Zagrożenia asymetryczne jako przyczyna upadku Cesarstwa Rzymskiego na Zachodzie
Asymmetric threats as a factor in the fall of the Western Roman Empire

Summary/Abstract: The term ‘asymmetric threats’ functions, although under slightly different meanings, in contemporary strategic, international and political studies, and defines some phenomena which are characteristic of the world in the 21st century. Anyone who wants to find contemporary phenomena in previous epochs has to be aware of a great risk. Using simple analogies is even more dangerous, because it is easy to compare the incomparable. Conscious of the danger, the author decided to take up the topic. The longer he investigated, the more convinced he was that such a contemporary phenomenon as ‘asymmetric threats’ could be – obviously mutatis mutandis – not only applicable to the reality of the 5th-century Western Roman Empire, but also recognized as one of the factors of the collapse of the state. In the presented paper, he demonstrates his argumentation and proposes an answer to the question if one can observe ‘asymmetric threats’ in Late Antiquity and if so, which of them were the most dangerous for the state, how they influenced the functioning of the Empire and how Romans tried to confront them.

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