(*title change from Rome & China)
Just a point of curiosity here; I couldn't find a related discussion here, but if it exists, please point me to it!
I've been on a Roman history kick for a while now, and over the winter break I read Tacitus' Histories, and having thought about it, I've decided that there are interesting parallels to the early Three Kingdoms period, which is, I guess, my historical touchstone.
The parallels aren't so much in the individual characters involved, as in the larger dynamics, which I think are apparent. Here's the story of the Year of Four Emperors (we all know the story of the Three Kingdoms period, so I don't need to recount it here):
The emperor Nero presided over a decadent court, and a rebellion (of Vindex) that didn't even reach his capital resulted in the collapse of his government and his suicide. Galba, basically a long-time imperial functionary with no charisma but lots of institutional support, took over in Rome. Galba was quickly assassinated by another insider, the pro-Nero Otho, who made himself emperor and reinstituted a lot of Nero's government; he, in turn, was overthrown by Vitellius, the leader of the powerful armies stationed on the German frontier. After hanging onto power for the better part of a year, Vitellius was finally ousted by a coalition led by Vespasian.
Vespasian went on to put down numerous rebellions and establish himself and his sons as emperors. This is the extent of what Tacitus covers. Ultimately, Vespasian's second successor, his son Domitian, was assassinated in a palace coup and replaced by Nerva, who began probably Rome's most successful dynasty, with successors including Trajan, Hadrian, and Marcus Aurelius.
On the one hand, I'm sure that all dynastic collapses have similar dynamics. But on the other, to my eye this situation looks a lot like the Three Kingdoms period, except much faster (and without the Three Kingdoms). Here are the parallels that I perceive:
Decadent Court of Nero == Corrupt Han Court (Zhang Rang & Co.)
Galba == He Jin
Otho & the Pro-Nero Camp == Zhang Rang and the Eunuchs
Vitellius == Dong Zhuo & other Military Governors
Vespasian == Cao Cao
Titus & Domitian == Cao Pi & Successors
Nerva et al == Sima Faction
Of course, the Jin dynasty did not go on to become successful, so the parallels end there. Although, when the Nervan dynasty finally did come apart (due to the famously inept Commodus), all hell broke loose and there was a century of chaos (with the Severans barely able to hold the center for a few decades) that the empire never really totally recovered from - China at least, eventually, made it to Sui/Tang. So, in a lot of ways the timescales aren't correspondent, but it's still interesting how the broader strokes align. Another anti-parallel is that Vindex was nominally allied with Galba, and it was Nero who was more widely popular (as opposed to the populist Yellow Scarves, Vindex was an Gaulish aristocrat).
I figure that really, this structure must be repeated all over the place. Does anyone know a good book on something like "dynastic collapse studies"?