Er is een BBC-documentaire, The Four Horsemen welke omschrijft dat ieder wereldrijk de volgende fases ondergaat:
- The age of pioneers
- The age of conquest
- The age of commerce
- The age of affluence
- The age of intellect
- The age of decadence
Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, Former Chief of Staff to Colin Powell:
“Empires do not begin and end on a certain date but they do end. And the west has not come to terms with its fading supremacy. At the end of any empire under the guise of renewal tribes, armies and organizations appear and devour the former super power often from within. In his essay ‘The Fate of Empires’ the soldier, diplomat and traveler with a General analyzed the life cycle of empires. He found empires last 250 years or ten generations. 6 ages define the life span of an empire. The age of pioneers, the age of conquest, the age of commerce, the age of affluence, the age of intellect, the age of decadence. There is a common feature to the age of decadence. A undisciplined, over reaching military, the conspicuous display of wealth, massive disparity between rich and poor, a desire to live off of a bloated state, an obsession with sex. The most notorious trait of all is the debasement of the currency. The United States and Great Britain both began on a Gold or Silver standard, long since abandoned. Rome was no different.”
“All empire wealth dazzles but beneath the surface the desire for money, power and material possessions means duty and public service are replaced by leaders and citizens who scrambles for the spoils.”