Beyond rampant inflation and political bullying, what else was common to the three monstrous centuries?

It's been the lust for unearned money. With its vast empire of conquest and tribute, Rome had accumulated the greatest amount of wealth in history. Then, once limitations upon government ambition were corrupted, even this great treasure became inadequate to fund bureaucratic ambition.

Thus the resort to confiscatory taxation and horrendous debasement of the currency. These two evils are the big sign that bureaucracy has become more important than the common wealth. Over the centuries, there has been inquiry about collapsing empires and why Rome failed.

Some have thought it was destroyed by the "barbarians". But in the Third Century, the term meant stranger or Christian. The latter, with its fundamental concept of free will and teachings of morality, was found intolerant to the establishment.

This, combined with the Northerners' legal system that protected the individual from the state (Rome's was top down) eventually collapsed the out of control police state. In this condition, Rome, ... more.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.