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It's awkward when empires weaken.
Rome deteriorated until it got sacked repeatedly.
The Byzantine Empire (which finally defeated the eastern Roman empire) weakened until WWI pretty much wiped it out and its lands were redistributed.
Britain had to watch its hold over IIRC about 20% of the planet a century ago be lost - of course the American colonies earlier, but later came many more like India, as Britain had to get used to being a much smaller power.
Russia is going through it. They tried to be a 'big boy' in a two-power world, but were always struggling. They had some 'wins' - the first man in space, the biggest atomic explosion - but were more a foil for the west than a real competitor for world power. And then they fell, but they don't like the new smaller power they have, and Putin wants it back and thinks he can just go take it. He's built his support on the promise to do that.
Next up: looks likely to be the US, as China gains in power, surpasses the US economy, builds its military strength and starts to exert power in the world displacing the US. There is every reason to expect the US not to respond much better than Russia is.
And were China to weaken, they'd have a huge problem as a weakened empire.
They've built up a radical national ideology, where the people literally feel China is the center of the world, other countries don't matter, they are the best period, with Nazi-like racial supremacy and an extreme mob mentality about grievance and exerting power. It's very dangerous stuff, as Ukraine is showing.
Rome deteriorated until it got sacked repeatedly.
The Byzantine Empire (which finally defeated the eastern Roman empire) weakened until WWI pretty much wiped it out and its lands were redistributed.
Britain had to watch its hold over IIRC about 20% of the planet a century ago be lost - of course the American colonies earlier, but later came many more like India, as Britain had to get used to being a much smaller power.
Russia is going through it. They tried to be a 'big boy' in a two-power world, but were always struggling. They had some 'wins' - the first man in space, the biggest atomic explosion - but were more a foil for the west than a real competitor for world power. And then they fell, but they don't like the new smaller power they have, and Putin wants it back and thinks he can just go take it. He's built his support on the promise to do that.
Next up: looks likely to be the US, as China gains in power, surpasses the US economy, builds its military strength and starts to exert power in the world displacing the US. There is every reason to expect the US not to respond much better than Russia is.
And were China to weaken, they'd have a huge problem as a weakened empire.
They've built up a radical national ideology, where the people literally feel China is the center of the world, other countries don't matter, they are the best period, with Nazi-like racial supremacy and an extreme mob mentality about grievance and exerting power. It's very dangerous stuff, as Ukraine is showing.
