User:Dbachmann/Roman and US empires
| Ancient Rome | USA | |
| 509 BC: Roman Republic | 1789: United States Constitution | |
| 340-268 BC unification of Italy | 1783-1849: Westward Expansion | |
| 264-241 BC: First Punic War | War of 1812 | |
| 2nd century BC: Roman Servile Wars | 1849–1865: American Civil War | |
| 120s-130s BC economic instability, transition to the Empire | 1930s-1940s: Great Depression, rise to superpower | |
| 44 BC: Ides of March | 1963: John F. Kennedy assassination | |
| 40s: public employment of liberti under Claudius | 1955-1968: Civil Rights Movement | |
| 1st century AD Roman-Germanic wars, Germanic limes, Pax Romana | 1940s-1980s WW II, Cold War, Pax Americana | |
| 66-73 First Jewish-Roman War | 1959-1975 Vietnam War | |
| 40s BC ff. Roman Imperial cult | 1960s ff. Christian Fundamentalism / Evangelicalism | |
| 166-180: Marcomannic Wars | 1990-1991: Gulf War | |
| 180-192 Commodus | 2000-2008 George W. Bush | |
| Crisis of the Third Century | Crisis of the 21st Century |
the comparison is somewhat arbitrary, you could compare the history of any empire with that of any other, but nevertheless very instructive.
I am quite intrigued with the position of Commodus that emerges for George W. Bush. Dio Cassius' verdict of
- not naturally wicked but, on the contrary, as guileless as any man that ever lived. His great simplicity, however, together with his cowardice, made him the slave of his companions
could be taylored to the early 21st century president. Wikipedia's Though he has become a byword for insane caprice, it is difficult to assess his character from the written sources. His recorded actions do, however, tend to show a rejection of his father’s policies, his father’s advisers, and especially his father’s austere lifestyle doesn't sit quite right, but the insanity and the related dominant father certainly sound familiar. Likewise, the hubris, He thought of himself as the reincarnation of Hercules, frequently emulating the legendary hero's feats by appearing in the arena to fight a variety of wild animals (a gladiator at the time had the prestige of, let's say, a fighter pilot).
