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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
- Sprache: Englisch
Offers a sweeping, entertaining journey through the real power structures of world history
Five Thousand Years of Monarchy challenges everything you thought you knew about political history. With wit, clarity, and a deep command of historical detail, Michael Arnheim reframes five millennia of global governance through a strikingly original lens: the idea that every government, from ancient Sumer to modern China, is either a monarchy or an oligarchy—regardless of its name or apparent ideology. This provocative framework reveals insights into some of history's greatest puzzles and personalities, from the Roman emperors to Castro's Cuba, Augustus to Queen Victoria, and from Louis XVI's missed opportunity to the untold powers of King Philip II.
Drawing on lively anecdotes, surprising facts, and colorful historical vignettes, Arnheim brings the power struggles of the past vividly to life. Why was Imperial China more stable than any modern democracy? Could World War I have been avoided by more autocracy? And why are aristocracies more hostile to monarchs than revolutions ever were? Engaging, opinionated, and highly readable, Five Thousand Years of Monarchy offers a powerful reminder that what really matters in politics isn't titles or constitutions—it's who holds the power, and how.
Presenting a bold and original reinterpretation of world history through the lens of power structure, Five Thousand Years of Monarchy:
- Distills all governments—ancient and modern—into just two essential types: monarchy or oligarchy
- Provides a global scope, covering rulers and regimes from every major civilization
- Reveals little-known historical facts, such as King Philip II of Spain's reign as King of England
- Offers original, counterintuitive takes on major events such as the French Revolution and World War I
- Explores the surprising longevity and success of the Roman and Chinese empires
- Challenges conventional narratives and political assumptions with evidence-based analysis
Written in an engaging, accessible, and often humorous style, Five Thousand Years of Monarchy is ideal for general readers with an interest in history, politics, or leadership, as well as students and instructors in History, Classics, and Political Science.
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Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025
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Table of Contents
Cover
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication Page
List of Illustrations
About the Author
Preface
Glossary
Definitions
Introduction
Ancient Mesopotamia
China, Ancient and Modern
The French Revolution
Augustus
So What?
Part I: The Framework
Chapter 1: When Is a Monarchy not a Monarchy?
“Five Kings”
Venetian Republic
“A Republic… If You Can Keep It”
Rousseau
Direct “Democracy”
Chapter 2: Two Models of Government
Two Fallacies
“Democracy” Plus “Equality”
Four Fallacies
From Rights to Privileges
Chapter 3: Charismatic Leadership
Max Weber
Pericles and Alcibiades
Moses Finley
Julian on Augustus and Diocletian
Chapter 4: Divine Right
History of Divine Right
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Rome
“Oh Dear, I Think I'm Becoming a God”
The Roman Imperial Cult
Japan
Chapter 5: Ceremonial, Titulature, and Trappings
Fidei Defensor
Protestant Succession
Scotland
Coronation
The Two Crowns
Coronation Service
“Zadok the Priest”
Charlemagne
The Holy Roman Empire
“England Is an Empire”
Napoleon: From First Consul to Emperor
Victoria Regina Imperatrix
Conclusion
Chapter 6: Legal Framework
Rome: From Monarchy to Monarchy
From One Brutus to Another
“In the Consulship of Julius and Caesar”
The Fall of the Republic
Julius Caesar
Caesar's Heir
Avoiding Julius Caesar's Mistake
The Transmogrification of an Equestrian
Augustus
'
s Autobiography (
Res Gestae Divi Augusti
)
Did Augustus Wield Sole Power?
Augustus: “Optimi Status Auctor”?
From Tiberius to Diocletian
Conclusion
Chapter 7: Social Mobility
Oligarchy and Inequality
Monarchy and Equality
Chapter 8: Aristocratic Ethos
Feudal Japan
The English Peasants' Revolt of 1381
Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité
“Some Animals Are More Equal than Others”
Chinese Cultural Revolution
Athenian “Democracy”
Table of Ranks
Chapter 9: Equality, Equality of Opportunity and Privilege
“The Worst of All Governments”
Equality vs. Equality of Opportunity
“Rat Race”
Phony “Democracy”
Equality vs. Liberty
Liberty Inversely Proportional to Equality
“A Theory of Justice”
“Two Concepts of Liberty”
The Right to Disobey the Law
Judicial Supremacism
Revocation
Chapter 10: The Oligarchy Trap and Other Fallacies
The Oligarchy Trap
“
A Monarchy Rules through an Oligarchy
”
Seesaw
“Proper Historical Writing”
The Sceptical Tendency
Baby and Bathwater
“Drowning the Baby”
Ranke: “Wie es eigentlich gewesen ist”
History as “One Damned Fact After Another”
“Cleopatra's Nose”
“An Art of Writing History”
Torpedoing Torpor
“Williamanmary was a Good King”
“Late Antiquity”
Causation
So What?
Conclusion: “Proper Historical Writing”
Chapter 11: Machiavelli, Historian Extraordinaire
“Two Distinct Humors”
Devil or Diplomat?
Machiavelli's Caveats
The Persian Empire
France and Turkey
France
Part II: Accession
Chapter 12: Heredity
How Significant is Hereditary Succession?
Cain and Abel
Primogeniture
Primogeniture from Jacob and Esau Onward
English Succession Problems
European Wars of Succession
Sweden: Quirky Succession
“Something is Rotten in the State of Denmark?”
Chapter 13: Election
“In Name a Democracy…”
Populist Generals
Who Had the Whip Hand?
Pericles and the Aristocracy
Beneath the Surface of the Athenian Democracy
Whisper vs. Shout
“All Leaders were Demagogues”
“The New Politicians”
Cleon and the Sycophants
Rome: Sham Elections
The Venetian Republic
One Empire?
