Throughout history, countless civilizations have risen from humble beginnings to become almost
unspeakably powerful. Macedonia , for example, began as a constantly besieged kingdom on the
periphery of the Hellenic world — but within the lifetimes of King Phillip II and his son Alexander
the Great, it had conquered most of the known world from Greece to the edge of India. Rome,
meanwhile, was little more than a small city-state at the mercy of its mysterious Etruscan neighbors…
before conquering most of Western Europe, the Balkans, North Africa, and the Levant.
One thing these prominent empires have in common is their lifespan. History's largest and most
commanding empires have seldom survived beyond a few centuries before seeing themselves lose
relevance, transform from within or without, or disappear altogether. Indeed, some experts
have suggested that the average lifespan of a historical empire tends to sit around 250 years
— which raises the possibility that America may be about to go through some pretty rough years.
Naturally, the rise of an empire can come very quickly indeed, but the decline can happen just
as quickly. Among others, the Macedonians conquered the largest empire to have ever
existed by that point: the Persian Empire. Yet the massive civilization Alexander forged in
just a few years collapsed with great speed as soon as he died. Despite the efforts of
many to take over the empire in its entirety, the conflict between Alexander's generals was
too great for a single victor to emerge. After more than a decade, dynasties such as Ptolemaic
Egypt and the Seleucid Empire emerged from the shattered region. Macedonia still existed, sure,
but it had little direct control over much beyond Greece. Eventually, even these lands
fell to Rome, after subsequent centuries of political infighting and military decline.
Conversely, the collapse of Rome was an exceptionally slow process. Like the Macedonians,
the Romans had conquered an enormous amount of territory. Unlike their spiritual predecessors,
however, they managed to maintain control of their lands for centuries. Unfortunately for
the Romans, the costs of expansion began to wear away the empire's foundations.
A variety of factors came into play, including the thinning of military supply lines, raids and
rebellions by conquered peoples, overpopulation, plagues, and even, arguably, a mini-ice age.
The empire's infamous divisions into halves and fourths were desperate attempts to mitigate the
detriments of centralization. Even this could not prevent the collapse, though,
and in the end, the Byzantine Empire was left as Rome's last remnant. The Byzantine Empire
itself subsequently experienced a similar decline, beginning in the early 13th century.
Of course, the United States is no stranger to dramatic conflict and expansion.
From civil war to territorial conquests to the bloody drive of Manifest Destiny,
many similarities can be drawn between America's foundation and the old empires of the past.
Even after the establishment of the lower 48 states, the U.S. overthrew the Hawaiian monarchy
and enacted gunboat diplomacy upon first contact with Japan and Korea. The country's
traditional territorial expansion mostly ended with the conclusion of the Spanish-American war,
though intervention in regions such as Latin America remained commonplace for many years after.
"The President has directed United States forces to execute,
at one o'clock a.m. this morning, pre-planned missions in Panama to protect American lives."
Then, despite public support for isolationism after 1945,
the U.S. stood alongside only the Soviet Union as one of the world's two superpowers.
Any thoughts of returning to an inwardly focused America quickly vanished, as the
U.S. expanded its influence across the world to combat its new rival.
In the 21st century, the so-called "War on Terror" is, in many ways,
a continuation of past policies — with hundreds of U.S. military bases now existing across the world.
Thousands of lives have been lost and billions of dollars spent in this two-decade campaign to
end religious extremism. However, American efforts to nation-build have sometimes led
to the establishment of weak governments that are largely unable to control their countries.
Even America's greatest successes, such as the death of Osama bin Laden, resulted
in little long-term change in the region. These failures do not bode well for the now politically
turbulent America — a country that is rapidly approaching its 250-year imperial expiration date.
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