History Main / TheCycleOfEmpires

* ''TabletopGame/FadingSuns'' has gone through two corporatocratic Republics and is slowly emerging from a dark age as a feudal Empire.
* The Third Imperium in the default setting of ''TabletopGame/{{Traveller}}'' is in phase 2. The Vilani Imperium in Intersteller Wars is in phase three and the Terrans in phase 1; the Vilani Imperium arose thousands of years ago at the dawn of Terran civilization and founded an Intersteller Empire so large that it could withstand decay simply through its size and had been a Vestigial Empire for centuries when the Terrans discovered it. However, the Terran-based Second Imperium never stabilizes and quickly succumbs to phase 4, suffering '''[[TropeNamer The]]''' Long Night, because it inherited all problems of the Vilani Imperium. In the Megatraveller timeline the Third Imperium lasts about 1120 years before Emperor Strephon is assassinated and in the resulting SuccessionCrisis a weaponized ContagiousAI tears apart not only the Imperium but the neighboring alien empires as well.

* The Balt-Rhein Empire in ''Manga/ShoukokuNoAltair'' (despite outwardly appearing to be Phase 1) is indicated to be in Phase 3; its refusal to engage in trade, and its uncompromising, expansionistic policies have made it a pariah on the political stage, and left its entire infrastructure based on war. [[spoiler:After its failed invasion of the Eastern regions of the continent, it enters Phase 4, as it loses the ability to maintain control of its conquered regions.]]

->''"The empire, long divided, must unite; long united, must divide. Thus it has ever been."''

In this phase the conquerors die off and are replaced by administrators who help estabilish a system of rules and institutions used to manage their empire, overseeing an era of economic & demographic recovery and growth and gradually paying off the still-massive debts of their ancestors. It may also involve [[ThePurge a purge]] of hotheads who still think in terms of brute force, which is a significant source of internal conflict during this era. While not as aggressive as their precursors, rulers of this phase know war very well, having learned from conqueror's experience. Conquest may still occur, but the empire is more focused on protecting what they already have and use it to become stronger in cultural, administrational and economical sense, becoming a HegemonicEmpire.

* The Shi'Ar Empire from ''Franchise/XMen'' was in the Phase 1 under the rule of D'Ken. Under Lilandra it set up on Phase 2 but viarous crisises (many of which involved X-Men) threw it into phase 3, leading to secret conspiracy trying to re-estabilish D'Ken as a ruller, only for [[PersonofMassDestruction Vulcan]] to take it over, leading to new Phase 1, which lead to ''ComicBook/WarOfKings''. After their defeat Shi'Ar are now in another Phase 2.

** More precisely, Barrayar was in a Long Night period (the Time of Isolation) until it was united by Emperor Dorca the Just. This followed with the Cetagandian invasion and then a civil war to overthrow [[TheCaligula Mad Yuri]]. After that was a period of expansion and consolidation of Ezar's reign followed by Aral's regency and then the reign of Gregor. Dorca and Ezar were ruthless but competent rulers who were able to lay the foundations for a possible system by [[NecessarilyEvil ability at head-cracking]] and were thus appreciated by people who had known only chaos. Gregor is a more civilized ruler for a more civilized time and is able to live like a sedate gentleman. Aral was an old-school aristocrat who could keep a lid on the vor aristocracy and keep foreign powers away while slowly evolving Barrayar into a calmer system. His term was the bridge between phase 1 and phase 2. Like Dorca and Ezar he cracks heads occasionally and is good at it but Aral also manages the feat of slowly teaching Barryarans to live ''without'' head-cracking. He retains a little of the temperment of the old days and a little of the new.

** The League is mostly in a phase of stabilization, but their most stromg and big members, the Drazi, are pushing for their own expansion;

* ''Franchise/StarTrek'': The United Federation of Planets goes through the cycle during numerous series of the Franchise. In the 23rd and possibly the early 24th Century it is in its expansion phase and pretty much ever expanding untill it is the biggest power in the Alpha and Beta Quadrant. In the 24th Century, especially during the time Jean Luc Picard is active as a Captain, and the Major Power in the Alpha Quadrant, beeing able to fight a war against the Cardassians without ever switching to "war mode", possibly going without really beeing threatened for decades untill the Borg and later the Dominion appear. While the War against the Dominion was devastating for the Federation and could only be won with the help of the Klingons and Romulans, by the time of Star Trek Picard has recovered again, even if it has withdrawn somewhat, which is a point where it could either slip into decay or recover and stay in Stability, with the latter seeming a little more likely. In Discovery Season 3, in the 32rd century, the Federation is in the long night, with only a rump state remaining, all founding worlds having left the federation, and the Federation struggling to keep even communications to all member worlds going. At the very end of Season 3, when they find an entire planet made out of dilithium, the Federation has entered a new expansion phase, where many old member worlds rejoin and the first group of cadets entering Starfleet academy for decades.

