Would love to see more analysis of the external reasons for Rome's decline. Namely, who were the people who could vigorously challenge Rome?
The population of the Roman Empire decline due to plague, while the Gothic population and culture had grown with better agricultural technology. When the Huns pushed vast numbers of Goths into the weakened Roman empire in the west they further weakened it. Italy starved, and they lost the ability to raise effective armies. Rome itself eventually fell to siege and starvation.
The author also talked about that in another post [1], though it's not the focus of it (mostly in the 'Kicking, Gouging and Screaming' part).
[1] https://acoup.blog/2021/07/30/collections-the-queens-latin-o...