Question

What does Ferguson mean when he states, "History isn't one smooth, parabolic curve after another" (paragraph 3)? What evidence does he provide to support this comment?

Answer 1

"History isn't one smooth , parabolic curve after another ."

By this statement , Nial Ferguson wanted to imply that the fall and rise of civilisation does'nt follow a smooth parabolic curve .He specifically used it in the context of decline of a civilisation where he believes that decline of civilisation is not a smooth ,gradual,predictable process .History is nothing like that it ll gradually rise and then gradually declines.

But history and civilisation more likely follows an exponential curve with a steepening slope where the decline is very abrupt , unpredictable and there is a fast collapse and an inevitable end.

To second his statement, he gives examples from the history of the collapsed  past civilisation.

He mentions the sudden collapse of Roman empire due to barbaric invasions.He further quotes the collapse of the China's Ming dynasty at a extraordinary fast pace due to internal conflicts and external invasions.He also provides details of the sudden collapse of the Soviet Union and mentions the within 1 year collapse of postcolonial dictatorship of North America and Middle East