** ''The Arcadian or Pastoral State'' Sees the savage woods transformed into a green and pleasant cultural landscape in early summer. This idealized view of 'Arcadia' sees humans in an early agricultural state living pleasant lives in peace with nature. An old man and a young boy, respectively,s scribbling geometric forms and a sword into the ground hint at the beginnings of science...but also warfare.

** ''Destruction'' shows the sacking and the destruction of this city and the downfall of its society from cvilization into the chaos and savageness of war. Whether this destruction is brought about by invaders or a civil war within the empire is left to interpretation.

** At the end of the Age of Strife, around the Thirtieth Millennium, the being known only as the Emperor succeeded in winning the Terran Unification Wars, formed an alliance with the [[MachineWorship Mechanicum of Mars]], and proceeded to launch a Great Crusade to reunite the galaxy at the fore of twenty legions of [[SuperSoldier Space Marines]], each led by one of the Emperor's clone-sons. But just when the galaxy seemed conquered and the Imperium of Man was ready to enter its Stabilization phase, the Literature/HorusHeresy struck - the Emperor's most trusted son fell to Chaos and led half of his brothers in a civil war. The tratiors proceeded to ravage the empire they helped build, laid siege to Holy Terra, and mortally-wounded the Emperor, but were ultimately defeated and driven into the Eye of Terror. For a brief time the Imperium tried to recover, only to be hit by [[Literature/TheBeastArises the War of the Beast]], the resurgent Traitor Legions' first Black Crusade, and so forth. For most of its existence, and despite periods of resurgence, the Imperium has been trapped in a long, slow decay, where internal divisions and external threats are only exacerbated by its inefficient government and dwindling technical knowledge, so that only its sheer size and the tenacity of its armies have prevented it from collapsing entirely (which would probably mean humanity's extinction). As of the ''Gathering Storm'', the Imperium's fate is uncertain - it has been split apart so that half of the galaxy is out of contact with Terra, but Roboute Guilliman has returned to reform and revitalize its administration and military, so it has at least a chance of survival.

* ''[[VideoGame/{{Civilization}} Civilization VI]]'' implemented this trope with ''Rise and Fall'', with the mechanism for Ages: depending of their achievements for a given Era, players could see their empire be in the Normal Age if nothing important happened, or the Dark Age, where the empire would be more at risk from collapse, if bad things occured; else, if great things happened then the GoldenAge, where the empire will be generally more prosperous and loyal. However, Golden Ages are more and more difficult to maintain depending from their length. Dark Ages are times of trial, but if the player is good enough to go beyong the threshold for Golden Age then he will get a Heroic Age, which provides more benefit than a regular Golden Age.

* ''VideoGame/TheNewOrderLastDaysOfEurope'': At the 1962 start date, Nazi Germany is in the state of decay, with a stagnating slave-based economy and an aging Hitler. Depending on who succeeds him, it will change to different stage: Goering tries to revert Germany to expansion phase via conquest, but it can result in a long night due to causing a nuclear war by invading either US or Japan, Bormann tries to revert to stability with token reforms, but it only [[spoiler:continues decay, called the Herbst]], Speer can either [[spoiler: result in decay if puppeted by hardliners, restore to stability if solidifies control and achieves his RepressiveButEfficient "Thousand Year Reich" or if puppeted by Gang of Four leading to democracy,]] and Heydrich results in [[spoiler: long night either due to nuclear war (if defeated by Himmler), or a third civil war (if he wins, inveitably committing suicide).]]

* Each of the various races in Franchise/TolkiensLegendarium have their own rise, peak, and decline, eventually replaced in turn by a successor, culminating in the Dominion of Men beginning in the Fourth Age.

** The Noldor, or High Elves, had their first Expansion under Finwe and Feanor, their second Stabilization under Fingolfin, their Decay under Fingon and Turgon, and their first Long Night under Gil-Galad and Earendil. During the Second Age, Gil-Galad would lead the High Elves during a second round of Expansion, Stabilization, and Decay, before Gil-Galad's death during the War of the Last Alliance began the Long Night for the High Elves.