The Holy Roman Empire
Henry VIII Duped
A “Democratically Elected” King
Mussolini
Adolf Hitler
Juan Perón
Chapter 14: Marriage
“Let Others Wage War……”
“Bloody Mary”
Heir and Spare
“Perpetual Peace”
Hundred Years' War
War of the Roses
Chapter 15: Coup and Usurpation
The Ancient Greek Tyrants
Tyranny and Democracy
Athens: From Tyranny to Democracy
Modern Coups
Chapter 16: Conquest
Alexander vs. Augustus
Machiavelli's Hypothesis
Alexander and After
Egypt—Previous Conquests
The Middle East before Alexander
“England has been conquered many times, Scotland never”
Conquest Conspectus
Chapter 17: Revolution
England
French Revolution
American Revolution
Part III: Varieties of Monarchy
Chapter 18: Autocratic Monarchy
Russia
Imperial China
Principate to Dominate
Imperial Power
Constantine and Christianity
The Religion of the Senatorial Aristocracy
Constantinople: The “New Rome”
Constantine the Reformer
Chapter 19: Dynastic
China
Japan
Egypt
Chapter 20: Military
Some Correlations
Sparta
Chapter 21: Totalitarian
Mussolini
Hitler
Soviet Union
Fidel Castro
Maoist China
Chapter 22: Constitutional Monarchy
Veto Power
Doge of Venice
Modern Britain
Australia
Chapter 23: Hybrid
The United States
From Republic to “Democracy”
The American Revolution
Declaration of Independence
The Wealth of the Founding Fathers
Fear of Democracy
“A Government Not of Laws but of Lawyers”
Judicial Review
Marbury v. Madison
“A Despotic Branch”
Judicial Review Today
FDR's “Court‐Packing” Threat
The Right to Vote
Mount Rushmore
George Washington
“Imperial Presidency”
Who Runs America?
Some More Recent Theories
Conclusion
Chapter 24: Theocracy and Caesaropapism
Byzantine Empire: Caesaropapism or Theocracy?
Vatican City
Islamic Republic of Iran
Priests and Rulers in Ancient Mesopotamia
Rulers and Religion in Ancient Egypt
Rulers and Religion in Ancient India
Part IV: Correlations and Contrasts
Chapter 25: Liberty vs. Equality
Monarchy and Equality
Oligarchy and Inequality
The Aristocratic/Oligarchic Ethos
Athenian “Democracy”
Machiavelli
Evidence in Support
Chapter 26: Religious Toleration
Communal and Creed Religions
Conversion
“Cyrus Cylinder”
Roman Freedom of Religion
“Christians to the Lions!”
Roman Persecution of the Jews?
Misunderstanding Religious Toleration
“Religious Concord”
Chapter 27: Foreign Policy
Sargon of Akkad
“Conquered Greece”
“We Have No Eternal Allies…”
“Hang The Kaiser!”
Kaiser vs. Chancellor
Assassination of Franz Ferdinand
The Austrian Ultimatum
Wilhelm “The Pacifist”
“You've Made This Stew”
Cousin Nicky
Franz Joseph
“International Catastrophe”
Envoi
Part V: Exit
Chapter 28: Natural Death
Alexander to Constantine
Disputed Succession Leading to War
American Presidents Who Died Naturally in Office
Child‐Kings
Chapter 29: Abdication
Netherlands
Spain
China
Japan
Chapter 30: Assassination
Causation
The Ides of March
“Absolutism Tempered by Assassination”
“Unbearable Aristocratic Despotism”
Chapter 31: Deposition
Peisistratus: “Champion of the People”
“The Glorious Revolution”
Monkey Business
Part VI: Conclusion
Part VII: Round‐up
Primary Sources & Abbreviations
Select Bibliography
Bibliography
Index
End User License Agreement
List of Illustrations
Chapter 1
Figure 1 President Donald Trump swearing‐in ceremony, 20 January 2017.
Chapter 2
Figure 2 Amenhotep III.
Chapter 3
Figure 3 Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, Munich 1937.
Chapter 4
Figure 4 Puyi (last emperor of China) with Japanese Emperor Hirohito, 1940....
Chapter 5
Figure 5 The Imperial Crown of India made for George V 1911. Creative Common...
Chapter 6
Figure 6 Augustus as Pontifex Maximus.
Chapter 7
Figure 7 Juan and Eva Perón, official portrait, 1948.
Chapter 8
Figure 8 Coronation of Richard II, 1377.
Chapter 9
Figure 9 Writing the Declaration of Independence.
Chapter 10
Figure 10 Coronation of Louis XV, 1722.
Chapter 11
Figure 11 Niccolò Machiavelli.
Chapter 12
Figure 12 Maria Theresa with her family, 1754.
Chapter 13
Figure 13 Pericles.
Chapter 14
Figure 14 Sixpence of Philip and Mary, 1554.
Chapter 15
Figure 15 Fidel Castro with Che Guevara, 1961.SOURCE: Unknown author / Wikim...
Chapter 16
Figure 16 Alexander the Great, tetradrachm.
Chapter 17
Figure 17 “Third Estate carrying First Estate (clergy) and Second Estate (no...
Chapter 18
Figure 18 Constantine with the god Sol Invictus.
Chapter 19
Figure 19 Chinese emperor receiving a candidate during the Palace Examinatio...
Chapter 20
Figure 20 Helmeted Hoplite, Sparta.
Chapter 21
Figure 21 Mao with US President Nixon, 1972.
Chapter 22
Figure 22 Caricature by James Gillray of the future King George IV as Prince...
Chapter 23
Figure 23 President Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, 1941.
Chapter 24
Figure 24 Ptolemy II.
Chapter 25
Figure 25 Plato and Aristotle in “The School of Athens.”
Chapter 26
Figure 26 Cyrus Cylinder in the British Museum.
Chapter 27
Figure 27 “Dropping the Pilot,” 1890. Bismarck dismissed by Kaiser Wilhelm I...
Chapter 28
Figure 28 Antoninus Pius.
Chapter 29
Figure 29 Charles IV of Spain and his family.
Chapter 30
Figure 30 Julius Caesar as “dictator perpetuo,” 44
BCE
.
Chapter 31
Figure 31 William III and Mary II, 5 guineas, 1692.
Guide
Cover Page
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication Page
List of Illustrations
About the Author
Preface
Glossary
Introduction
Begin Reading
Primary Sources & Abbreviations
Select Bibliography
Index
Wiley End User License Agreement
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Five Thousand Years of Monarchy
Dr. Michael Arnheim
Copyright © 2026 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved, including rights for text and data mining and training of artificial intelligence technologies or similar technologies.
