One civilization's dark age is another civilization's golden age.
The "Viking Age" was a time of expansion for the Scandinavians. They founded new cities from Ireland to Russia, opened up new trade routes and almost established themselves on a new continent.
The collapse of the Roman Empire in the west was a boon for the Franks, Vandals, Visigoths and Ostrogoths. The recovery of the eastern Roman Empire in the 500's was the downfall for most of them.
If the Sassanids and the Rhomaioi hadn't have battered each other senseless in their last conflict with one another, the Quraysh confederation, centred in Mecca, and their new Islam ideology wouldn't have had the golden age they enjoyed.
Just because the Roman Empire lost half its territory and struggled on for centuries, doesn't mean that everyone has to assume their failure as if it was their own.
The "Viking Age" was a time of expansion for the Scandinavians. They founded new cities from Ireland to Russia, opened up new trade routes and almost established themselves on a new continent.
The collapse of the Roman Empire in the west was a boon for the Franks, Vandals, Visigoths and Ostrogoths. The recovery of the eastern Roman Empire in the 500's was the downfall for most of them.
If the Sassanids and the Rhomaioi hadn't have battered each other senseless in their last conflict with one another, the Quraysh confederation, centred in Mecca, and their new Islam ideology wouldn't have had the golden age they enjoyed.
Just because the Roman Empire lost half its territory and struggled on for centuries, doesn't mean that everyone has to assume their failure as if it was their own.