** Played With by Numenor, which was in continuous Expansion politically, economically, and militarily throughout the Second Age (up until the Akallabeth), but culturally and spiritually it went through Stabilization and Decay. Expansion began with Elros Tar-Minyatur and ended with Tar-Surion midway through the Second Age, Stabilization began with Tar-Telperien and ended with Tar-Atanamir the Great, and Decay began with Tar-Ancalimon and ended with Ar-Pharazon. The Downfall ultimately put Numenorean/Dunedain Civilization into a Long Night.

** As of the beginning of ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', Isengard and Dale are in the Expansion Phase, Rohan and the Shire are in the Stabilization phase, the Elves are at the end of their Decay phase, the Dunedain and the Dwarves are in a Long Night, and Mordor is a ResurgentEmpire rising again for the first time since the War of the Last Alliance.

** Played With by Numenor, which was in continuous Expansion politically, economically, and militarily throughout the Second Age (up until the Akallabeth), but culturally and spiritually it went through Stabilization and Decay.

* Noted as a recurring theme in ''Anime/LegendOfGalacticHeroes''. After achieving space travel, humanity entered a golden age of expansion and prosperity, but after some period of this, they begin to stagnate, and fall into Phase 3, and Phase 4 soon after that. Eventually, the first [[TheEmperor Emperor]] of the [[TheEmpire Galactic Empire]] reunites humanity under his rule, and begins a rather dark Phase 1. However, by the time the story proper starts , the Empire has fallen into Phase 3, teetering on the brink of Phase 4, with the DecadentCourt slowly tearing it apart at the seams. However, [[spoiler:when Reinhard takes control, he pulls it all the way back to Phase 1, and by his death, it seems to be entering Phase 2.]]

** The [[SpaceElves Eldar]]'s ancient empire was born in the aftermath of the near-mythic War in Heaven, when the [[{{Precursors}} Old Ones]] uplifted races like the Eldar to help fight the Necrons and C'Tan. With the Necrons defeated and the Old Ones exhausted in their victory, the Eldar were able to spread across and dominate the galaxy before humanity had discovered fire. The Eldar boast that "The stars themselves once lived and died at our command," and at their empire's height its citizens wanted for nothing and had constructs to toil on their behalf, so all they had to concern themselves with was finding entertainment. Then they hit the Decay Phase, ''[[UpToEleven hard]]'' - the highly-psychic Eldar grew so jaded and decadent that they began to embrace all matter of perversions, preying upon each other and forming cults of excess, until their society began to break down and [[HyperspaceIsAScaryPlace the Warp]] grew turbulent from the dark energy fomenting in it. The end result of literally millennia of debauchery was the creation of Slaanesh, the Chaos God of sickening hedonism and sadistic pleasure, whose psychic birth cry consumed the souls of billions of Eldar, slew most of their pantheon, and tore the heart out of their empire, leaving behind the [[NegativeSpaceWedgie Eye of Terror]] as a hideous afterbirth. Some lucky Eldar saw this coming and survived the Fall by fleeing to their empire's hinterlands, either on Exodite colonies or in starfaring Craftworlds, while the Dark Elder continue their murderous, decadent ways safe in the heart of the [[PortalNetwork Webway.]] Regardless, the Eldar are in their Long Night, staving off extinction while younger, lesser races have inherited the galaxy, and only the most ambitious and/or foolhardy speak of somehow restoring their lost glory. Yet there is still a glimmer of hope in the form of the prophecy of Ynnead, the God of the Dead, who will someday awaken, defeat Slaanesh, and reunite the sundered Eldar kindreds.

* ''VideoGame/TheNewOrderTheLastDaysOfEurope'': At the 1962 start date, Nazi Germany is in the state of decay, with a stagnating slave-based economy and an aging Hitler. Depending on who succeeds him, it will change to different stage: Goering tries to revert Germany to expansion phase via conquest, but it can result in a long night due to causing a nuclear war by invading either US or Japan, Bormann tries to revert to stability with token reforms, but it only [[spoiler:continues decay, called the Herbst]], Speer can either [[spoiler: result in decay if puppeted by hardliners, restore to stability if solidifies control and achieves his RepressiveButEfficient "Thousand Year Reich" or if puppeted by Gang of Four leading to democracy,]] and Heydrich results in [[spoiler: long night either due to nuclear war (if defeated by Himmler), or a third civil war (if he wins, inveitably committing suicide).]]
[[/folder]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* ''WebOriginal/OrionsArm'' has gone through the empire cycle at least once, after the fall of the First Federation Terragen space was divided into several "sephirotic empires". And it's indicated that the Sephirotics are fragmenting. That's despite they are ruled by Mega Giga AIs without human weaknesses. The authors never get tired of elaborating by how ludicrous a factor are their minds above puny human ones, but it seems that preventing the Cycle of Empires from completing is beyond their ability, too.

