WWII= Ultimate showdown between Romans and Byzantines

I had this weird thought yesterday, that the Eastern Front of World War II was the final huge cultural clash between the successor states of the Western and Eastern Roman Empires:

Western Roman Empire -> Holy Roman Empire -> Prussia -> Germany -> Nazi Germany
Eastern Roman Empire -> Kievan Rus -> Muscovy -> Russia -> Soviet Union

The east was Orthodox, diverse, and had a culture of being the civilization surrounded by barbarians, yet surviving where others couldn't, be they Muslims or capitalists. They had a long tradition but still retained the perceived immortality of believing they had discovered truth and civilization.

The west was Catholic (which later split into modern Catholicism and Protestantism), relatively ethnically uniform and proud of it, and had been battered for years and felt they deserved something from it. They were jealous and hateful of the east. They stood in their ruins, having survived the worst, and now struck back.

The battle between East and West, from the Year of Four Emperors to the Venetians and the Byzantines all the way up to the Nazis and Soviets, and then ended as wars ceased to be about culture and became much more about ideology.

Thoughts?
 
balkanzied Roman Empire..

However in some and many ways that is accurate since the fall of Rome.. many nations have tried to take the mantle of Roman Empire.


  • The Romanovs the eastern empire heirs through marriage declared Moscow the Third Rome. and in effect the eastern empire ended with the death of Nicholas and family.


  • and of course well even the Ottomans considered themselves the heirs to the Eastern Empire


  • HRE was neither holy nor roman .. made claims.. ..

  • The Frankish Empire even made claims .. but after Napoleon gave up the idea.

  • even Mussolini even declared the roman empire restored. Didnt last long nor end very well..

everyone wanted to be rome.. so in effect what you have had is one long protracted civil war that ended in 1945 but had quiet war until 1990 :D
 
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