Empire Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! == Fall of empires == === Roman Empire === {{Further|Fall of the Western Roman Empire}} The fall of the [[Fall of the Western Roman Empire|western half of the Roman Empire]] is seen as one of the most pivotal points in all of human history. This event traditionally marks the transition from classical civilization to the birth of Europe. The Roman Empire started to decline at the end of the reign of the last of the [[Five Good Emperors]], Marcus Aurelius in 161–180 A.D. There is still a debate over the cause of the fall of one of the largest empires in history. Piganiol argues that the Roman Empire under its authority can be described as "a period of terror",<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Piganiol |first=André |year=1950 |title=The Causes of the Fall of the Roman Empire |journal=The Journal of General Education |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=62–69 |jstor=27795332}}</ref> holding its imperial system accountable for its failure. Another theory blames the rise of Christianity as the cause, arguing that the spread of certain Christian ideals caused internal weakness of the military and state.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bury |first=John |title=History of the Later Roman Empire |publisher=Dover Publications |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-486-20398-0 |location=New York}}</ref> In his book ''The Fall of the Roman Empire'', Peter Heather contends that there are many factors, including issues of money and manpower, which produce military limitations and culminate in the Roman army's inability to effectively repel invading barbarians at the frontier.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Heather |first=Peter |title=The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-19-532541-6 |location=New York, Oxford}}</ref> The Western Roman economy was already stretched to its limit in the 4th and 5th Centuries C.E. due to continual conflict and loss of territory which, in turn, generated loss of revenue from the tax base. There was also the looming presence of the Persians which, at any time, took a large percentage of the fighting force's attention. At the same time the Huns, a nomadic warrior people from the steppes of Asia, are also putting extreme pressure on the German tribes outside of the Roman frontier, which gave the German tribes no other choice, geographically, but to move into Roman territory. At this point, without increased funding, the Roman army could no longer effectively defend its borders against major waves of Germanic tribes. This inability is illustrated by the crushing [[Battle of Adrianople|defeat at Adrianople]] in 378 C.E. and, later, the [[Crossing of the Rhine]] in 406 C.E. ===Transition from empire=== In time, an empire may change from one political entity to another. For example, the Holy Roman Empire, a German re-constitution of the [[Roman Empire]], metamorphosed into various political structures (i.e., federalism), and eventually, under [[Habsburg]] rule, re-constituted itself in 1804 as the [[Austrian Empire]], an empire of much different politics and scope, which in turn became the [[Austro-Hungarian Empire]] in 1867. The Roman Empire, perennially reborn, also lived on as the [[Byzantine Empire]] (Eastern Roman Empire) – temporarily splitting into the [[Latin Empire]], the [[Empire of Nicaea]] and the [[Empire of Trebizond]] before its remaining territory and centre became part of the [[Ottoman Empire]]. A similarly persistent concept of empire saw the [[Mongol Empire]] become the Khanate of the [[Golden Horde]], the [[Yuan dynasty|Yuan]] [[Empire of China]], and the [[Ilkhanate]] before resurrection as the [[Timurid Empire]] and as the [[Mughal Empire]]. After 1945 the [[Empire of Japan]] retained its Emperor but lost its colonial possessions and became the State of [[Japan]]. Despite the semantic reference to imperial power, [[Japan]] is a ''[[de jure]]'' [[constitutional monarchy]], with a homogeneous population of 127 million people that is 98.5 percent ethnic Japanese, making it one of the largest nation-states.<ref>George Hicks, ''Japan's hidden apartheid: the Korean Minority and the Japanese'', (Aldershot, England; Brookfield, VT: Ashgate, 1998), 3.</ref> An autocratic empire can become a [[republic]] (e.g., the Central African Empire in 1979), or it can become a republic with its imperial dominions reduced to a core territory (e.g., [[Weimar Republic|Weimar Germany]] shorn of the German colonial empire (1918–1919), or the Ottoman Empire (1918–1923)). The dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire after 1918 provides an example of a multi-ethnic [[superstate]] broken into constituent nation-oriented states: the republics, kingdoms, and provinces of [[Austria]], [[Hungary]], [[Transylvania]], [[Croatia]], [[Slovenia]], [[Bosnia and Herzegovina]], [[Czechoslovakia]], [[Ruthenia]], [[Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria|Galicia]], ''et al''. In the aftermath of [[World War I]] the [[Russian Empire]] also broke up and became reduced to the [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic]] (RSFSR) before re-forming as the USSR (1922–1991) – sometimes seen as the core of a [[Soviet Empire]]. The latter also disintegrated in 1989-91. After the Second World War (1939–1945), the deconstruction of colonial empires quickened and became commonly known as [[decolonisation]]. The British Empire evolved into a loose, multinational [[Commonwealth of Nations]], while the [[French colonial empire]] metamorphosed to a [[Organisation internationale de la Francophonie|Francophone commonwealth]]. The same process happened to the [[Portuguese Empire]], which evolved into a [[Community of Portuguese Language Countries|Lusophone commonwealth]], and to the former territories of the extinct [[Spanish Empire]], which alongside the Lusophone countries of [[Portugal]] and [[Brazil]], created an [[Organization of Ibero-American States|Ibero-American commonwealth]]. France returned the French territory of [[Kwang-Chou-Wan]] to China in 1946. The British gave [[Hong Kong]] back to China in 1997 after 150 years of rule. The Portuguese territory of [[Macau]] reverted to China in 1999. Macau and Hong Kong did not become part of the provincial structure of China; they have autonomous systems of government as [[Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China]]. France still governs [[Overseas France|overseas territories]] ([[French Guiana]], [[Martinique]], [[Réunion]], [[French Polynesia]], [[New Caledonia]], [[Collectivity of Saint Martin|Saint Martin]], [[Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon]], [[Guadeloupe]], [[French Southern and Antarctic Lands]] (TAAF), [[Wallis and Futuna]], [[Saint Barthélemy]], and [[Mayotte]]), and exerts hegemony in [[Francafrique]] ("French Africa"; 29 francophone countries such as [[Chad]], [[Rwanda]], etc.). Fourteen [[British Overseas Territories]] remain under British sovereignty. Fifteen countries of the [[Commonwealth of Nations]] share their head of state, King [[Charles III]], as [[Commonwealth realms]]. Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. 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