In Tộ's analysis, the driving force in these historical transformations, which laid the foundation for the opportunity to create an age of Western imperialism, was simply a society's willingness, or conversely, a refusal to apply itself to the systematic study and the practical exploitation of the natural environment. The rise of Europe to international domination was in Tộ's view, neither secular nor inevitable. In "", he illustrated his theory with reference to the fall of the Roman Empire, which he attributed to the Roman elite's obsession with the study of literature: