Empire

This article is about political and historical terms. For other uses, see Empire (disambiguation). "Ancient Empires" redirects here. For the game, see Ancient Empires (mobile game). Not to be confused with Umpire.

An empire is a group of lands ruled by one leader, called a monarch, or by a single central power. Within an empire, different groups of people may have different rights. They may also be ruled in different ways.

The word "empire" comes from the Roman idea of Imperium, which means the right to command.

Empires have taken many different forms throughout history.

Definition

An empire is a group of many territories under one supreme ruler or a small group of rulers. What counts as an empire can be described in different ways. It might be a state that affects imperial policies or has a particular political structure. Empires are usually made up of different ethnic groups, nations, cultures, and religions. Michael W. Doyle describes an empire as "effective control, whether formal or informal, of a subordinated society by an imperial society." For Doyle, Imperialism is the process of setting up and keeping an empire. Rein Taagepera sees imperialism as a policy of conquering and ruling over foreign lands and peoples.

Scholars usually see empires as different from nation-states. In an empire, one group of people is in charge of other groups, and different groups do not have the same rights. Josep Colomer describes some differences between empires and states. Empires are much bigger and do not have fixed borders. They are made up of many different groups and areas, which are connected unevenly to the center. Empires also have layers of power that overlap. A state, by contrast, has full control over its land and people, and it tries to make its people more alike.

Characteristics

Empires are usually formed through military conquest. This means one state takes control of other states that it has defeated.

Empires can grow over land or over sea. Land empires, such as the Macedonian Empire and the Byzantine Empire, are usually made of connected areas that spread outward from where they started. A sea empire is called a thalassocracy. It is made up of islands and coasts that can be reached from its home land. Examples include the Athenian-led Delian League and the British Empire. These sea empires often had looser structures and lands spread far apart, many of them islands. They needed a strong navy to build and keep control.

Historical empires

Alexander won every battle that he personally led. At the Battle of the Granicus in 334 BC, he sent a small group of cavalry to distract the enemy so his foot soldiers could cross a river. Then he led a cavalry charge with his companion cavalry. At the Battle of Issus in 333 BC, he led another cavalry charge that made the Persian king Darius III and his army run away. Darius III had more soldiers, but he had to flee again at the Battle of Gaugamela in 331 BC. In 330 BC, the Persian king was captured and killed by his own satrap of Bactria and relative, Bessus. Alexander then went after Bessus in what is now Afghanistan and had him killed. This helped Alexander take control of the region of Sogdia.

At the Battle of the Hydaspes in 326 BC, in what is now Punjab, the war elephants of King Porus of the Pauravas threatened Alexander's soldiers. Alexander had his soldiers open their lines to surround the elephants and pull their handlers off. In 324 BC, his Macedonian soldiers threatened mutiny at Opis in Babylonia, near modern Baghdad, Iraq. Instead of punishing them, Alexander gave Macedonian military titles and more responsibility to Persian officers and units. The soldiers then had to ask for forgiveness at a planned banquet where Persians and Macedonians made peace. After Alexander defeated the Achaemenid Empire, he died, and his empire was divided among his generals.

Growth and collapse

Throughout history, empires have often grown larger over time. An empire let people work together across areas much bigger than a single city or small state. Cipolla believed that an empire could grow because its government and its people had more money and spent more.

Peter Turchin explains that when people earn less and life becomes harder, they can become angry. This can lead to fighting inside the country. Wealthy groups then try to get money from the government, so government spending goes up while tax money goes down, because more families are struggling. When the government runs out of money, it can no longer keep its soldiers and police under control. Disagreements among powerful people can then grow into serious conflict within the country.