Especially when one empire replaces another. Just look at the history of the Near East. The Akkadian empire replaced by the Assyrian empire, replaced by the Neo-Assyrian empire, replaced by the Neo-Babylonian empire, replaced by the Persian empire, replaced by the Greek "empire", replaced by the Roman empire, replaced by the Palmyrene empire, eventually replaced by the Ottoman empire. Each replacement was of course violent and caused massive societal upheavals.