[[folder:Web Original]]
* ''WebOriginal/OrionsArm'' has gone through the empire cycle at least once, after the fall of the First Federation Terragen space was divided into several "sephirotic empires". And it's indicated that the Sephirotics are fragmenting. That's despite they are ruled by Mega Giga AIs without human weaknesses. The authors never get tired of elaborating by how ludicrous a factor are their minds above puny human ones, but it seems that preventing the Cycle of Empires from completing is beyond their ability, too.
[[/folder]]

* The Balt-Rhein Empire in ''Manga/ShoukokuNoAltair'' (despite outwardly appearing to be Phase 1) is indicated to be in Phase 3; its refusal to engage in trade, and its uncompromising, expansionistic policies have made it a pariah on the political stage, and left its entire infrastructure based on war. [[spoiler:Eventually it enters Phase 4, with half of its territory being lost, its treasury being all but empty, and most of its military destroyed.]]
** Türkiye is suggested by a few characters to be about to enter Phase 1, with Balt-Rhein being the only thing in its way.

** ''The Savage State'', or ''The Commencement of the Empire'' shows a pristine wilderness of dark woods during springtime. A pack of hutners and a small village consisting of tents are the only human presence, the presence of canoes and what appears to be a religious ritual in the village hint at the first signs of societal advancement.

** ''The Consummation of Empire'' shows the GoldenAge of this society. The landscape has now been consumed by a monumental city full of wealth and splendour, glittering in the bright light of an early autumn morning. A military triumph in the centre of the painting displays the political power of the city and its empire, but the sheer decadence on display hints at the coming ruin.

* ''The Course of Empire'' (1836), by Thomas Cole, used to illustrate this page, is a serie of five paintings famously used to illustrate this concept, by showing the same setting and studying the evolution of its human population, from the beginnings to the downfall.
** ''The Savage State'', or ''The Commencement of the Empire'' shows a still pristine nature, with the few humns living in tipis; it represents spring, according to Cole.
** ''The Arcadian or Pastoral State'' is about the beginnings of agriculture and how this wealthier society shows beginning of mastering sciences and art; it represents early summer, according to Cole.
** ''The Consummation of Empire'' shows the GoldenAge of this society, which has become the capital of an empire, yet signs of future decadence are present; it represents early autumn, according to Cole.
** ''Destruction'' shows the sacking and the destruction of this city, whether by barbarians or by a civil war. No season has been told by Cole as representation.
** Finally, ''Desolation'' shows the ruins of this empire, taken ack by nature.

* ''Franchise/StarTrek'': The United Federation of Planets goes through the cycle during numerous series of the Franchise. In the 23rd and possibly the early 24th Century it is in its expansion phase and pretty much ever expanding untill it is the biggest power in the Alpha and Beta Quadrant. In the 24th Century, especially during the time Jean Luc Picard is active as a Captain, and the Major Power in the Alpha Quadrant, beeing able to fight a war against the Cardassians without ever switching to "war mode", possibly going without really beeing threatened for decades untill the Borg and later the Dominion appear. While the War against the Dominion was devastating for the Federation and could only be won with the help of the Klingons and Romulans, by the time of Star Trek Picard has recovered again, even if it has withdrawn somewhat, which is a point where it could either slip into decay or recover and stay in Stability, with the latter seeming a little more likely. Judging from the trailers for Star Trek Discovery Season 3, in the 33rd century the Federation is in the long night, with only a rump state remaining.

* Noted as a recurring theme in ''Anime/LegendOfGalacticHeroes''. After achieving space travel, humanity entered a golden age of expansion and prosperity, but after some period of this, they begin to stagnate, and fall into Phase 3, and Phase 4 soon after that. Eventually, the first [[TheEmperor Emperor]] of the [[TheEmpire Galactic Empire]] reunites humanity under his rule, and begins a rather dark Phase 1. However, by the time the story proper starts , the Empire has fallen into Phase 3, teetering on the brink of Phase 4, with the DecadentCourt slowly tearing it apart at the seams. However, [[spoiler: when Reinhard takes control, he pulls it all the way back to Phase 1, and by his death, it seems to be entering Phase 2.]]
** Even the [[TheAlliance Free Planets Alliance]] is not immune to this trope; it was at one point it could actually hold its own against the Empire, and potentially defeat it. However, it became complacent and began to descend into corruption, leaving it ill equipped to deal with the Empire when [[spoiler: Reinhard takes the reigns of power]].

