The U.S Empire compared to the fall of the British, Ottoman, & Soviet Empires & The Rise of a Sultan

Shalom, friends. my name is Chadwick Harvey. You've reached Faithful Performance. Thank you for joining us tonight as we explore the U.S. Empire and compare it to the decline and fall of the Ottoman Empire, the British Empire, the Soviet Empire, and the Roman Empire. We are going to look at all four of these empires, examine the trajectory they were on, and compare that to where we are with the American Empire today.

When we look at these empires, it is important to understand how they crashed and collapsed throughout history. It does not happen overnight with major empires. This study is not primarily scriptural — it is a comparison of history, a summary of how the American Empire looks right now compared to these empires that preceded us. We want to understand what happens to an empire once it gains superiority and then begins to decline.

After examining those empires, we will also discuss the rise of a sultan. Following the Iran-Israel-America war, we believe there will be a rise of a sultan in the Middle East. We are going to show who we personally believe that will be and trace the trajectory that person and that country have been on for roughly 25 years. We are already seeing a major transition in the Middle East. Iran has been the dominant superpower there, particularly in relation to Arabia. But through the war involving Israel and America — and also Turkey, as described in Daniel 8 — Iran will no longer hold that position of supremacy in the Middle East.

About four years ago, in the fall of 2022 at the beginning of the Shemitah cycle, I did a video asking whether we are witnessing the decline or collapse of the American Empire during this seven-year cycle. I will likely do another video focused specifically on America to show the trajectory of our country over the last sixty years through each Shemitah year, demonstrating how consistent that seven-year cycle has been for the entire world. We will touch on that tonight as well when we look at the American Empire.

Again, this is not prophecy and it is not prediction. This is studying history and understanding the downfall of previous empires, because the American Empire is hitting threshold moments that mirror what these other empires experienced before their collapse. They all collapsed in remarkably similar ways. We want to look at the metrics of our country — the economic numbers, the geopolitical picture — and understand where things could be heading if we continue on the same trajectory. So, with that, let us begin.

We will look first at the British Empire, then the Ottoman Empire, then the Soviet Union, and then the Roman Empire. After that, we will look at who I personally believe will rise as the Sultan of the Middle East.

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**The British Empire and the Suez Crisis**

The British Empire ruled 25% of the world's population. It was called the empire on which the sun would never set — and yet the sun did eventually set, accelerated significantly after World War I. There are big pivot points in the Middle East, and 1956 was one of the most significant. Abdel Nasser rose to power in Egypt and became the driving force behind Arab nationalism, a movement that spread throughout the Arab nations and made him a powerful regional figure.

During World War I, in 1914, the British Empire had dethroned the Ottoman Empire. General Allenby of the British Empire marched into Jerusalem during Hanukkah, conquering the city and driving the Ottoman forces out. That victory led directly to the Balfour Declaration of 1917, and then, thirty-one years later, to the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948.

But by 1956, the British Empire was in serious decline. The final breaking point came at the Suez Canal. The Suez Canal runs alongside Egypt and remains one of the most strategically important waterways in the world for global shipping. The Suez Crisis began after Egyptian President Nasser nationalized the canal in July 1956. Britain, France, and Israel moved militarily against Egypt, but the operation collapsed under intense pressure from the United States and the Soviet Union, combined with severe financial strain. The U.S. State Department describes the crisis as a turning point that damaged Britain's and France's position in the Middle East. The Britannica calls it a political disaster that revealed the decline of European colonial power.

What Suez did not do was instantly and totally collapse the British Empire in a single stroke. These major empires do not fall from one bad decision or one failed war — it is a culmination of poor decisions that leads to an empire being dethroned. The British Empire had already been shrinking after World War II. But Suez is widely treated as the moment Britain was exposed as no longer able to act as a first-rank imperial power without Washington's approval. The British cabinet records from early 1957 are especially revealing. One quote reads: "Suez hasn't changed the situation, but it has revealed it" — alongside severe concerns over debt and economic weakness.

This is the pattern: colonial overreach, political disaster, financial debt, economic weakness, and the erosion of military dominance. That is what brought down the British Empire. The Suez Canal was the final blow, and within ten years the empire had effectively collapsed.

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**The Parallel: America and the Strait of Hormuz**

There is a real parallel between what Britain faced at Suez and what America faces today at the Strait of Hormuz. The Strait of Hormuz remains one of the world's most critical energy choke points. In 2024 and into early 2025, more than one quarter of global seaborne oil trade flowed through it — roughly 15% of global oil and petroleum product consumption, about 15% of global LNG trade, and approximately one-third of the world's fertilizer supply. That means roughly 20% of critical global commodities — oil, natural gas, and agricultural fertilizer — pass through that single narrow strait.

The comparison is direct: Britain at Suez faced a strategic waterway it could no longer dominate at an acceptable political and financial cost. America at the Strait of Hormuz faces the same situation. The United States can still exert military influence there, but at rising economic and geopolitical cost, and increasingly within a multipolar world rather than a unipolar one. That does not prove imminent collapse, but it does fit the classic imperial pattern — the empire's vulnerability suddenly concentrated at a narrow maritime gate.

We can see the American Empire beginning to decline significantly: $39 trillion in debt, deep division across the land, political fracturing with no unity, and the weight of the sins accumulating in this nation.