"It may be said with rough accuracy that there are three stages in the life of a strong people. First, it is a small power, and fights small powers. Then it is a great power, and fights great powers. Then it is a great power, and fights small powers, but pretends that they are great powers, in order to rekindle the ashes of its ancient emotion and vanity. After that, the next step is to become a small power itself."
-- G. K. Chesterton, Heretics, chapter 18 ("The Fallacy of the Young Nation"), 1906.
Photos: Soviets in Afghanistan via englishrussia.com; Americans in Iraq, by Jerome Delay for AP.