The right of Michael Arnheim to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with law.
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Library of Congress Cataloging‐in‐Publication Data
Names: Arnheim, M. T. W. (Michael T. W.) authorTitle: Five thousand years of monarchy / Dr. Michael Arnheim.Other titles: 5000 years of monarchyDescription: First edition. | Hoboken, New Jersey : Wiley‐Blackwell, 2026. | Includes bibliographical references and index.Identifiers: LCCN 2025021739 (print) | LCCN 2025021740 (ebook) | ISBN 9781394154418 paperback | ISBN 9781394154425 pdf | ISBN 9781394154432 epubSubjects: LCSH: Monarchy–HistoryClassification: LCC JC375 .A764 2025 (print) | LCC JC375 (ebook) | DDC 321/.609–dc23/eng/20250701LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2025021739LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2025021740
Cover Design: WileyCover Image: © The Trustees of the British Museum
POSUI DEUM ADIUTOREM MEUM
To the Sacred Memory of My Beloved Parents
Dr Wilhelm Arnheim (1901–75)A wise medical doctor and true polymath, with the driest sense of humorAndMrs Vicky Arnheim (1905–90)A brilliant musician, gifted teacher, dedicated social organizer,Great cook, and loving motherAndTo the sacred memory of my beloved grandmother, “Oma”Mrs Martha Arnheim (1875–1965)An eternally cheerful and optimistic, courageous spiritWho taught me German, and whose wonderful humorous talesOf the old Germany will remain with me always.
List of Illustrations
Figure 1 President Donald Trump swearing‐in ceremony, 20 January 2017. Source: The White House / Wikimedia Commons / Public domain.
Figure 2 Amenhotep III. Source: A. Parrot / Wikimedia Commons / Public domain.
Figure 3 Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, Munich 1937. Source: The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum / Wikkimedia Commons / Public Domain.
Figure 4 Puyi (last emperor of China) with Japanese Emperor Hirohito, 1940. Source: Unknown author / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain.
Figure 5 The Imperial Crown of India made for George V 1911. Creative Commons. Royalty free. Full resolution. Source: Pietro & Silvia / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.
Figure 6 Augustus as Pontifex Maximus. Source: Prof. Mortel / flickr / CC BY 2.0.
Figure 7 Juan and Eva Perón, official portrait, 1948. Source: Numa Ayrinhac / Pink House Museum / Public domain.
Figure 8 Coronation of Richard II, 1377. Source: Jean de Wavrin (Chroniques d’Angleterre) / Wikimedia Commons / Public domain.
Figure 9 Writing the Declaration of Independence. Source: Jean Leon Gerome Ferris / Library of Congress / Public domain.
Figure 10 Coronation of Louis XV, 1722. Source: Pierre Subleyras / Augustiner Museum / Public domain.
Figure 11 Niccolò Machiavelli. Source: Santi di Tito / Wikimedia Commons / Public domain.
Figure 12 Maria Theresa with her family, 1754. Source: Martin van Meytens / Wikimedia Commons / Public domain.
Figure 13 Pericles. Source: Copy of Kresilas / Wikimedia Commons / Public domain.
Figure 14 Sixpence of Philip and Mary, 1554. Source: The Portable Antiquities Scheme / The Trustees of the British Museum / CC BY SA 4.0.
Figure 15 Fidel Castro with Che Guevara, 1961. Source: Unknown author / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain.
Figure 16 Alexander the Great, tetradrachm. Source: Unknown author / Wikimedia Commons / Public domain.
Figure 17 “Third Estate carrying First Estate (clergy) and Second Estate (nobility) on his back”, 1789. Source: Gallica Digital Library / Wikimedia Commons / public domain.
Figure 18 Constantine with the god Sol Invictus. Source: Gallica Digital Library / Wikimedia Commons / Public domain.
Figure 19 Chinese emperor receiving a candidate during the Palace Examination, Song Dynasty (960–1279). Source: Ming Dynasty Painting / Wikimedia Commons / Public domain.
Figure 20 Helmeted Hoplite, Sparta. de:Benutzer. Source: Ticinese / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY SA 3.0.
Figure 21 Mao with US President Nixon, 1972. Source: The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration / Wikkimedia Commons / Public Domain.
Figure 22 Caricature by James Gillray of the future King George IV as Prince of Wales, 1792. Source: James Gillray / Library of Congress / Public Domain.
Figure 23 President Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, 1941. Source: US Navy / Wikimedia Commons / Public domain.
Figure 24 Ptolemy II. Source: Naples National Archaeological Museum / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY SA 2.5.
Figure 25 Plato and Aristotle in “The School of Athens.” Web Gallery of Art / Wikimedia Commons / Public domain.
Figure 26 Cyrus Cylinder in the British Museum. Source: Prioryman / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY‐SA 3.0.
Figure 27 “Dropping the Pilot,” 1890. Bismarck dismissed by Kaiser Wilhelm II. Source: John Tenniel / Wikimedia Commons / Public domain.
Figure 28 Antoninus Pius. Source: Unknown author / Wikimedia Commons / Public domain.
Figure 29 Charles IV of Spain and his family. Source: Museo del Prado / Wikimedia Commons / Public domain.
Figure 30 Julius Caesar as “dictator perpetuo,” 44 BCE. Source: Gallica Digital Library / Wikimedia Commons / Public domain.
Figure 31 William III and Mary II, 5 guineas, 1692. Source: Daderot / Wikimedia Commons / Public domain.
About the Author
Dr Michael Arnheim (commonly known as “Doctor Mike”) is a practising London barrister, sometime Fellow of St John's College, Cambridge, and author of 25 published books to date, this being the 25th.
Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, to a German father and South African mother, he attended the prestigious King Edward VII School. As a 14‐year‐old schoolboy he was picked to join the “Quiz Kids” team of five capped and gowned teenagers appearing every Friday evening on South Africa's Springbok Radio, of which he became a stalwart member, “retiring” at the age of eighteen.
