Minuscule Empires That Rose and Fell Across History
Counting Down the Top 5 Puny Powers That Couldn‘t Last
As a leading authority on historical gaming franchises like Age of Empires and Civilization, I‘m often researching the ascent and decline of real-world civilizations. Today we‘ll be ranking the Top 5 smallest empires know to history – minute powers that flashed briefly across the map before disappearing.
First, what constitutes an "empire"? Broadly I define it as:
A political unit built via conquest and coercion that extracts resources and obedience from subject territories lackng power to resist.
By this yardstick, an empire dominates foreign lands and peoples outside its original homeland – no matter how trivial the amount. What tiny tremors shook the course of human events? Let‘s start the countdown!
#5 – The Trucial Sheikhdoms
Lasted: 1892 – 1971
Realm: Sections of the Persian Gulf coast
Ruled by tribal leaders, the Trucial States like Abu Dhabi and Dubai were backwaters subsisting on pearling, fishing and minor trade. The British Empire‘s stamp is all over this tiny cluster of emirates along the Gulf – as colonial records refer to them as "trucial" after the maritime truce imposed on them. Lilliputian in size but outsized in present-day clout due to immense oil wealth!
#4 The Crimean People‘s Republic
Existed: 34 days in 1918
Domain: The Crimean Peninsula
This fledgling republic emerged from the collapse of the Russian Empire during WW1 – only to be swiftly occupied by the Germans. With territory contested by Ukrainian nationalists and Bolshevik revolutionaries, the CPR struggled to establish control over its Black Sea enclave before being snuffed out altogether – a pattern repeated during WW2.
#3 The Khmer Rouge Regime
Lasted: 1975-1979
Realm: Cambodia
The fanatical Khmer Rouge sought a communist agrarian utopia – instead their radical policies brought death to 25% of Cambodia‘s population through execution, disease and starvation. Their genocidal doctrine devastated the country before Vietnam‘s 1979 invasion toppled the Pol Pot regime. Low-tech but ruthlessly cruel!
#2 The Parthenopean Republic
Existed: 6 months in 1799
Domain: The Kingdom of Naples
Napoleon‘s conquest of Italy sparked an ill-fated republic in the Kingdom of Naples – just as quickly crushed by Bourbon monarchy restoration six months later! An artifact of France‘s Italian wanderings.
#1 The Edomite Empire
Dated: Circa 1000 BCE
Terrain: Desert fringe along Jordan River valley
And now the moment we‘ve been waiting for – the smallest empire title goes to the Edomites who cobbled together a kingdom from the arid Jordan plateau and its edges. At peak this diminutive desert domain likely never exceeded 50,000 subjects! Their monopoly over copper extraction from local mines formed the flimsy economic basis of Edomite power.
Frequent raids by neighbors steadily depleted Edom‘s fragile resources. By the 8th century BCE the Edomite "empire" had faded into the sands of time. An utterly trivial territory that few today remember!
There you have it – 5 crumbs of empire that briefly gripped the human story before vanishing. What micro-realms will dominate the strategy games of tomorrow? Stay tuned here to find out!
