As Tristram Hunt sees it, “What rose, had to fall” and empires are not an exception to this rule. All worldly powers tend to have similar traits, especially when it comes to their demise. Rome and Britain are too strong examples of this theory. Some of the reasons greatness falls are “unhealthy prosperity, the descent of soldiers into mercenaries, a failure to appreciate the strength of enemies, and the loss of martial virtue thanks to the arrival of Christianity.” Britain became a world power after Rome and the Dark Ages, and after WWII America has taken the place a leading empire. Because history has a natural tendency to repeat its self, America will soon see a decent that may not be too far off.
Robert Sibley does not see the fact that Empires exist as a problem. He calls them “historical norm” and denounces those who call America evil because it is in fact an Empire. Also, Imperialism can be a force for good, a tool by which people can spread democracy, which some (including Sibley) see as the right and only just way of running a country.
Tryst Williams thinks that empire is so important it needs to be emphasized more in the classroom, especially in the countries that are or have been, at one time, an empire. He believes that whether it empire is a good or bad does not matter. Teaching about the British Empire in Wales in particular should be taught as history, especially in a place that was part of/affected by the British Empire. It is like not teaching Nazi history because it was a bad thing.
Overall, the theme of the articles seems to be that 1. Empires will always exist 2. It is not necessarily bad 3. We should study them in order to learn more about the world in which we live.