* The Balt-Rhein Empire in ''Manga/ShoukokuNoAltair'' (despite outwardly appearing to be Phase 1) is indicated to be in Phase 3; its refusal to engage in trade, and its uncompromising, expansionistic policies have made it a pariah on the political stage, and left its entire infrastructure based on war. [[spoiler: Eventually it enters Phase 4, with half of its territory being lost, its treasury being all but empty, and most of its military destroyed.]]

* In ''Literature/TheBlackCompany'', Lady's Empire is clearly Phase 1, however [[spoiler: it later moves to the Phase 2]]. This trope is even lampshaded in ''The Silver Spike''; [[spoiler:after a brief EnemyMine between the new management, a leftover minion of the original ruler, and LaResistance to take down the last of the original evil overlords the rebels decide the current incarnation is no worse than the petty kingdoms it replaced and leave them to it.]]

[[folder: Live-Action TV]]

** And ''the whole setting'' is actually in [[spoiler: the Long Night between the rule of the First Ones and the rise of a race capable of living outside their tutelage]]. This is made more complicated due [[spoiler: the First Ones being either expanding or stabilized, with most of them having left the galaxy and the remaining ones trying to teach to the Younger Races]]

[[folder: Mythology & Religion]]

[[folder: Tabletop Games]]

[[folder: Video Games]]

** ''Shadowbringers'' and ''Endwalker'' see the modern Garlean Empire see its end in the cycle [[spoiler: with a catastrofic civil war of succession in the capital and scattered Legions dealing with their own interests, or even seceeding from the Empire, causing it to skip the Decay stage and going right into the Long Night. By the time the Garlean homeland is visited proper in ''Endwalker'', the capital is a pile of rubble, with civilians being either killed by mind-controlled soldiers, turned into mind-controlled soldiers, or dying from lack of heat. In the span of a couple of expansions, the archenemy of Eorzea and conqueror of most of the known world is turned into a pitiful shell of its former self.]]

[[folder: Web Original]]

[[folder: Real Life]]

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'': the history of Eorzea is one of alternating Astral Eras and Umbral Eras, as civilizations rise to prominence, then fall into decay and vanish. Two such civilizations are the Allagan civilization, and the dual civilizations of Amdapoor and Mhach.

** The civilzations of Amdapoor and Mhach were capitals of knowledge for both White and Black Magic, respectively. Both civilizations strove to improve their mastery over magic. [[spoiler:In so doing, however, they began to seek means to subjugate each other, leading to the War of the Magi, a catastrophic conflict that nearly drained the entire planet of its aether and weakened the barrier between Hydaelyn and the Void. The War ended with the Sixth Umbral Calamity, a massive flood that wiped out both Amdapoor and Mhach. Survivors from both civilizations soon banded together and created what is now known as Red Magic: a school of magic that uses the caster's own aether instead of the planet. The disaster also caused the use of both Black and White Magic to be strictly regulated and forbidden to common folk ever since.]]

[[caption-width-right:352:Expansion, Stabilization, Decay, Long Night.[[note]] ''Battle Scene with a Roman Army Besieging a Large City'' by Juan De La Corte (first half of 17th century), ''French army in Saint Peter square in Rome'' by Luisa Ricciarini (end of 18th century), ''The Course of Empire'' (''The Consummation of Empire'' and ''Destruction'') (1836) by Thomas Cole[[/note]]]]

[[caption-width-right:352:Expansion, Stabilization, Decay, Long Night.[[note]] ''Battle Scene with a Roman Army Besieging a Large City'' by Juan De La Corte (first half of 17th century), ''French army in Saint Peter square in Rome'' by Luisa Ricciarini, (end of 18th century) ''The Course of Empire'' (''The Consummation of Empire'' and ''Destruction'') (1836) by Thomas Cole[[/note]]]]

[[caption-width-right:352:Expansion, Stabilization, Decay, Long Night.[[note]]''The Course of Empire'' (1836) by Thomas Cole[[/note]]]]

