Former Capitals As a Product of Internal and External Challenges: Types and Features of Development

Former capitals are considered worldwide and within a fragment limited to 1800–2022 and Western Eurasia. For the latter, a typology is carried out by the time of losing the status of a capital, groups of its causes (external capture, endogenic collapse, relatively peaceful surrender and transfer within the state by its own will), the duration of the capital’s experience, closeness in size to the then and modern country where the ex-capital is located, and its stability (ephemeral and major, or long-term capitals). The oldest ones gravitate towards the belt of early states in the Old World, while the younger tend to be located in Europe, North America, and Africa. In recent centuries, these capitals have been concentrated in Germany and Italy, the states of later centralization, as well as in the areas of sociopolitical turbulence of Ukraine and Russia, where there are many ephemeral capitals. In Germany and Italy, they were often surrendered to the center of the uniting country, while the scenarios of capture and relocation were more common in Eastern Europe. Judging from the selected fragment, there are more significant ex-capitals than ordinary and small ones, including rural. The loss of capital status is not always caused by a nation-scale crisis, but by its rise and success, which is reflected in the new capital. The postcapital fate, location, role, and image of the former capital vary greatly, even to the point of polar cases, which are defined in the article as great and small. Examples of these are provided among the major and ephemeral ex-capitals. Sometimes they disappear, erased by external and internal crises.