You sort of get an idea of what it must have been like for the Roman Legionnaires around AD 300 as they stood on the Roman Empire's borders defending them... only to discover that, along with their pay packets, the very core of the Empire, Rome, had imploded and disappeared up its own fundamental orifice.
History, I fear, is repeating itself.
I just hope it doesn't do so to the point where our grandchildren have to endure another thousand year Dark Ages.