The one thing I don’t understand in my history textbook is this specific concept. For example, my history book will talk about the Roman Empire. Cool. Then a buncha stuff happens in Europe, Italy, France, UK etc. Cool, but are they just regions part of the empire?
Let’s fast forward to American independence. I think by now the Roman Empire fell or something? I don’t remember. America was a colony, so was Britain already an autonomous state by then? Then we get American independence. After this, we still have the Ottoman Empire that ends up falling after WWI I believe. When does that region split into different countries?
But when did they just become countries? How does that happen? And why settle for a country rather than an empire or vice versa?
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>For example, my history book will talk about the Roman Empire. Cool. Then a buncha stuff happens in Europe, Italy, France, **UK** etc. Cool, but are they just regions part of the empire?
Bruh, you’re, uh…missing a bit here.
The (Western) Roman Empire withdrew from Britain around 400 AD, and had fallen apart by 500 AD.
The UK didn’t really exist until 1707, and the two Kingdoms it was built from (England and Scotland) were basically founded in 1066 and 843 AD, respectively, both hundreds of years after the Romans were gone.
Empires are growing countries are what form after the empire is done growing and the upheaval is mostly done.
Also at a certain point the division lines were really difficult because there was not a computer to ask which country you are in. But asking any of the people which empire they’re under would be much easier.
“Empire” is originally a Latin word, “Imperium,” which means “the power to command,” and it comes to us from the Romans. As they fought wars of defense, and occasionally wars of conquest, the nations they conquered became more or less administratively controlled by Rome, and paid taxes, etc. to Rome. This is the origin of our concept of empire. Other ancient states, like Persia, also had arrangements like this. As they expanded economically they would find it necessary or desirable to conquer neighboring states and assume administrative control over them.
Some empires have been extremely centralized. Others allowed the various conquered nations to retain their own government, as long as they acknowledged the supremacy of the imperial power.
Our idea of a “country” or a “nation” with fixed borders, their own money, sovereign government, passports, and so on is a fairly recent development. It’s called the Westphalian system, and it’s only about 400 years old or so. Before then, like say at the time of the Romans, “nations” were simply people bound together by a common language and religion. The borders were there, but they were hazier than they are now.
Before the Westphalian system, empires were more or less as I have described above. After the adoption of the Westphalian system, “Empire” came to mean the same thing, only some allowed some nations to retain an individual identity, and others were completely absorbed into the territory of the conqueror and ceased to exist as nations.
It’s a complex subject.
The modern definition of “country” is a nation-state that has achieved widespread recognition by the others as an independent entity. There’s no official list keeper, and the status of some regions is disputed.
“Empire” is a more specific type of historical nation-state – one that has recently consumed multiple territories under a single flag. This was usually done by force, and the nation is usually an autocracy that intends to continue expanding – Empire and Imperialism share the same root word after all.
Japan in 2020 is a country.
Japan in 1938 was an empire – laying claim to numerous territories and islands across the pacific region.
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Empire usually refers to an area with many languages and cultures ruled by one government. A country usually has only a small number – two or three or fewer.
Really though, it often is just a matter of what name the ruling class prefers.
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