Not Rome, England

Now that the US is considered an Empire the United States is being compared with Ancient Rome. While I won't say that this comparison is wrong, I think the better analogy is to the English Civil War.

OK, this one isn't taught in the American school system so I won't make the usual complaints about Americans not knowing any history. But this is history we might want to know.

The trouble was that the king thought he had extensive powers and the Parliament and a chunk of the public did not agree. Sound familiar?

What is interesting is that the average Englishman chose sides based on religion. Puritans for Parliament and Conservative Protestants for the King. Just like today, negotiation towards a political settlement was hampered by religiousity.

The king ends up getting his head cut off by the Army, which by the way is why to this day there is a Royal Air Force and a Royal Navy but no Royal Army. The British Army STILL has not been forgiven.

Anyway, the other issue that makes The English Civil War Stand out is the death toll. You need to remember that we are talking about the middle of the 1600s. There ARE firearms but they were extremely expensive and lucky to get off three rounds a minute. Most casualties were accomplished either face to face with hand weapons, or via disease. The death toll for the English Civil War hovers is around 500,000. That is roughly equivalent to the death toll for the American Civil War which happened two centuries later with much more efficient killing technology.

But the American Civil War wasn't religious. It was political.