. The same pattern, the same trap, the same slow debasement disguised as economic policy. The Federal Reserve prints trillions during every crisis, 2008, 2020, and beyond. Each time they promise it’s temporary. Each time, the money supply never contracts. It only grows. Just like Rome minting more copperwashed coins. Just like Spain flooding the market with new world silver. The difference today is speed and scale. Ancient debasement took centuries. Modern debasement happens in years. Rome fell over 500 years. The dollar has been fiat for 54 years and already shows cracks. Inflation is no longer transitory. Debt is no longer manageable and trust is no longer guaranteed. Other countries are noticing. China, Russia, and the BRICS nations are reducing dollar reserves and seeking alternatives. Just as medieval merchants once abandoned the debased Solidus, modern nations are quietly abandoning the dollar. Not overnight, but steadily. The empire doesn’t announce its fall. It just happens, one transaction at a time, as trust evaporates. ACT7. Why empires can’t resist the temptation. So why does this keep happening? If the pattern is so clear, why doesn’t any empire learn? Because the trap is political, not economic. Leaders don’t debase currency because they want to destroy the empire. They do it because it’s the only way to survive politically in the short term. Raising taxes, unpopular. Cuts spark protests and riots. Cutting spending, even worse. Cut military spending and you weaken defense. Cut welfare and you anger the public. Cut infrastructure and the economy suffers. Debbasement is the invisible option. Print more money, issue more coins, and the costs are hidden. Inflation doesn’t hit immediately. The public doesn’t see the connection between money printing and rising prices. By the time they do, the politicians who made the decision are gone. This is why every empire repeats the pattern. The incentives are identical. The trap is structural and human nature doesn’t change. Emperors, sultanss, kings, and presidents all face the same calculation. Destroy the currency slowly and survive politically today or make hard choices and lose power tomorrow. They always choose survival. And the empire always pays the price. ACT8 What happens next? If history is a guide, and it always is, the dollar’s trajectory is clear. It will continue to lose value. Inflation will persist. Debt will grow. And at some point, trust will break. That breaking point won’t be announced. There won’t be a single day when the dollar collapses. Instead, it will be gradual. Foreign nations will hold fewer dollars. transactions will shift to other currencies or assets. Gold, Bitcoin, and other stores of value will gain prominence, and the dollar like the Daenerius, the Solidus, the Axi, and the Mark will fade into history. The question isn’t if, it’s when, and how much wealth will be destroyed when it happens. ACT9, what you can do. So, what do you do with this knowledge? How do you protect yourself when the pattern is so clear and so inevitable? First, understand that currency is not wealth. It’s a claim on wealth. And when the claim becomes unreliable, the wealth disappears. Real wealth is productive assets, land, skills, and things that hold value regardless of what government does to paper. Second, diversify. Don’t hold all your wealth in a single currency. History shows that empires fall, but assets survive. Gold survived Rome, land survived Bzantium, skills survived VHimar. The people who emerge from currency collapse are those who held value outside the system. Third, study the pattern. The more you understand history, the less vulnerable you are to its repetition. Governments will tell you this time is different. They will promise stability. They will frame money printing as necessary. But the outcome is always the same. And finally, accept the uncomfortable truth. The empire you live in will make the same mistakes every empire before it made. Not because it’s incompetent, because it’s trapped. And when the currency dies, most people will be blindsided. But you won’t be because you understood the pattern. Conclusion. The pattern never breaks Rome. Debased its dinarius for 500 years until the empire collapsed. Baantium clipped its solidus for 700 years until trade froze. The Ottomans diluted their axi for 300 years until the empire crumbled. Spain flooded the world with silver until it drowned in debt. VHimar printed until the mark became worthless and the republic fell into tyranny. Every empire kills its own currency before it falls. Not as an accident, as a choice. A choice made by desperate leaders who prioritize survival today over stability tomorrow. And now the dollar is 54 years into the same pattern. The debt is $35 trillion. The money supply has exploded. Inflation is permanent and the trust that holds the system together is eroding. This isn’t pessimism. It’s pattern recognition and the pattern has never been broken. So tell me in the comments where are you watching from? And do you think your country’s currency will survive what Rome, Bzantium, the Ottomans, Spain, and VHimar could not? If this video showed you a pattern you can’t unsee, hit that subscribe button because understanding history is the only defense against repeating it. Empires always kill their currency before they fall. The only question is whether you’ll see it