A Theory of Empire

Learned Helplessness and Excessive Outsourcing

The Spanish Empire

The Spanish Empire ruled the world, or at least their side of the Treaty of Tordesillas. They had made slaves of the Aztecs, planted cities in Mexico, and conquered empires in the Andes. And, above all else, they had gold

In the age of Mercantilism, this was the sign of success

But the empire failed, and it…didn’t take that long

Maybe that’s always how it goes in the Imperial timeline.

My Theory of the Spanish empire goes something like this. It became so profitable to leave and adventure and profit off of others that there was no incenitve to stay home and produce goods and services. The constant supply of New World gold and silver would hide this issue for a century or so, but the economics wouldn’t fade

Spain got used to paying for things. And the rest of Europe, Britain and Holland in particular, got used to making things that got them paid

When the gold dried up, Spain still wanted goods. And Britain and Holland were all too happy to sell it.

It’s related to The Resource Curse

If you always have something to sell, then you never have to produce anything. It’s the same reason that pretty girls often have no personality. Why would they? People have always wanted to be around them anyway

But what happens when you get too old to be pretty anymore? And what happens when the gold dries up? And what happens when the diamond mines run dry?

The British Empire

Britain learned helplessness because it outsourced its resource extraction, its labor, its vitality, and even its birthrate to its colonies.

They didn’t just learn helplessness. They taught it to themselves

They just did the financing for their overseas empire

And then, as the colonies became free, Britain found a new country to depend on. The United States.

Britain came to rely on the US for for defense, innovation, and scientific/technological advancement. Slowly, as the colonies left, Britain couldn’t even run the books anymore.

The US had taken that too

The vital rule the world. The energetic take power. The dependent will lose, even if they have the power now

Roman Empire

By the fall of Empire, the majority of Roman soldiers were barbarians. The Romans didn’t even fight the last battles for the empire. They were too busy bickering in a powerless senate. They were too busy fighting for decadent scraps. It was the barbarians who fought to keep the barbarians from the gates.

Wooden clogs walk up the stairs of history. It is silk slippers that walk down.

Has anyone come across a similar theory before? Outsourcing leads to a habit of helplessness and dependence. Then, even though the Empire remains in power, it is doomed to fall. Let me know if you have come across someone else with a theory on this