![]() A maritime hegemony, naturally, is one sustained through sea power, which broadly understood extends beyond battle fleets to the 'soft power' of sea trade. The unfortified palace of Knossos perhaps gives a hint in that direction, as do some frescoes, including one suggestive of a harbor ceremony, in the ' House of the Admiral' on Thera.Ī hegemony, in general, is an empire that favors indirect rule and a relatively modest profile (as empires go). There is a line of speculation - with roots in Thucydides - that Minoan Crete might have had something of the sort. To paraphrase Thucydides (the ancient historian, not the commenter on this blog), the Athenians were the first polity that we know to have possessed a maritime hegemony. I could say a lot more about the current American moment, but there are lots of places for that discussion, and not so many for the one I will now segue to. Indeed, some factions in ancient Athens point in a rather similar direction - providing an unexpected segue to my broader topic. I know there were in late Victorian days 'Little Englanders', about whom I know only the name, though a quick google shows that the term has been revived in the context of Brexit, offering some context. But for American 'nationalists' to share this perspective is. ![]() Or nationalists from another well known Eurasian power distinguished for its achievements in space. To be sure, this would be an understandable perspective for, say, Chinese nationalists. Of all the many subplots of our current national nightmare comedy, none can be funnier or more nightmarish - or just plain surprising - as the ascendency of self-proclaimed nationalists who seem to regard American maritime hegemony as a dreadful thing that should be done away with, in favor of a world order (or disorder) dominated by 'spheres of influence'. Now that hold is being shaken, from the most bizarre of causes. Only far along the plausible midfuture of 1776 would the United States take its turn on Neptune's throne. Squalls had been building for a year, and the hegemonic elite probably saw nothing special about a proclamation issued in Philadelphia on that particular day.Īnd, indeed the sun was still rising on the British Empire full day would only break some decades later, after an artillery officer from Corsica was forcibly retired to St Helena. Two hundred and forty-one years ago today, a maritime hegemony ran into some heavy going.
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