The Rise and Fall of Feudalism

The fall of Rome literally reset the server for Western civilization. For the next thousand

years, Europe turned into a battle royale of Germanic kingdoms. This created Feudalism,

which was basically a massive pyramid scheme where knights got land and serfs did all the work

for zero pay. The Church was the ultimate influencer, crowning emperors and launching the

Crusades to fight for the Holy Land. But here is the twist. The Black Death

wiped out half of Europe, and that tragedy actually forced wages up and finally

killed off the feudal system.