Empires as systems

Empires were political communities where a central group had governing control over outside groups on the periphery. These peripheral, outside groups had fewer rights than the central group. The difference and relationships between these two groups are what made the state an empire, rather than a kingdom.

The people who lived just beyond an empire’s border were a third group that could affect an empire’s power. Often these border regions were inhabited by tribal peoples, typically seen as barbarians by the empires. Sometimes the border could be shared with another powerful state or empire.

Empires were also economic networks through which goods and resources could be exchanged. The people who lived on the other side of the border were a part of this network of exchange as well. They were integrated into the empire by providing some benefit to the center’s economy, typically resources or labor. Merchants from the empire often crossed borders to trade with neighboring peoples, even when it was forbidden. There were also exchanges of ideas and barbarian groups usually adopted some characteristics of the empire.

Why do empires collapse?

Historians have long looked for exact causes behind the collapse of specific empires. There are often many theories, which are sometimes contradictory. We’ll try to understand some patterns that make empires vulnerable to collapse. Two general measures help us to evaluate the health of empires.

The first is money. Empires were very expensive due to expenses like armies, food and resources, and education. Healthy empires with adequate resources could respond to an invasion, natural disasters, and even temporary shortages of money. Eventually, empires would reach a financial breaking point where they did not have the money to handle their usual problems. A small event could cause the collapse of the empire, like the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back.

The second measure is cohesion (unity), which tended to decline in the empire’s center as the empire aged. Elites became more interested in their own wealth than with the empire. Peripheral people developed a stronger sense of group identity separate from those within the empire’s borders.

These two factors of cost and cohesion combined in ways to speed up an empire’s collapse. As the empire struggled to meet growing expenses, the elites in the center were less motivated to help the emperor maintain control. The emperor would be unable to respond to a crisis such as rebellion, plague, or attack from outside groups.

The growth, decline, or movement of populations within an empire was also a connecting factor. An empire could suffer from a lack of funds if the tax-paying population decreased too much or if people moved out of reach of tax collectors. If the population grew too much, it would strain available resources. If an empire couldn’t provide what its people needed, they usually rebelled.

From theory to reality: Han dynasty China and the Roman Empire

In this lesson, we will learn mainly about the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 CE and the fall of the Han dynasty in 220 CE. The Romans and Han were powerful empires that experienced similar problems related to the measures we described above. A closer look at those issues is a great way to understand the general life cycle of an empire.

First, let’s look at the money measure. Both Rome and the Han dynasty suffered financial loss as elites began to pocket taxes for their own use. Then the empires saw a decrease in the number of people they were able to tax. In Rome, peasants evaded tax collectors by moving outside of their reach. In China, the Han dynasty became depopulated as people ran from barbarian raids along the border. The empire was unable to collect the tax money needed to fight off the barbarian raids.

Both empires also had problems with cohesion. The Romans and the Han saw themselves as superior and tended to mistreat these outside groups. Once the different groups realized how strong they would be by coming together, they became a much more serious threat to the empire.

Collapse elsewhere

Examples of imperial collapse can also be seen in other great states in other time periods. One is the Persian Empire. The Persian Empire was so weakened by civil wars and assassinations that it was unable to resist Alexander the Great when he conquered it in 334 to 323 BCE.

There were also empires in South America, such as the Incan Empire. The Inca state fell to the Spanish in the sixteenth century. This story has usually been told as the victory of superior Europeans over primitive Inca, but this is not accurate. The Incan Empire was in decline due to civil war, anti-Incan peripheral groups, and elites who did not support the emperor. The Spanish arrived at a time where the Inca were too weak to resist.