Zyobot
Just a time-traveling robot stranded on Earth.
Thank you for the prompt answer, @Skallagrim. I was actually working on a follow-up to the last few paragraphs of my initial post when it came in, so I may have to respond to your latest round of points in a separate post. Until then, here’s what more I have to say thus far:
Having thought more about this last night, I can actually visualize the Western Empire mixing in elements from the British Empire, too. It being a more recent imperial power than Rome and having more "maturated" commonalities with America, that's certainly something I can see happening (not even by intention, at times!).
Besides being the torchbearer of "Christian civilization" and fielding the greatest navy on the face of the Earth, I'm wondering if it’d eventually set up its own dominion system in which Europe, the Middle East, and/or Africa—or at least, large chunks of them—become their own, semi-independent regions that ultimately swear fealty to the Emperor and America proper? It’d be an arrangement like that enjoyed by Canada and Australia when the British Empire was still around, though odds are they won’t receive that much autonomy until America feels that they’re “mature” enough to handle it. That, and I wonder if it could become a springboard to secessionist sentiments down the road that mutates into another Crisis of the Third Century, followed by a much more heavy-handed and intrusive Dominate that forces the empire back together (somewhat like how the Union imposed Reconstruction on the defeated South and paved the way for a larger federal government in the long term).
While I’d expect said Dominate to become much more regulation-happy in the economic sphere as well, I’m guessing that while the Principate reigns in the meantime, the Imperial NavyTM will guarantee mostly free trade across the Empire (with, perhaps, an implicit objective of benefiting the American homeland)? By this, I mean replicating imperial Britain’s strategy of getting its colonies and partners to export food and raw materials to America itself in exchange for money, high technology and manufactured goods, fostering a division of labor that encourages its possessions overseas to specialize in whatever their existing setup is most inclined towards (thereby strengthening the homeland’s comparative advantage).
Of course, I’m not sure how long this would last—or even if it’d happen in this precise way—due to both America rebuilding the lands it conquered, and how those lands would become players in the economic catch-up game eventually. Maybe they’d be demoted to second fiddle if they become too uppity and try (but fail) to secede at some point in the future, but still.
In any case, I’d also think that so long as it steers clear of its rival in the East, the Western Empire will become the latest empire on which the sun never sets (and not just in the hyperbolic sense). Aside from Australasia aligning with the West, I wonder if it’ll grab up other island nations in the Asia-Pacific before the Eastern Empire, led by China, can establish a foothold first. Depending on how relations wax and wane between the two superpowers, perhaps they could become the site of border disputes every so often. I’d have suggested they could become the battleground for repeats of the Cuban Missile Crisis as well, but weapons technology has surpassed the need for missiles to be stationed that close to their target already (never mind what future advancements will bring). Unfortunately, however, I’m not too familiar with how nuclear weapons work or their development over the years, so forgive me if I’ve shown a flawed understanding.
Having thought more about this last night, I can actually visualize the Western Empire mixing in elements from the British Empire, too. It being a more recent imperial power than Rome and having more "maturated" commonalities with America, that's certainly something I can see happening (not even by intention, at times!).
Besides being the torchbearer of "Christian civilization" and fielding the greatest navy on the face of the Earth, I'm wondering if it’d eventually set up its own dominion system in which Europe, the Middle East, and/or Africa—or at least, large chunks of them—become their own, semi-independent regions that ultimately swear fealty to the Emperor and America proper? It’d be an arrangement like that enjoyed by Canada and Australia when the British Empire was still around, though odds are they won’t receive that much autonomy until America feels that they’re “mature” enough to handle it. That, and I wonder if it could become a springboard to secessionist sentiments down the road that mutates into another Crisis of the Third Century, followed by a much more heavy-handed and intrusive Dominate that forces the empire back together (somewhat like how the Union imposed Reconstruction on the defeated South and paved the way for a larger federal government in the long term).
While I’d expect said Dominate to become much more regulation-happy in the economic sphere as well, I’m guessing that while the Principate reigns in the meantime, the Imperial NavyTM will guarantee mostly free trade across the Empire (with, perhaps, an implicit objective of benefiting the American homeland)? By this, I mean replicating imperial Britain’s strategy of getting its colonies and partners to export food and raw materials to America itself in exchange for money, high technology and manufactured goods, fostering a division of labor that encourages its possessions overseas to specialize in whatever their existing setup is most inclined towards (thereby strengthening the homeland’s comparative advantage).
Of course, I’m not sure how long this would last—or even if it’d happen in this precise way—due to both America rebuilding the lands it conquered, and how those lands would become players in the economic catch-up game eventually. Maybe they’d be demoted to second fiddle if they become too uppity and try (but fail) to secede at some point in the future, but still.
In any case, I’d also think that so long as it steers clear of its rival in the East, the Western Empire will become the latest empire on which the sun never sets (and not just in the hyperbolic sense). Aside from Australasia aligning with the West, I wonder if it’ll grab up other island nations in the Asia-Pacific before the Eastern Empire, led by China, can establish a foothold first. Depending on how relations wax and wane between the two superpowers, perhaps they could become the site of border disputes every so often. I’d have suggested they could become the battleground for repeats of the Cuban Missile Crisis as well, but weapons technology has surpassed the need for missiles to be stationed that close to their target already (never mind what future advancements will bring). Unfortunately, however, I’m not too familiar with how nuclear weapons work or their development over the years, so forgive me if I’ve shown a flawed understanding.
