They are playing Salieri to City's Mozart and they fucking hate it. They can't understand how it happened, but all empires crumble in the end, often because of the complacency or vainglory of their leaders. Or because the world changes and makes them untenable.
In 1901, Britain had the largest empire the world had ever seen, with vast reserves of gold stacked up in the Bank of England. It was the world's leading military power. Look at us now. Times change, and what was once unassailable disappears and becomes something different altogether.