He entered Johannesburg's University of the Witwatersrand at the age of 16, taking a first‐class BA in History and Classics at the age of 19, first‐class Honors in Classics at 20 and an MA with distinction at the age of 21.
Michael Arnheim then went up to St John's College, Cambridge, on a National Scholarship (later converted to a St John's College scholarship supplemented by a Strathcone Travel Exhibition). He was awarded a Cambridge PhD in 1969 in record time, and in 1972 his doctoral dissertation was published by the Oxford University Press under the title The Senatorial Aristocracy in the Later Roman Empire. In the meantime he was elected into a Fellowship of St John's College, Cambridge, where he combined research with a great deal of teaching for a number of colleges in Classics and Ancient History.
At the age of 31, Michael Arnheim was invited to take up the position of full Professor and Head of the Department of Classics back at his old university in South Africa. During his time in that position, he devised a new system of learning Latin and also taught his students Spanish under the title of “Modern Latin,” using etymological links with English.
Despondent about the future of South Africa, Dr Arnheim returned to Britain, where he was called to the Bar by Lincoln's Inn in 1988, combining his practice of law with the writing of books, a combination that is still continuing.
For further information on Michael Arnheim, you may consult the Wikipedia article on him at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Arnheim. You are also welcome to contact him by email (at Counsel@arnheim‐law.com).
Preface
Unlike most other academic subjects, history lacks its own technical theory or arcane terminology, and is therefore accessible to the “general reader.” But that does not mean that a historical work should just be an account of “one damned fact after another.” Instead, it is important for a historian to make sense of history, for it to become, in the words of the great Greek historian Thucydides, “a possession for all time.”
As an undergraduate in the 1960s I came across various elitist theories which posited an “iron law of oligarchy” according to which every society, regardless of its label, is ruled by an elite minority. To my utter surprise, Oxford's Professor Sir Ronald Syme, one of the biggest names among twentieth‐century historians, was a member of this one‐size‐fits‐all “oligarchy club”: “In all ages, whatever the form and name of government, be it monarchy, republic, or democracy, an oligarchy lurks behind the façade.” This was written in 1939, and Syme was still unrepentant 50 years later, describing Augustus's regime as “autocratic government” but at the same time insisting that “Oligarchy is imposed as the guiding theme, the link from age to age whatever be the form and name of government.” Syme knew full well that the regime instituted by the Roman Emperor Augustus was a monarchy, but he sought to square the circle by stating baldly: “A monarchy rules through an oligarchy”—a contradiction in terms.
I first embarked on an analysis of power structure with my Senatorial Aristocracy in the Later Roman Empire (a revised version of my 1969 Cambridge doctoral dissertation) published by the Oxford University Press (Arnheim 1972), followed by my Aristocracy in Greek Society (Arnheim 1977). The result of expanding my power structure analysis to encompass a number of societies was my Two Models of Government (Arnheim 2017), in which I concluded that oligarchy was only one half of the picture, the other half being monarchy. I found that every society which I analyzed was ruled either by an oligarchy made up of a privileged elite minority or by a monarch. Those findings were corroborated in my Why Rome Fell: Decline and Fall, or Drift and Change? (Arnheim 2022).
The present work is the result of greatly expanding the scope of that analysis, which has confirmed my conclusion that, since the beginning of recorded time, there have been, regardless of label, essentially only two forms of government: monarchy and oligarchy. Modern Britain, supposedly a monarchy par excellence, is in fact an oligarchy, while the People's Republic of China is a monarchy. What about democracy? The “direct democracy” of ancient Athens was actually a populist monarchy, while the modern indirect or representative “democracies” are mostly oligarchies, or in the case of the United States, a hybrid between monarchy and oligarchy.
Classifying governments in terms of power structure is not just an exercise in bottling and labelling. This study goes on to investigate the relationship, if any, between the power structure of a regime and its stability, the degree of liberty and equality within it, its foreign policy, and its social and political ethos.
The people whose help and assistance I have received are too numerous to name. But I cannot omit to mention my former student and long‐time friend Tom Malnati of Florida, to whom I owe a debt of gratitude for proofreading the whole book. All errors remaining are my own responsibility alone. And there have been many fruitful discussions with colleagues and former students over the years.
I am delighted to say that I have had a long and happy association with Wiley, starting with my U.S. Constitution for Dummies, the first edition of which came out in 2009, and the second in 2018, and then Why Rome Fell: Decline and Fall, or Drift and Change? (Arnheim 2022). I owe a debt of gratitude to the Wiley team with whom I have been working on this book: commissioning editor Will Croft and managing editor Pascal Raj Francois.
Any reader of this book is welcome to contact me with queries or comments at: Counsel@arnheim‐law.com
Dr. Michael Arnheim
28 February 2025
Glossary
Dates: In this book, except where otherwise indicated, all dates are to be taken as CE (Common Era) as an alternative to AD (Anno Domini).
Regnal years: Dates preceded by “r.” designate the reign of the monarch concerned.
Definitions
Monarchy:
Rule by one person, or a state under such rule. From the Greek
monos
(“alone”) +
archein
(“to rule”). The term “monarch” without qualification is used in this book to refer to someone exercising real power, regardless of title. Besides the numerous individuals discussed in the body of the book, the “Round‐up” in Part VII lists many more, classified as follows:
A
—An actual or true monarch exercising absolute, autocratic, or at least real power, regardless of title, but without specific popular support. Examples: Hammurabi of Babylon, Charlemagne, Henry VIII of England, Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu of Japan, Francisco Franco of Spain, Xi Jinping of China.
A*
—An actual or true monarch, regardless of title, exercising absolute, autocratic, or at least real power, ruling against the interests of the elite with active or passive popular support. Examples: Sumerian Urukagina, Cyrus the Great of Persia, Pericles of Athens, Alexander the Great, Roman Emperor Augustus, Juan Perón of Argentina.
H
—Hybrid: monarch sharing power with an elite. Examples: Phraates of Parthia, Shapur I of the Persian Sasanian Empire, French President François Mitterand, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, King Hussein of Jordan.
