• DragonTypeWyvern@literature.cafe
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        edit-2
        2 months ago

        They think they will. History tends to paint a different picture in the actual brutal meritocracy of the collapse of an empire.

        Not that it won’t be rich sociopaths on top in the end, it just tends to be a different set.

        • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
          cake
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          4
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          2 months ago

          It depends on how badly the source of the collapse wants them dead. The Japanese imperial line hasn’t changed since before the Meiji restoration. The Hapsburgs are still the monarchs of Europe and one of the most wealthy and powerful families in the world. Hell, le ancien regime had to be overthrown several times before they stayed out of power.

          Also there is no meritocracy in imperial collapse, there are skills that lose value and skills that gain value, but it’s not as though it’s some reset, it’s usually warlords and demagogues. It’s a time in which the cunning and brutal succeed over the honest and efficient. It’s the era of Julius Caesar not of Ramseses II.

            • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
              cake
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              2 months ago

              Complete purges are rare. Usually usurpers will marry into it to legitimize rule. And even when they don’t it’s usually the worst (moral) middle class/lesser nobility/military leaders to take the reins. To our knowledge one servile war has succeeded and doing so has left a nation impoverished to this day.

              • DragonTypeWyvern@literature.cafe
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                2 months ago

                Kind of weird to call out Haiti specifically in this situation, especially considering all the ratfucking they went through at the behest of the imperial powers.

                • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
                  cake
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  3
                  ·
                  2 months ago

                  Sorry if I didn’t explicitly say that yeah, when the poor take power the rich led other countries fuck them to hell