It's tempting to believe that history simply repeats itself, but someone once noted that "history doesn't repeat itself, it rhymes." I'm not entirely sure what that means, but I'll express my thoughts—looking back after the Fall of the Roman Empire, it becomes clear that another empire didn't just take its place. Instead, there was the Byzantine Empire in the East, which was basically the Eastern Roman Empire, while the Western Roman Empire evolved under the Carolingians, eventually falling to Charlemagne.

During the Medieval period, the Western Roman Empire fragmented into various regions, occupied by diverse groups, marked by change and conflict. True unification of Western Europe didn't really occur until the late 1700s and early 1800s, driven by Napoleon's leadership.

In my view, the next iteration of "the current big thing" often ends up being something entirely different.