Canonical · History & Civilizational Arcs · Book
The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers
Paul Kennedy · 1987
"Great powers decline for a consistent structural reason across five centuries of history — military commitments grow to exceed the economic base that funds them, a pattern Kennedy called 'imperial overstretch.'"
A Yale historian studied five centuries of great-power rises and falls — Habsburg Spain, the Dutch Republic, the British Empire — and found the same failure mode recurring: military ambition outrunning the economy that has to pay for it.
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Up NextSuggested: Continues the theme of History & Civilizational Arcs
Asabiyyah: The Cyclical Rise and Fall of Civilizations
"Dynasties rise on group solidarity forged by hardship and collapse within three to four generations as comfort dissolves the very bond that built them."
Ibn Khaldun · BookContinue→