The Empire Collapse
1) Tools of Empire Collapse — General Classification + Examples In short, empires rarely fall from a single cause. It’s usually a combination of external blows and internal weaknesses: military defeats, economic breakdown, nationalist movements, loss of legitimacy among elites and masses, revolutions, international isolation, and legal/diplomatic action. Below is a set of tools with historical illustrations. 1. Military defeats and war-diplomacy settlements Defeats in major wars often accelerate disintegration (e.g., World War I for the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian Empires; Britain’s Suez Crisis defeat hastened decolonization). 2. National liberation movements and insurgency/hybrid warfare Colonies and subject nations organize strong nationalist movements (e.g., the Algerian War against France, 1954–62), which erode the metropole’s will and legitimacy to maintain control. 3. Internal revolutions, elite collapse, and state crises The Russian Empire fell in 1917 due to a mix of war losse...