cheese_greaterWhat was the decisive respective *moments* where empires like Roman, Ottoman, British, "fell"?
Ottomans is an easy one, it was dismantled by treaty after losing in WW1.
Generally there is no clear cut rule about when you draw the line if it’s not obvious, so you could make the argument that the British Empire still exists if you really wanted to. They do still have some overseas possessions after all, that would be a perfectly legit position someone could argue if they felt like it. And I’m sure some people even do.
jordanlundI’d think if Scotland is successful in gaining independence, that would be the official end.
The funny thing is the groundwork for the current UK was actually formed by a Scottish king who managed to get the English throne. That’s how Scotland and England unified ultimately, the Scottish king peacefully took over both due to some inheritance thing. Like a century later someone else formalized the unification of the two, instead of it being one king who had both crowns.