Imperial Overstretch

Subscribe now to skip ads!When do empires decline and why? Today, the United States is stuck in another unwinnable war in the Persian Gulf, its military and economic might insufficient to force Iran's surrender. This humiliation is part of a pattern: the U.S. fights many wars but wins few. Washington's security commitments sprawl the globe, yet where the U.S. chooses to intervene, legitimate national security interests are often not on the line.The Iran war disaster has exposed the limits of power, a case of overstretch that historians may compare to past empires that accelerated their own declines. Historian Jeffrey Engel is our guest.Jeffrey Engel teaches at Southern Methodist University, where he is the founding director of the Center for Presidential History. He's the author of When the World Seemed New: George H. W. Bush and the End of the Cold War. Go to historyasithappens.com to learn more. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.