C
—Constitutional monarch: head of state with little or no actual power. Examples: All doges of Venice between 1268 and 1797, all British monarchs since George I, all Danish monarchs since 1849, all Japanese emperors since 1947, all presidents of the German Federal Republic since 1949.
Oligarchy:
Rule by an elite minority; also, the members of such an elite. From the Greek
oligoi
(“the few”) +
archein
(“to rule”). Note that minority rule can always be referred to as an oligarchy, regardless of whether or not that oligarchy is hereditary. Where the oligarchy is hereditary, it can be termed an “aristocracy.” So, all ruling aristocracies are oligarchies, but not all ruling oligarchies are aristocracies.
Aristocracy:
Rule by a hereditary elite, a hereditary oligarchy; also, the members of such an elite. From the Greek
aristos
(“best”) +
kratos
(“power, rule”), so, literally “rule of the best.”
Noble, nobility:
In this book, the terms
noble
and
nobility
are used to refer to any member of an aristocracy by birth or origin. Therefore, in reference to people (as against reference to forms of government), “nobility” is used as a synonym for “aristocracy.”
Elite:
A privileged minority, whether based on birth, wealth, race, nationality, or religion, and whether or not exercising dominant political power. A French term,
élite,
deriving from Latin
electus,
“chosen, selected.”
“Heretic
”:
In reference to Christianity, a devotee of any deviant belief condemned and anathematized by a dominant Christian denomination. In this book, this is always encased in quotation marks to indicate that the author does not accept, endorse, or condemn beliefs on either side of these religious disputes.
“Pagan,” “paganism
”:
The adherent of any religion other than Judaism, Christianity, or Islam, first used as a pejorative term by Christians in the fourth century CE. Because of its negative connotations, in this book it is always encased in quotation marks. It is sometimes now replaced by “polytheist” and “polytheism,” referring, literally, to the worship of “many gods,” as distinct from the monotheism of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. However, polytheism is hardly less pejorative than pagan, and not all pagans worshipped multiple gods in any case. So, in this book, “pagan” and “paganism” continue to be used, but without any negative connotations.
“Barbarians
”:
The English word “barbarian” comes from Greek
barbaros,
via Latin
barbarus,
a pejorative term used by the Romans to refer to anyone who was neither Greek nor Roman, and whose unintelligible speech sounded to the Romans like a babble of
bar‐bar‐bar‐bar
. However, the term “barbarian” is used in this book without any pejorative connotations.
Introduction
This book is the result of a long study analyzing the power structure of a number of societies over the past five thousand years, and geographically from China in the east to the United States in the west, and from Scandinavia in the north down to Egypt in the south. My findings are as follows:
There are, and have been, essentially only two models of government: monarchy and oligarchy.
Since the beginning of recorded time, society has always been divided into two main elements: a privileged elite and the ordinary people.
There has always been a certain tension or antagonism between these two elements.
Where the elite are in control, the government is an oligarchy, a subdivision of which—where the oligarchy is hereditary—is aristocracy.
The only other pure type of government is monarchy.
There is popular monarchy, when a strong leader rules with broad popular support.
Then there is actual, absolute, or autocratic monarchy without specific popular support.
What is commonly referred to as constitutional monarchy, where the supposed monarch has little or no actual power, is not really monarchy at all but oligarchy in disguise.
It is important to realize that the term “monarchy” as used in this book includes any regime where power is concentrated in the hands of a single individual, regardless of title. So, while Fidel Castro, the leader of the Republic of Cuba, was in fact a monarch, his contemporary, the “constitutional monarch” King Baudouin of the Belgians, was, in reality, merely a non‐executive titular head of state. Is it possible for power to be shared between a monarch and an oligarchic elite? The question to ask is: Who has the whip hand? True shared power in a hybrid form of government is rare. More often, what appears as shared power will turn out to be either a disguised monarchy or a disguised oligarchy.
Just as oligarchies (and aristocracies), in which power is shared by an elite group, have a visceral fear of monarchy, so, by the same token, monarchies should recognize the serious danger to their position from an ambitious power elite that threatens to take power away from them and share it among themselves.
Ancient Mesopotamia
Though this threat has existed since time immemorial, not all monarchs have been conscious of it. The Mesopotamian lugal (king) Urukagina of Lagash in the twenty‐fourth century BCE is one of the earliest examples we know of where someone, with popular support, evidently overthrew a priestly aristocracy and ruled in the interests of the lower classes. This can also be seen from his legal code, probably the earliest such document known to history (see Chapter 16).
China, Ancient and Modern
The Chinese emperors were particularly conscious of the aristocratic threat to the monarchy, and it was to counter this threat that the famous Chinese competitive civil service examination system was instituted, which lasted for close on two thousand years, starting during the Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE) and being abolished only in 1905, just before the imperial system as a whole was swept away. The expense of the tuition involved gave the wealthier classes an advantage in the examinations, but the rank of scholar‐official was not hereditary. Though these highly educated and intelligent officials enjoyed great status and prestige, they never posed a threat to imperial power. The eunuchs formed another important bastion of imperial power against the aristocracy from at least around 146 CE until the end of the Qing (Manchu) dynasty in 1912. Some eunuchs exercised great power, which was facilitated by their closeness to the emperor. The reason they were entrusted with such responsibility was that, as they could not have children and start a dynasty, they would not be tempted to seize the throne, and they could easily be demoted or disposed of. The eunuchs were also a useful counterweight to the scholar‐officials, with whom they were always in competition for influence with the emperor (see Chapter 19).
The French Revolution
By contrast, let us take the French Revolution as an example picked almost at random, a cataclysmic event in world history on which there is no shortage of evidence and a plethora of historical studies, hardly any of which show the slightest awareness of the significance—or even the existence—of the power structure (see Chapters 17 and 19).
