About This Book

A Historical Survey of the Many Ways Empires Have Succumbed to External and Internal Pressures

There are no self-proclaimed empires today. After the twentieth century, with its worldwide wave of decolonizing and liberation movements, the very word “empire” conjures images of slavery, war, repression, and colonialism. None of this is to say that empires are confined to the past, however. By at least some reasonable definitions, empires do exist today. Many articles and books speak about the decline of the “American Empire,” for example, or compare the history of the United States to that of Rome or the British Empire. Yet no public official would speak candidly of American imperial interests in the Middle East or use the word empire in discussions of the nation’s future the same way British politicians did in the twentieth century.  In addition, empires don’t have to fit the classical Roman mold; there are many kinds of empire and varieties of international authority, such as cultural imperialism and economic imperialism. But it is clear empires do not last, even those that once harnessed great wealth, strong armies, and sophisticated legal systems.

In The Fall of Empires: A Brief History of Imperial Collapse, historian Chad Denton describes the end of seventeen empires across world history, from Athens to Qin China, from the Byzantium to the Mughals. He reveals—through stories of conquest, corruption, incompetence, assassination, bigotry, and environmental crisis—how even the most seemingly eternal of empires declined. For Athens and Britain it was military hubris; for Qin China and Russia it was alienating their subjects through oppression; Persia succumbed with the loss of its capital; the Khmer faced ecological catastrophe; while the Aztecs were destroyed by colonial exploitation. None of these events alone explains why  the empires fell, but they do provide a glimpse into the often-unpredictable currents of history, which have so far spared no empire. A fascinating and instructive survey, The Fall of Empires provides compelling evidence about the fate of centralized regional or global power.

Contents

Chad Denton received his PhD in History from the University of Missouri. He is the author of Decadence, Radicalism, and the Early Modern French Nobility: The Enlightened and Depraved.

Praise for The Fall of Empires:

“Denton’s task is ambitious and difficult, but he does it brilliantly with focus and lucid narrative. . . . Most fascinating are Denton’s descriptions of the less obvious reasons for imperial collapse.”—Military Officer

“Chad Denton has written a highly nuanced account of the many ways in which personality, history, and serendipity have interacted to end empires, in the ancient, medieval, and modern worlds and across the continents. Both specialists and non-specialists will find his treatment enlightening and his writing exceptional.”—Alexander J. Motyl, author of Imperial Ends: The Decay, Collapse, and Revival of Empires

“A thoughtful and comprehensive volume. From the Aztecs to the Achaemenids, Denton brings the world’s fallen empires back to life in glorious Technicolor.”—Paul Cooper, host, Fall of Civilizations podcast