What causes cultures to decline and fall?
Islam Issa, Caroline Dodds Pennock and Luke Kemp explore what causes a culture to collapse – and whether history has any lessons for us in the 21st century
Published: November 26, 2025 at 9:00 AM
The new BBC TV series Civilisations: Rise and Fall charts the decline of some of history's most famous cultures, from the Aztecs to the ancient Egyptians. Three of its experts – Islam Issa, Caroline Dodds Pennock and Luke Kemp – joined Matt Elton to explore some of the series' major themes, and why stories of a civilisation's decline might be more complicated than we first think.
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Authors
Matt EltonDeputy Editor, BBC History Magazine
Matt Elton is BBC History Magazine’s Deputy Editor. He has worked at the magazine since 2012 and has more than a decade’s experience working across a range of history brands.
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