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Danny Boling ☮️

Fact: The average lifespan of an empire is (was?) around 250 years.

Fact: The USA is 248 years old.

These facts are unrelated. I don't even know why I brought them up.

#YesIDo#USpol#Facts

@IAmDannyBoling The United States has only been an empire since WWII, so this calculation is off a bit.

@AinsleyLowbeer @IAmDannyBoling

Early 1800s onwards the US declaring it reserved the sole right to overthrow governments in the rest of its continent and kick out colonial powers. Annexing Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Alaska (more indigenous people than not), parts of Mexico. etc etc etc.

@IAmDannyBoling
Each empire is started by a strong leader, and finishes with a weak one.

@IAmDannyBoling
Unidad States did not become an empire until 1945. We have almost 2 more centuries of Pax Americana according to that statistics :ablobcatcoffee:

@IAmDannyBoling I mean, it makes for a good zinger, but as a historian, there really isn't any sound basis for calculating the "lifespan of an Empire": what states and polities do or don't consider as a continuity of themselves is a pretty arbitrary measure! And which states do and don't get treated as Imperial is pretty arbitrary and arguable too.

And even if one does agree the data set, a mean average isn't very meaningful without thinking about how the data are clustered/distributed...

@Theblueone @IAmDannyBoling

Sorry this wasn't obvious. The Eastern Empire survived over a thousand years after the fall of Rome and the collapse of the Western Empire. Byzantium shows even if half your empire collapses, you can have more than 250 years from that point.

@IAmDannyBoling Who calculated this?

Ottoman Empire: ~600 y.

Persian Empire: approx 26 centuries over different regimes

Chinese Empire: Over 2 millenia

Older we go lengthier the empires become. Hittites ruled over their empire about 5 centuries and they were a relatively small, short-lived empire.

@IAmDannyBoling We also tend to paint over the cracks. If Erdogan restarts the 2nd Ottoman Empire as he fully intends to do so as the new Padishah, the Turkish Republic will just become a foot note. He's already ruled it longer than anyone else, including the founder.

@IAmDannyBoling The US has been an empire for a lot less than 250 years, even if you start with the Mexican-American War.

Stopping hugging the divine retribution memes.

Tell stories about a better future.

@IAmDannyBoling Did you account for russia in that averaging?

@IAmDannyBoling @cstross Yes but the USA has really been an empire except for the last 100 years. They like to think they are but they didn’t become a super power until WW2. Britain’s navy prior to that was three times the size!

@IAmDannyBoling Ah, that would be Sir John Glubb, yeah?
"Fate of Nations" quote:
"The heroes of declining nations are always the same—the athlete, the singer or the actor. The word ‘celebrity’ today is used to designate a comedian or a football player, not a statesman, a general, or a literary genius"

people.uncw.edu/kozloffm/glubb