Excellent work Lilburne. Very clear and concise and I really like your definitions of the epochs.
In the name of constructive criticism:
- Maybe you could emphasise that recognition of private property was a key development of The Old Freedom, particularly in land. Recognition of land ownership was a prerequisite for agriculture.
- Maybe you could mention globalization trends: something like “The prosperity of The New Freedom epoch led to an increase in long-distance trade, facilitated by an international gold standard. But in the Third Intermediate Period, this globalization of trade translated into an internationalization of government and fiat currencies. Regional political institutions such as the EU, NATO, AU, and ASEAN and global institutions such as the UN, World Bank, IMF, WTO, WHO, and the ICC have come to play an increasingly important role in world affairs. The inherent tendency for governments to centralize, driven by popular support for democracy and equality of wealth, logically culminates in the establishment of a global fiat currency and a global government.”
- I think the internet should get a mention in the Future Freedom section. The internet is the reason the ideas of Mises, Rothbard and Paul have reached such a large audience. There are also many other ways the internet may be the downfall of both Throne and Altar (see this post by AJ).
- It would be helpful to list the seven epochs in bullet-points in the introduction.
- Typo: “In the 16th century, Henry VIII drove the Catholic Church out of France to expropriate its wealth and set up his own state church.” Obviously you mean England.
Again, great work - I’ve always been interested in how different historians define epochs and your scheme makes more sense than any other I have seen.