The destruction was caused by many factors. One of these was constant invasions from Germany, which destroyed the infrastructure of the region. This led to greater self-autonomy as towns and villages could not rely on foreign sources of food and materials which resulted in feudalism. It's also why Europe in the middle ages was so fractured.
Slavery was just replaced with another form of forced labor. And that's how a large portion of these revolutions end up. Another group of elites exploiting you in new ways. It's not always the case, though. A successful revolution will require people to rethink society and it's unclear whether we are willing to do that.