States which were destroyed at the height of their power.

wormyguy

Banned
There was a discussion of CF.net about ducal Burgundy surviving, which got me thinking about other countries that ceased to exist, either through wars inheritance, or revolution, just after the point when they reached the peak of their peacetime geopolitical power.

For example, the Soviet Union would not count because it would not have been at the peak of its power, Nazi Germany would not count because it peaked in power during a war, and Imperial Japan and the Byzantine Empire of Heraclius would both not count because there was state continuity.

Those which I can think of:

Ducal Burgundy

Wilhelmine Germany

Carolingian Empire

Republic of China (may not count because state continuity in Taiwan)

Despotate of Morea (if thought of as separate state from Byzantine Empire).

Kingdom of Naples

Grand Duchy of Lithuania (if uninterupted personal union eventually resulting in political union counts as ceasing to exist)

Kingdom of Aragon

Republic of Texas (if that counts)

Pahlavi Iran

and probably others. It seems that this was more a thing that happened in the past, due to monarchial inheritance.
 
RMcD94

RMcD94

Couldn't you just say nations that only lived for a very short time, and therefore all of it was their peak?
 

Basileus Giorgios

Huns I say are probably the best example. Media maybe? Sassanid Persia would be a very close one, going from a power peak to utter collapse in just over twenty years.
 
Thande

Thande

Donor
Kingdom of Italy perhaps? Debatable on semantics, I know. Russian Empire? Perhaps the Soviet Union, but that's more tenuous, depends how you define geopolitical power.
 

wormyguy

Banned
Thande said:
Kingdom of Italy perhaps? Debatable on semantics, I know.
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(Assuming you mean under the House of Savoy). Wouldn't they have peaked under the Fascists pre-WWII?

On a related note, did I mention the Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy in the first post? Depends, of course, on whether it has state continuity with the Western Roman Empire.
Russian Empire?
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I'd say they peaked just before the (first) Russo-Japanese War, although it could be argued that sans WWI, they would have peaked again.
Perhaps the Soviet Union, but that's more tenuous, depends how you define geopolitical power.
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They certainly weren't at their peak in 1990-1991.
 

8Deer

Incas, perhaps? Although they had just gone through a devastating civil war and smallpox epidemic, they were at their peak in terms of territory...
 
Zioneer

Zioneer

Banned
Would the Kalmar Union count as a "state"? Then perhaps it could be one; after all, it's first ruler (Eric of Pomerania) was deposed and the Union countries were often at each other's throats afterwards.
 

Abdul Hadi Pasha

Banned
The Byzantine Empire of Basil II counts. It was at its height, some very bad policy decisions were made, then Manzikert happened.

The Songhai Empire was destroyed at its height. The Sokoto Empire was more or less at its height too.
 

Saladan

I suppose you could count Wilhemine Germany because prior to WW1 it was vastly more powerful economically, industrially, militarily, and Politically by several orders of magnitude then it's competing Great powers and then lost all of of this from the great war.
 

xchen08

Saladan said:
I suppose you could count Wilhemine Germany because prior to WW1 it was vastly more powerful economically, industrially, militarily, and Politically by several orders of magnitude then it's competing Great powers and then lost all of of this from the great war.
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You might want to rethink use of the phrase "order of magnitude". Pre WWI, the wealthiest and most industrial state was the USA. And while Britain was smaller in all the ways except Navy or political influence, you can't even call it half, much less an order of magnitude less. Hell, the 3 main Entente powers had a hell of a lot more in every measure than Germany and Austria-Hungary.

I want a clarification, does destruction mean actual destruction? Cause the Byzantine Empire certainly wasn't destroyed after Manzikert. And to what extent do successor states count against "destruction"?
 
The Kiat

The Kiat

Republic of Texas? <snort> Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the first thing they did after acheiving de facto independence from Mexico was petition the United States for entry? If so, the people who are so proud to have once been their own country were sure in a hurry to throw away their soverignty.
 
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