What Happens after Imperial Collapse?

The subject of imperial collapse is popular these because of the imploding Russian Empire, the weakening American Empire and stories about an economic decline in China.

In particular, the Ukraine War has brought empire and its fall to the forefront of many people’s thoughts. For example, I consider the Ukraine War a symptom of Russian imperial collapse. To explain, collapsing empires often embark and military and colonial adventures.

For example, the French colonial adventures in Vietnam and Algeria in the 1950s and 1960s, right before those countries’ independence. French leaders were trying to demonstrate their military power to the world after the Nazi conquest of France in 1940. Today, Vladimir Putin is trying to demonstrate Russian imperial power by reconquering Ukraine as Russia spirals into collapse.

Thus, we need to ask how imperial collapse works to predict and deter future wars. We can learn a lot about imperial collapse from history because many empires have fallen.

The Types of Imperial Collapse

First, there are two broad types of imperial collapse. These are total collapse, when an empire totally falls apart. For example, the Chinese Empire in the early 20th century.