>>814098
I'd attribute their downfall more to greed than fear, but I digress.
As for would the world have been better off. I'd say yes. I'd like to think that the Hussites would have been put down completely if the Templars were still active. No Hussites, no Luther. No Luther, no (((Freemasonry))). No freemasonry, no modernism and the modern world as we know it. But that is left in the realm of "if only". Better to focus and pray about the reality which we face today than to live in the world of "if only" though admittedly that premise would make a pretty good alternative history fiction novel