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Maybe it's somehow tied to technical progress, American has seen more in it's 200+ years than the Roman empire did in a thousand years. Perhaps this has accelerated the birth and death cycle.

I have a pet theory where when a civilization develops atomic weapons (or a reasonable similarity thereof), there is a race to make it into space and develop colonies to either survive a collapse at home or avert it. I do believe myself there could have been a technical civilization prior to ours, such as Atlantis, maybe more than once where they grew and grew and they became arrogant and cocky and then they fell.

I also believe in the 200 year rule where "empires" rise and fall. You had the British where they defeat3ed the French in 1763 in the French and Indian War (that started a few miles away from me, I'm in Pittsburgh) or if your European, the Seven Years War. That basically establish the British as an Empire. Go 200 years to 1963 and by then, they were a former shell of themselves losing their colonies left and right. The United States first test was the War of 1812, We did not win it technically but we did not lose, we held our own and could stand up at least. Go 200 years later to 2012 and well, that is now. If course you had variations of the 200 year rule, I think it took Rome 400 or 500 years to decay from the time they declared themselves an empire.

Also as Mr. Jeeves pointed out, we have global communications first with radio and now down to the internet as we progress over time. I remember in the 1960's, John Lennon said that "more people heard of the Beatles than Jesus Christ" (in His day). I took it differently since even in 1966, we had a huge worldwide network of mass communications, shortwave radio, early satellite communication, networks and so forth. I took it to mean that if Jesus had those same tools, getting the Word out would have been faster and easier.

I also believe in the 200 year rule where "empires" rise and fall. You had the British where they defeat3ed the French in 1763 in the French and Indian War (that started a few miles away from me, I'm in Pittsburgh) or if your European, the Seven Years War. That basically establish the British as an Empire. Go 200 years to 1963 and by then, they were a former shell of themselves losing their colonies left and right. The United States first test was the War of 1812, We did not win it technically but we did not lose, we held our own and could stand up at least. Go 200 years later to 2012 and well, that is now. If course you had variations of the 200 year rule, I think it took Rome 400 or 500 years to decay from the time they declared themselves an empire.

Even more tragic was the fate of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which at one time was the most prosperous and powerful entity in all of Europe.

I do believe myself there could have been a technical civilization prior to ours, such as Atlantis, maybe more than once where they grew and grew and they became arrogant and cocky and then they fell.

So do I. There is archaeological evidence, though not a lot. There were fewer people in the world then - and the best may have traveled away from Earth to avoid the cataclysm.

And even if it didn't happen, there are a few dozen great novels to be written based on the concept. :)