History is repeating itself. Always when empires are fallen. There is a successor that wants to rebuild the empire. Those successors are always short-period empires. The best known of those successors of the fallen empire is Justinian I. That man was the Byzantine emperor. Who wanted to unite Rome. That dream died with that man. And western Rome fell into anarchy.
I can almost ask one question: Did Isaac Asimov predict the destruction of the Soviet Union and even Russia? Have you read the novel series "The Foundation"? In that fictional novel, Asimov describes the destruction of the Galactic Empire and then after the decline, the empire will get its last death spasm. The last emperor wants to restore the empire, and equip the galactic fleet, which seemed very nice.
The fleet treated the independent states around the capital. And then those states that ripped themselves away from the empire swore alliance because they were afraid of the empire. But the fleet was unable to operate because they were only core.
Those ships or spacecraft were equipped with thousand years old engines and the emperor attacked the Foundation. That war destroys the galactic empire. Because the great fleet of the emperor was destroyed nobody was afraid empire anymore. We can almost see the connection between the fictional space fleet with the Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov. That ship might look impressive. But there are many lacks in that warship.
Her engines were not so impressive. The power system was six engines that were used in Krivak-class missile destroyers. And there were also other lacks in that vehicle. Aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetzov seems impressive outside. But where people cannot see. She had many lacks.
The thing is that when Asimov wrote his novels he took elements to the novel from history. The battle of Tsushima and the fall of the British empire might inspire Asimov. The Battle of Tsushima was a fleet battle where the Russian fleet lost in 1905. All its vehicles sank by the Imperial Japanese fleet.
The main reason for the loss in Tsushima was that the Russians didn't predict that the Japanese fleet used torpedoes. Torpedoes hit holes in the underwater structures of the ships. Those torpedoes were used by fast and lightweight torpedo boats. And the result of the battle was that the entire Russian fleet sank. Is this thing repeating in the drylands where tank battalions are facing new anti-tank missiles?
That loss was the reason for the overestimation of the capacity of the Russian navy. The underestimation of the Japanese navy and the old fashion tactics. The Russian officers didn't update their training for the response to the new naval weapon, the torpedo. A similar thing can be seen in Ukraine.
The Russian tactics are ineffective against the modern kamikaze drones, killer drones, and Javelin anti-tank missiles. The Javelin missile can install also in lightweight aerial and ground vehicles. And that kind of weapons area makes it important to re-estimate the role of the tanks on the battlefield.
The torpedo was an effective weapon against ships. But it was useless against dryland targets. Same way in Asimov's novel the Foundation used small attack vehicles against the imperial fleet.
And when we are thinking about history, the abyss of the empire always starts from the areas. That is distant from the capital. When the empires like Roman Empire and the British Empire and German Empire fell there was always a short-time successor for the empire.
In the Roman Empire after the fall of Rome the East-Roman or Byzantine emperor Justinian I tried to return the Rome. He conquered almost all areas that Rome has lost together. And he united Rome. But after his death, the short-living Justinian empire lost. The reason for that was internal chaos.
In Roman Empire, the emperor was one of the gods. That position justified him to make anything that he wanted. The first emperor who rise themselves as a god was Caesar Augustus. When the emperor repressed the opposition he pushed the opposition underground.
That caused the situation that the emperor didn't get the right information about the need of his people. And that means that the capacity of the army and other things were overestimated when Roman troops faced the troops of Attila. Also, Romans underestimated Attila and that causes the loss.
In the same way, we can think that Putin is the successor of the Soviet leaders. He wants to rebuild the Soviet Union. But when the person who personalizes and connects the government to self, causes chaos after that strong leader will step away from leadership.
Admiral Kuznetsov
The Battle of Tsushima
Javelin missile
Justinian I
Putin
Tsushima fleet battle
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