I must say that the USA fits none of the historical definitions of "empire" except for size. We're a really big country. But we don't have ownership of vast land areas across the globe. We have bases in lots of other countries (by treaty) but that's not the same as ownership. They can (and sometimes do) kick us out. Sure we own Hawaii, and Guam, and a few other small spots here and there, but they are hardly an economic asset. Heck, Britain and Holland each have more extra-territorial holdings than the US. Just because a nation is big and strong doesn't automatically make it an empire. Unless you consider Brazil and India to be empires, too.
Leaving real-world politics out of the issue (I do think Mr. Payton has been fooled by folks with axes to grind) politics and diplomacy played a COLOSSAL role in ancient wars as much as modern wars.
Consider the time period of Age of Kings - during that time, when a king went to war he had to consider the following political issues:
1) whether your vassals were loyal enough to bring troops to your support - whether you'd rewarded them enough in the past to get their aid.
2) how long they'd be willing to fight - whether you could get enough loot and land to make them happy afterwards.
3) some of your vassals probably held land from the enemy king as well as you - which side would THEY be on? (This is showed in the film Braveheart, where the Scots' knights turned against Wallace. This may seem "treacherous" to a modern viewer, but on the other hand, these knights actually owned more land from King Edward than they did from the Scottish royal house, so where did their loyalties lie? In my opinion they should have stuck with Scotland anyway, but clearly it was a problem.)
4) is your daughter married to the enemy king? Or his son? Or vice versa? What kind of kinship relations do you have with these guys? How will that affect the war?
5) While you're off campaigning in some other land, will enemies come raiding from another direction? Example: if the French king goes off attacking Spain or Italy, the Burgundians or English might backstab him.
6) What will the pope think (if you're from western Europe)? Are the enemies infidels, or Christians, or heretics? Or Orthodox?
Medieval politics were actually far more complicated than modern politics. We NEVER have to worry about whether Putin or Blair or Bush is connected via marriage to another nation, and at least Western nations don't (officially) care what religion their enemies are. Plus our armies aren't made up of a bunch of semi-independent hereditary fiefdoms.
[This message has been edited by ES_Sandyman (edited 07-13-2004 @ 03:37 PM).]