Deleted member 97083
Would it be possible for an empire to be conquered from within by its own puppet state? As a further challenge, have the empire remain in one piece before and after the internal revolution.
The Neo-Babylonians conquering the Assyrians?
Well, if the US swallowed the UK, would that count?
Would the Grand Duchy of Muscovy count doubly, with its parent, the Grand Duchy of Vladimir, and its Golden Horde overlords (Mongols did essentially create it by destroying much of the developed regions of the Kievan Rus, leading a backwoods trading outpost to become the most significant city of the old Rus)?
In a Napoleonic Victory scenario, could an expanding Confederation of the Rhine, and significant reliance on the recruitment of German soldiers by the French, eventually backfire (in the 1830s/40s/50s)? Could the German nationalism of the Confederation of the Rhine succeed "too much" and cause this puppet state to rise against the French Empire?
Rome gave a bunch of Germanic groups land, and some of these groups later turned on Rome and helped bring about the end of the Western Empire. For example, Alaric and the Goths were given control of the military and political offices in Illyria in the late 390s, but later came into conflict with the Western Emperor and sacked Rome. The Ostrogoths who deposed Romulus Augustus were previously Roman allies.