The Empire exists in name only at this stage. It is now a failed state, a gray zone of squabbling independent shards or sub-factions. The dissipation of The Empire's power to rich and strong and big individuals (oligarchs) is complete, with many families and even regions now only paying lip-service to The Empire and its supposed rulers. The Empire's fiscal situation is a mess because very little money will be coming in thanks to disloyalty and corruption, even though the state's debts haven't gone away - the debt might even be growing. This will be the case regardless of whether The Empire itself is still experiencing economic growth or not, but it's very likely that The Empire is also experiencing economic contraction due to the increasing concentration of wealth in the hands of fewer and fewer people[[note]] Consumption drives economic activity, and the concentration of wealth reduces consumption because the wealthy have 'spare' money (that they don't use to consume things) and the poor can't afford to consume as many things. Wealthy people can only buy so much stuff - they tend to invest their money into making even more money (chiefly by buying land). The same amount of money (used by the rich to make more money) in the hands of the destitute, on the other hand, would be spent on 'real' things like food+shelter+clothing that other people make money by producing and selling. [[/note]]. Long-term population decline is also likely, mostly due to the unsustainability of the previous population high - i.e. some people will starve because the total population's food requirements exceed total sustainable food production - but also due to banditry, civil disorder, and even Civil War.

In fiction, the borders between phases are mostly clear, but in RealLife it wasn't always so clear - neither Caligula nor Nero brought the Decay stage upon the Roman Empire, because when the empire is mighty, the occasional tyrant doesn't hurt it much. It wasn't also uncommon to have rulers more fit for the second phase to appear in the first or third, trying to stabilize the situation. They can even pop up in the fourth phase, bringing the rump state back from failed to just decayed. However, it's usually impossible to [[ResurgentEmpire restore the former regime to its full glory]] without serious reforms[[note]]UsefulNotes/AncientEgypt and China appear to be partially exempt from this rule[[/note]]; even if such a restoration happens it usually either [[CameBackWrong comes back wrong]] (and is already in the decay phase), or [[NothingIsTheSameAnymore is too fundamentally different to be considered the same Empire]] (such as being brought back to the expansion or stabilization phase but speaking a different language, functioning with a different form of government and a different economic model, practicing a different religion with different morals, and sometimes ruling completely different territories). To truly restart the cycle, new ideas and institutions are required.

* One of the first historians to describe the process was Ibn Khaldun, currently recognized as something of a founder of historiography. He lived right around the tail-end of the Islamic Golden Age and therefore had a front-row seat to various caliphates entering the Long Night phase. Chief among them was the Abbasids, who led a major revolution in the early 750s, followed up with a golden age that reached its height under Harun al-Rashid, started a slow decline around 861, and was completely snuffed out in 1258 when the Mongols burned Baghdad, once the center of the Islamic world, to the ground.

* Noted as a recurring theme in ''Anime/LegendOfGalacticHeroes''. After achieving space travel, humanity entered a golden age of expansion and prosperity, but after some period of this, they begin to stagnate, and fall into Phase 3, and Phase 4 soon after that. Eventually, the first [[TheEmperor Emperor]] of the [[TheEmpire Galactic Empire]] reunites humanity under his rule, and begins a [[{{Understatement}} rather dark]] Phase 1. However, by the time the story proper starts , the Empire has fallen into Phase 3, teetering on the brink of Phase 4, with the DecadentCourt slowly tearing it apart at the seams. However, [[spoiler: when Reinhard takes control, he pulls it all the way back to Phase 1, and by his death, it seems to be entering Phase 2.]]
** Even the [[TheAlliance Free Planets Alliance]] is not immune to this trope; it was at one point it could actually hold its own agains the Empire, and potentially defeat it. However, it became complacent and began to descend into corruption, leaving it ill equipped to deal with the Empire when [[spoiler: Reinhard takes the reigns of power]].

* Noted as a recurring theme in ''Anime/LegendOfGalacticHeroes''. After achieving space travel, humanity entered a golden age of expansion and prosperity, but after some period of this, they begin to stagnate, and fall into Phase 3, and Phase 4 soon after that. Eventually, the first [[TheEmperor Emperor]] of the [[TheEmpire Galactic Empire]] reunites humanity under his rule, and begins a rather dark Phase 1. However, by the time the story proper starts , the Empire has fallen into Phase 3, teetering on the brink of Phase 4, with the DecadentCourt slowly tearing it apart at the seams. However, [[spoiler: when Reinhard takes control, he pulls it all the way back to Phase 1, and by his death, it seems to be entering Phase 2.]]