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This is a wide ranging question partly inspired by how weak the Empire was in the 1400s but also and more importantly for me the 400s. Whenever I would read about the empire's weakness and how they couldn't muster the strength to combat their enemies I always became confused.
Mostly because of just how huge their cities were, thousands of people moving on with their lives and none of them would join the army? These were my thoughts on medieval rome when it was reduced to the city and Morea and when the West was defended entirely by barbarian foederatii.
Why didn't the empire put its population to good use, and why didn't they ever make a larger effort to bring more natives into the army?