1.   The vast empire was beginning to crumble.

2.   But last year his empire began to crumble.

3.   But sometimes an empire must begin to crumble before it is ripe for reconstruction.

4.   But the tycoon did his damage even as his own empire was beginning to crumble.

5.   The atrocities were eventually exposed to the world, and the empire began crumbling.

6.   When his empire began attacking the war in Chechnya and refused to endorse Putin, Gusinsky said recently, retribution was swift.