The wise and wily Louis XV (r. 1715–74) was well aware of the longstanding threat to the French crown posed by the aristocracy, particularly in the shape of the Parlement de Paris—not a legislature but a court that had arrogated to itself the right to “register” (and therefore to veto) any royal decree. By 1771 the king's able chief minister, René de Maupeou, had finally defeated the Parlement de Paris and replaced it with a royal court, and then took similar action against the provincial parlements. These were intended as merely the first steps in a wholesale reform of the judicial system, but the whole enterprise was abruptly cut short by Louis XV's death and Maupeou's dismissal by the new king, Louis XV's grandson, Louis XVI, a callow 19‐year‐old, who did not understand that, far from being his allies, the aristocracy were actually hostile at once to royal power and to the interests of the mass of the population. “I had won for the King a case that has dragged on for three hundred years,” lamented Maupeou. “He wishes to lose it again. It is his decision.”
More interested in tinkering with locks in his workshop than with affairs of state, Louis XVI never got to understand the true nature of power, a failing which was to prove fatal for himself and the ancien régime. The brilliant eccentric royalist revolutionary Mirabeau (1749–91) desperately tried to make Louis recognize and develop the bond between the monarchy and the ordinary people of France: “The indivisibility of monarch and people is in the heart of every Frenchman. It is necessary for it to exist in action and in power.” Ignoring this sound advice, Louis made a frantic run to the frontier to link up with France's enemies. Recognized (ironically, from his embossed profile on the assignat, the new revolutionary paper money), he was arrested and ignominiously dragged back to Paris as a prisoner. From there it was but a short step to deposition, trial, and execution.
But that was not quite the end of the story. Napoleon Bonaparte, who saw himself as the heir to the Revolution, subsequently reinvented himself as a monarch under the style of emperor, a title deliberately chosen for its Roman populist associations. It is no accident that Maupeou's right‐hand man, Charles‐François Lebrun (1739–1824), was picked by Napoleon to serve as Third Consul under himself in 1799 to take a leading role in the reorganization of the national finances and of the administration—both pet projects of Maupeou's aborted by the death of Louis XV in 1774. Casting his mind back 30 years, Lebrun also cautioned Napoleon against recreating a hereditary aristocracy.
Augustus
One of the few dates that most people recognize is the assassination of Julius Caesar on the Ides of March 44 BCE. But, besides the drama and gore surrounding that date, of which Hollywood has taken full advantage, it also marks an important historical watershed. The Roman Republic, an oligarchy with a visceral fear of one‐man rule, had come into existence in 509 BCE. But when the populist Caesar was named dictator perpetuo (“dictator for life”), the Republic was effectively dead. His senatorial assassins, brandishing the deceptive watchword “liberty” (which really meant “freedom” for the privileged elite alone), desperately wanted to revive the oligarchy that was the Republic, and made a failed last‐ditch stand in a bloody civil war to do so. When the dust settled after a further round of civil war, Caesar's great‐nephew, adoptive son, and heir found himself presiding as sole ruler over the whole Roman world. Carefully trying to avoid offending the surviving senatorial oligarchs, he eschewed the title of “king” or “dictator” in favor of the innocuous designation of princeps, or “first citizen”. In 27 BCE he reinvented himself under the style Imperator Caesar Augustus: ‘Caesar’ being the key to his inherited popular support; “Imperator”, the ovation given to a victorious general, but used as a forename; and “Augustus” meaning “the sublime one”, an honorific awarded him by the Senate. He was in addition pontifex maximus, or chief priest of the Roman state religion, and pater patriae, “father of the fatherland”, a benign title with connotations of fatherly love without any harsh overtones.
As the first Roman emperor, Augustus ushered in a golden age of two centuries (27 BCE–180 CE) of a “Principate” of strong monarchy with popular support while placating the senatorial elite; followed by a “Dominate” of autocratic monarchy without specific popular support from 284 to 395; and, in the Eastern half of the Empire, a further thousand years of Caesaropapism, until 1453, of what is now known as the Byzantine Empire; while in the West there was a recrudescence of the Roman Empire with a more northerly centre of gravity, the Holy Roman Empire, which lasted from 962 until 1806.
Most of the Western half of the Roman Empire still speaks a Romance language, a latter‐day version of Latin: Italian, Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese, French, and Romanian. Rome never imposed its language, culture, or religion on anyone, and in fact Rome was always a bilingual empire, with Latin in the West (and in the army) and Greek (a legacy from Alexander the Great) in the East. And it is no accident that the European states where Romance languages are spoken now form part of the European Union, the latest attempt to create a united Europe on the Roman model.
It was by conquest that Rome grew from a small Italian city‐state to encompass the whole Mediterranean basin. There was some initial resistance to Roman rule. Rebel names that stand out include Vercingetorix in Gaul and Boudicca in Britain. But, before long the benefits of Roman rule became apparent. Roman citizenship with all its concomitant benefits was prized, and in 212 the Emperor Caracalla granted Roman citizenship to all free male inhabitants of the empire, though that resulted in citizens being divided into two broad classes, honestiores (“more honorable”) and humiliores (“more lowly”), with the latter gradually losing many of the privileges of citizenship. Starting under the Emperor Claudius (r. 41–54), senatorial status was opened up to provincials, and, with Trajan (r. 98–117), even emperors were drawn from the ranks of provincials. Though Trajan was born in Spain, his family was originally from Italy. But from Septimius Severus (r. 193–211), who was born in Leptis (or Lepcis) Magna in modern Libya, most emperors were of provincial stock.
Until the “crisis of the third century” (235–284) and the death‐throes of the Western Empire in the fifth century, the Roman Empire enjoyed general domestic peace coupled with great stability—all the more remarkable when it is realized that, outside of the environs of the City of Rome itself, there was no police force, and army units had to be used to keep order when necessary.
The chief exception to the general domestic order in the Roman Empire was Judaea. Though (unusually for a conquered nation) the Jews had been granted autonomy under their own kings, after several risings, the province was placed under a Roman governor, which was followed by the First Jewish Revolt of 66–70, resulting in the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, and the Bar‐Kokhba Revolt of 132–136.
Until 312 CE the Roman emperor was the head of a system, not just of religious toleration, but of freedom of worship, welcoming numerous “oriental cults” alongside the polytheistic “pagan” Roman state religion, which included the “imperial cult”, which, in the West at least, did not involve worship of a living emperor but only of his genius, or life spirit. The myth of Roman pagan persecution of Christianity has been powerfully exploded by Candida Moss: “We are talking about fewer than ten years out of nearly three hundred during which Christians were executed as the result of imperial initiatives” (Moss 2013, p. 127)—and then for political, not religious, reasons.
