re: #228 Jay C

Yeah, but most of those Empires bit the dust as a result of destructive wars - either civil or external. The Brits are unusual in that their final dissolution will have been entirely self-inflicted.

Their decline can be directly traced to WWs 1 and 2, but yes, after losing their Empire they lost their sense of scale. They really thought that Europe would give them a sweetheart deal to keep them as close to the Union as possible, and failed to see that the EU had no incentive to anything but make an example of them for any other nation considering their own Spexit, Portexit, Italiexit, Frexit, Monacexit, Andorrexit, Luxembexit, etc…