Empire

   

 "Operated on this morning.  Diagnosis not yet complete

but results seem satisfactory and already exceed 

expectations."

Translation:  atomic bomb successfully exploded.

Truman received this message while he was

conferring with Stalin in Potsdam, an upscale

 community just outside Berlin.  He hoped possession 

of this bomb would strengthen America's negotiating

position with the Soviets.  Stalin dismissed this news

with a casual 'thank you'.  Ever the poker face,

the Kremlin leader was not about to reveal his concerns.

 The British were victorious over Hitler's Germany

and yet this war would also bring an end to the

British Empire.  The government was bankrupt and

England's colonies were unraveling into independent

nations.  Meanwhile, a new world order was developing

under the watchful eyes of two global titans -

the United States and the Soviet Union. 

Clement Attlee defeated Winston Churchill in an

election stunner that occurred just before Potsdam.  

Voters wanted a better life.  They wanted better

wages, decent homes and public health care. 

Winston didn't see it.  He was no longer the right man

for the times.

Grand global strategy would have to wait.

 Potsdam revealed the breaking up of the Allies.

The goals of East and West were no longer in alliance.

The Soviets needed to consolidate their conquests

in Eastern Europe while America wanted to return

Germany to its role as Europe's economic dynamo.

Their differences were irreconcilable.

Tempers were strained.

It was going to be anything goes.

Short of war.  Nothing was worth the suffering

it created.  People everywhere were burdened

with memories fresh from the war.

Two world wars in one century were enough.

Europe's Age of Imperialism lasted four hundred years,

from the 15th through the 19th century.  Adventurers

roamed the seas in wooden ships, seizing treasure

and claiming newly discovered lands as property

of their royal benefactor.  Native inhabitants of these

lands were conquered people and should count 

themselves lucky to be alive.

Colonies are subordinate to the home government.

Colonial rules benefit those of the home land.

Native inhabitants should once again be reminded -

they are lucky to be alive.

.

Empire is a form of governance.

One nation controls other nations, either

wholly or partially, all the time or usually.

The empire may rule through coercion - 

the threat of force, or by inducements -

financial success.  Even inspiration can be

the foundation of an empire.  Democracy in

America.  Marxism in Russia.

Empires need not be limited to Napoleon.

 

*  *  *  *  *

©  Tom Taylor

OVER   EASY

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