Communal religions, of which the Roman state religion was one, lacked any “creed” or set of beliefs, and the concepts of “conversion” and “heresy” were unknown. This all changed with Emperor Theodosius I's Edict of Thessalonica of 380, making Nicene Christianity, a creed religion, the official religion of the empire. From then on, persecution became the order of the day of all forms of “paganism”, Judaism, and “heresy”, defined as even the slightest deviation from the Nicene creed (as formulated by the 325 Council of Nicaea and amended by the Council of Constantinople of 381) (see Chapter 6).
So What?
As mentioned earlier, classifying governments in terms of power structure is not just a bottling and labeling process. Power structure is also relevant to other features of the societies concerned, such as stability, liberty, equality, and foreign policy, as well as to the social and political ethos of those societies.
Very few historians have taken any interest in power structure, and the majority of those who have done so have managed to get hold of the wrong end of the stick:
Syme:
While describing the Roman Emperor Augustus as an ‘autocrat’, Oxford Professor Sir Ronald Syme asserted that the Roman Empire, and all governments at all times regardless of label, have been “oligarchies”: “A monarchy rules through an oligarchy”. This makes no sense. Monarchy and oligarchy are polar opposites (see
Chapter 10
).
Andrewes:
Though the author of a book on the Greek Tyrants, Oxford Professor Antony Andrewes failed to recognize that there was a common thread running through them, namely popular anti‐aristocratic monarchy (see
Chapter 10
).
Brown:
Peter Brown of “Late Antiquity” failed to notice the marked shift in power structure with Constantine's support of the senatorial aristocracy in the West. And: “Precisely because correct religion was the glory of the empire, it had to be imposed in a manner that reflected the overwhelming dignity of the imperial power.” How can it ever be justifiable to “impose” a particular religion on people, and how, in any case, can it be imposed with “dignity”? (See
Chapter 10
.)
Finley:
In the face of mounting archeological and linguistic evidence of the Homeric epics as a valuable source of information about Mycenaean Greek government, Professor Sir Moses Finley of Cambridge stuck doggedly to his assertion, first made in 1954, that the poems were “a collection of fictions from beginning to end”. Finley's left‐wing credentials became evident in his adulation of Athenian “democracy”, which was actually a form of popular monarchy. Finley did at least recognize the important truth that Pericles and the tyrant Peisistratus were both “champions of the people” against the rich and noble (see
Chapter 10
).
Millar:
Flying in the face of detailed prosopographical evidence, Professor Fergus Millar of Oxford opined that “neither an aristocracy nor an oligarchy ever existed in Republican Rome” and that the Republic was essentially a direct democracy. He even went so far as to claim, contrary to all evidence, that the Augustan principate was a form of direct democracy (see
Chapter 10
).
Beard:
Under the heading “The First Emperor”, Professor Mary Beard suggested that neither Augustus nor Julius Caesar but Caesar's adversary Pompey “has a good claim to be called the first Roman emperor”. An analysis of the power structure of the time shows this to be as baseless as the same writer's claim that Caesar's assassin Marcus Brutus was aiming at “autocratic power” (see Arnheim
2022
, pp. 58, 26).
Schama:
Simon Schama has suggested that “Benign torpor should perhaps have been on the list of recommended virtues for successful princes”, citing England's James I and France's Louis XV as examples of “benign torpor” and their successors, Charles I and Louis XVI, respectively, together with Augustus, Constantine, and Alfred the Great, as examples of the opposite. Yet, were Augustus, Constantine, and Alfred not “successful”—except perhaps for Alfred's fabled burning of the cakes? (See Arnheim
2022
, p. 285.)
Jewish history:
The main reason the Jews are so widely misunderstood is that they form a “communal religion” in a world dominated by Christianity and Islam, “creed religions” (both terms coined by myself). The destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE transferred power from a hereditary priestly aristocracy (
kohanim
) to generations of rabbis with belief in a supposedly divine “Oral Torah” devised by themselves. This crucial change, which I have not found discussed in any book on Jewish history, resulted in giving the Jewish religion the worst feature of a creed religion—intolerance—piled on top of the worst feature of a communal religion, namely exclusivism, resulting in the parlous state in which Israel finds itself today.
Scandinavian School:
Members of a contemporary “Scandinavian School” of historians are obsessed with the idea that primogeniture produced stable monarchy and reduced the incidence of regicide. Of far greater relevance is power structure, which these historians completely ignore (see
Chapter 12
).
Skinner:
Professor Quentin Skinner, a vaunted authority on Machiavelli, completely fails to notice Machiavelli's practical advice to rulers that the way to become a strong ruler is with popular support against the elite. Of all the historians, past and present, that I have read, Machiavelli is the only one to share my view of the “two models of government” (see
Chapter 11
).
Part IThe Framework
Chapter 1When Is a Monarchy not a Monarchy?
The usual classification of states as either “monarchies” or “republics” is superficial and misleading. For example, the United Kingdom and Japan are both found in the “monarchy” column, while Russia (the Russian Federation) and the People's Republic of China are labeled “republics.” From a power‐structure vantage point this makes no sense. Instead, both Russia and China should be classified as monarchies, while the United Kingdom and Japan should be classified as oligarchies. No state, past or present, can properly be labeled a democracy.
A leitmotif of this book is power structure, in particular the relationship between monarchy and oligarchy—the importance of which is not often recognized, even by historians—and, beyond that, the relationship between the power structure of a society and other features, such as stability, liberty, equality, foreign policy, and ethos.
The term “oligarchy” (literally, “rule of the few”) covers any ruling minority and any regime controlled by such a minority. If a ruling minority is hereditary, it is still an oligarchy but can be termed an “aristocracy” (literally “rule of the best”), as can a government controlled by them. The terms “noble” and “nobility” are synonyms for “aristocrat” and “aristocracy.” And, to add to the confusion, “nobility” and “aristocracy” can also refer to a titled minority that does not have political power.
