Empires come, and they go.


Remnants of empires of the past across the world can be found in the stone structures they leave behind for us to ponder about. The Egyptians, Incas and a host of others created monuments and fortifications to be proud of.
How do empires grow and subsequently fall apart? Once established, why don’t they just persist for the benefit of inhabitants?
The growth phase is fairly easy to understand: As a consequence of several factors coming together, such as skilled leadership, natural resources and adventurism, a group of people can subjugate other groups and incorporate them into an ever growing organization of conquest and dominance, mostly for the benefit of the conquerors and their collaborators.
So, why do these arrangements invariably break up over time? Some quickly and others over several hundred years?
A great example of how this can happen quickly is described in Hugh Thomas’s book “The Conquest of Mexico” that I obtained for $1 at a charitable thrift store some years ago.
It is a scholarly work of some 800 pages based on historical records and first hand accounts of participants, the ‘conquistadores’ in Cortes’ party of adventurers.
How could the long lasting and highly sophisticated empire of the Mexican people of the day crumble so quickly under the pressure of a few opportunistic foreigners?
In addition to superior weaponry, Cortes wielded another far more effective weapon: He exploited the pre-existing differences between various groups within the empire for his own advantage and picked his physical fights carefully after prolonged planning.
Leading up to the final showdown, he and his men even spent time at Emperor Montezuma’s court as ‘friends’.
So, the lesson is that empires essentially self destruct as internal tensions develop.
The ‘coup-de-grace’ could come from many sources, natural or man-made.
Where are we today?

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