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Actually, if you look at history, there were often extended periods of peace during stable empires. For example the Pax Romana during the high Roman Empire. Du

Actually, if you look at history, there were often extended periods of peace during stable empires. For example the Pax Romana during the high Roman Empire. During these periods of imperial peace, warfare is mostly confined to the frontier regions or where the empire abuts another empire. One could argue that we are in a similar time now. The USA basically has a de-facto empire over the Americas and Western Europe. The Middle East is a frontier zone. Ukraine abuts a former empire (Russian/Soviet) trying to regain its former glory. Taiwan abuts China which is trying to establish its own hegemony in its region.

alephnerd 3y ago
> often extended periods of peace during stable empires Peace as in no major wars, sure. But plenty of hyper-local conflicts (think clan feuds, hyperlocal peasant revolts, etc) would happen all the time before the expansion of state power in the 20th century. Hell, when my great-grandfather was born, they were recent settlers in a region of Northern India that was completely depopulated of the indigenous population during the British conquest of the Sikh Empire. Where my great-grandfather's family was from was filled with multi-generational clan feuds, the occasional peasant revolt against the govt tax collector, and the occasional millenarian revolt. You wouldn't read about most of this stuff in your high school history textbook or on History Channel, but it would happen with consistency. I can guarantee with a fact that this same story existed in every single country before the 20th century and the rise of the railroad, canned food, and the telegraph. Before those 3 technologies arose, power projection was difficult, and "empires" were in reality a mixture of local fiefdoms (literally) who pledged feality to some guy in a capital far away. To use the classic Chinese and Russian quote - God and the Emperor are far, but I am here [0] [0] - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaven_is_high_and_the_emperor_is_far_away https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaven_is_high_and_the_emper...
type0 3y ago
> The USA basically has a de-facto empire over the Americas and Western Europe A country that is a bully to others is not the definition of empire. This isn't even loosely comparable to a real former empire like British Empire and yes "Soviet Empire". China is slowly becoming an even bigger bully in Asia and Africa, but that doesn't make it an empire either.

alephnerd 3y ago

> often extended periods of peace during stable empires Peace as in no major wars, sure. But plenty of hyper-local conflicts (think clan feuds, hyperlocal peasant revolts, etc) would happen all the time before the expansion of state power in the 20th century. Hell, when my great-grandfather was born, they were recent settlers in a region of Northern India that was completely depopulated of the indigenous population during the British conquest of the Sikh Empire. Where my great-grandfather's family was from was filled with multi-generational clan feuds, the occasional peasant revolt against the govt tax collector, and the occasional millenarian revolt. You wouldn't read about most of this stuff in your high school history textbook or on History Channel, but it would happen with consistency. I can guarantee with a fact that this same story existed in every single country before the 20th century and the rise of the railroad, canned food, and the telegraph. Before those 3 technologies arose, power projection was difficult, and "empires" were in reality a mixture of local fiefdoms (literally) who pledged feality to some guy in a capital far away. To use the classic Chinese and Russian quote - God and the Emperor are far, but I am here [0] [0] - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaven_is_high_and_the_emperor_is_far_away https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaven_is_high_and_the_emper...

type0 3y ago

> The USA basically has a de-facto empire over the Americas and Western Europe A country that is a bully to others is not the definition of empire. This isn't even loosely comparable to a real former empire like British Empire and yes "Soviet Empire". China is slowly becoming an even bigger bully in Asia and Africa, but that doesn't make it an empire either.