Monarchy exerts a certain fascination on the human mind. It is hard to imagine what it was like to be a regular person in some past age. Evidence tends to be scarce and unreliable, and the subject matter may well turn out to be mind‐numbing. The swashbuckling and flamboyant, or scandalous and dissolute, antics of rulers, on the other hand—and especially of those who “bestride the narrow world like a Colossus” (Shakespeare's description of Julius Caesar)—are the stuff, not only of popular entertainment, but also of the majority of historical writing, ancient and modern alike.
Governmental titles are many and varied—and extremely misleading. For example, the title of king, emperor, or president may indicate the possession of genuine power, or may represent a titular or nominal headship with purely ceremonial functions. It is virtually impossible for one person to wield total, or absolute, power. Even the most autocratic or absolute monarch is likely to have to delegate power to others to some extent. The test must be: Who has the whip hand?
The formal division among modern Western states into “monarchies” and “republics” has no real significance, as monarchy in the modern West is not real monarchy at all. The royal heads of state of “constitutional monarchies” have no more power than the presidents of republics such as Germany, Portugal, Greece, or India. Present‐day China is supposedly a “people's republic,” while Japan is classified as a monarchy. In reality, China under Xi Jinping is a monarchy and Japan is an oligarchy.
Just as modern Western monarchies are generally oligarchies in disguise, so the nominally republican governments of Vladimir Putin's Russia, Xi Jinping's China, Viktor Orbán's Hungary, or Turkey under Recep Tayyip Erdogan can probably be labeled as essentially “populist” monarchical regimes.
In every society, past and present, it is possible to identify an elite (or group of elites)—whether labeled aristocracy, aristocrats, nobles, nobility, oligarchs, oligarchy, power elite, or simply elite (or élite), whether hereditary or not, and whether based on birth, wealth, status or office, or a combination of two or more of these factors. This elite (or combination of elites) is normally dominant socially and economically, and often politically as well in the form of an oligarchy, or, if hereditary, an aristocracy. This “power elite,” intent on preserving and perpetuating its own group dominance, tends to have a deep‐seated fear of one‐person or monarchical rule.
At the same time there is a natural antipathy inherent in the lower classes toward any oligarchy or aristocracy. This tends to impel the common people to give their support to a strong leader as their champion against the privileged classes, which may lead to the establishment of a form of popular, or “populist,” monarchy or dictatorship.
There are essentially only two forms of government: on the one hand, oligarchy, morphing into aristocracy, and, on the other, monarchy. True monarchy, properly so called (from the Greek monarchia, “the rule of one person”), is a form of government where power is concentrated in the hands of a single individual, whether a hereditary crowned head, a dictator, or an elected politician. Genuine monarchical power is essentially anti‐aristocratic, and generally, though not invariably, depends on lower‐class support—a form of what tends now to be labeled as “populism.”
Although true monarchy and oligarchy/aristocracy are the only pure forms of government, hybrid forms are possible, combining populist monarchy with elitist, oligarchical, or aristocratic features. Among these are the current or recent regimes of Narendra Modi in India, Boyko Borisov in Bulgaria, Andrej Babiš in the Czech Republic (Czechia), Evo Morales in Bolivia, Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua, Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines, and Donald Trump's presidency of the United States.
What, then, about democracy? According to my analysis, Athenian “direct democracy” under Pericles and his successors was in reality a form of populist monarchy, and modern “representative democracies” are in reality oligarchies (see later).
But why, you may well ask, does power structure matter in any event? The answer is that the whereabouts of power reveals who benefits from a particular regime. The power structure in a society goes to the very heart of that society, relates to its stability, impacts directly on the degree of social mobility and equality in that society, and is related, directly or indirectly, to the ethos of the society concerned.
“Five Kings”
King Farouk of Egypt (r. 1936–52) is reputed to have predicted that there would soon be only five kings left in the world: the king of England, the king of spades, the king of clubs, the king of hearts and the king of diamonds. A list of current “monarchies” at the time of this writing would appear to belie this prediction, showing as it does no fewer than 43 sovereign states with a monarch at their head, though only a few of these are absolute, autocratic, or true monarchs. In terms of power structure, regardless of labels, “constitutional monarchies” are in fact oligarchies. The (usually hereditary) monarch occupies a position somewhere between a purely ceremonial head of state and one with certain very limited prerogative or reserve powers, and with actual power in the hands of an elected legislature and executive government, generally under a prime minister. A key feature of a constitutional monarchy is separation between head of state and head of government, which is also found in many modern republics. The chief difference between, say, the king of Sweden and the president of Germany is that the king is there for life and his position is hereditary.
In the West, at least, monarchy usually began with a ruler who combined in his own person executive, legislative, and usually judicial power. The monarch would be likely to surround himself with advisers in one or more of these spheres. The monarch would need to raise money, whether to finance wars, to keep law and order, or simply to administer his domain. For these purposes he would have to raise taxes, for which he would require the consent of the aristocracy, who would want some redress of grievances in return. Sooner or later some form of consultation would be extended to the propertied classes below the aristocracy, generally through their elected representatives. Most European monarchies have ended up as “constitutional” monarchies. The monarchs have been largely or essentially reduced to ceremonial heads of state. They reign but do not rule.
Venetian Republic
A classic example of this is the Republic of Venice, which existed for a millennium before being dissolved under pressure from Napoleon in 1797. The Venetian head of state, known as the doge (derive from Latin dux), was a byword for a powerless monarch. Elected for life in a complex process combining election and sortition, he was drawn from one of the inner circle of Venetian aristocratic houses and there were safeguards in place to prevent hereditary succession, although the same family names do recur from time to time on the list of doges. Instead of receiving payment for his service, on his election a doge was required to lay out a large sum of money as a bounty to his subjects when coins were thrown to the crowd thronging his coronation. Treated with the utmost dignity and respect both in Venice itself and internationally, the doge nevertheless had essentially a ceremonial role. Between 742 and 1423, real power resided in the Concio, or “assembly,” and from 1423 until 1797 in the Signoria, or “Senate.”
